She is warm, very warm, always with a smile on her face. She is friendly, she is humble, a bit too much for someone with her pedigree. And she is a well of knowledge, with an intimidating CV. And her beauty and elegance radiate and brightens your day once you come in contact with her. Who am I speaking of, the one and only, Margaret Nkechi Moore, MD/CEO Mega Trust Insurance Ltd. Margaret’s educational background includes, Law, Insurance and Risk Management, Business Administration, all of which she emerged from with the highest results (even a first-class degree) A highly experienced insurance professional, with various certifications to prove and a member of all professional insurance bodies, surely Margaret has seemingly seen it all in the industry. Little wonder she has achieved so much ground-breaking results, which has seen her grow into becoming the next president of the Professional Insurance Ladies Association (PILA). I sat down for an interview with her and it was like a training on insurance. But then what else did I expect when I came in contact with an insurance amazon? Today, we celebrate the beautiful, intelligent and amazing Margaret Nkechi Moore.
What exactly does Mega Trust Insurance do?
Mega Trust Insurance Brokers Ltd, is an insurance brokerage firm is and it is registered under the Nigerian Registered Corporation of Insurance Brokers. It is also registered under National Insurance Commission, the regulatory body that supervises the activities of all the insurance practitioners in Nigeria. So, what Mega Trust does it’s like a middleman between the insuring public, organization and the insurance companies. Originally, insurance was crafted to always have a middleman, someone who is not biased, and who knows the product. You know what we sell is basically a promise, to do something when something happens, to pay compensation, to indemnify when a loss occurs. So, the insurer or the corporate organization will be giving out money for a product that you are not seeing, so it is an intangible product. Now, the broker comes in to assist or to support the insured, who may not be knowledgeable, in the area of insurance, and this is at no extra cost to the insured. Because all insurance products or premiums already have the brokers commission, so the insured pays the broker’s commission inside whatever premium he is paying for. So, whether the insured has a broker or not, he pays the same thing. The cheapest product right now, is the third-party insurance cover, that a vehicle rider is supposed to have for every car, which is about N5,000, so if you go to the insurance company directly, you pay N5,000, and if you go through a broker, you also pay N5,000. But the advantage of going through a broker, is that the broker will be able to educate you on what benefits you can get on the N5,000 you are paying, e.g if you run into a third-party car, you are not supposed to be fighting on the street, just call your broker, your broker will now approach the insurance companies, that N5,000 that you paid once a year, will earn you N1,000,000 compensation value. The maximum is N1,000,000, which the insurance company will take care of. And if it is bodily injury, there is no limit, so it depends on the judgement of the court, because a family might say that their child for instance is worth more than N10,000,000, that is what the insurance company will pay. But if you go directly without going through the broker, you may not have the benefits of all these. And using a broker is at no extra cost to you, but part of the problem we have in Nigeria, because we are not informed on the benefits of placing your insurance contracts through a broker, some people will have insurance for the sole purpose of securing a contract because the principal required such documents, but it will end there. They would now know that the insurance policy they paid for, besides securing them the contract, they would also be compensated, if a loss occurs within that period. Sometimes, due to lack of knowledge, they pay for losses from their pockets. That is the benefit of having a broker partner with you at no extra cost to you. There is not enough information out there about the benefits of third-party insurance. What most people believe that covers compensation out there in Nigeria is comprehensive insurance. Why is the insurance company not sensitizing people so that they can be aware?
Comprehensive actually has advantage over third party, but maybe because you are not in the industry, within the industry, we do a lot of awareness about it.
I am talking about outside the insurance industry?
Maybe we need to do more about it, so that it will be more visible. But the National Insurance Commission are doing a lot in this regard. Even our association, the Nigerian Registered Corporation of Insurance Brokers, they do a lot of sensitizations, they would have walks, share flyers to give out to people. But, do people really take out time to go through those flyers? It’s an ongoing thing. You are right, we need to create more awareness outside the industry.
Your CV is very rich, you have worked through different positions in different organizations. But you have been consistent in marketing and with great results. So how did it transcend from marketing to owning your own insurance company. Tell us that story.
I actually started as a back-office employee, with Nigerian Reinsurance Corporation. I started in admin personnel department. Then I veered into the technical arm, in Prestige Assurance, I headed the marine insurance department, for 3 years, then went off to head the technical team of United Assurance. So, I have touched virtually all the aspects of insurance, reinsurance, underwriting claims, and then finally I settled in marketing. I did not go into marketing intentionally, but the company that I worked for at a time needed a lot of marketing. We needed to salvage the company; we already had the directive from Nicon that capitalization was coming. The capital base of an insurance company at that time was to be increased from N350,000,000 to N3b. so we needed to do a lot of sales to raise the money. We also needed the owners to pump in money. So we had cause to reach out to a lot of practitioners in the industry, who were then like brokers. Because most of the business comes through brokers, so management asked me to head the marketing department, because of the experience I already had. So, when I went to marketing, I started enjoying the benefits that come from marketing, and subsequent jobs became in the marketing department. That also made it easy for me to start running a brokerage firm, because brokerage business is all about marketing, its about who you know, the income you can generate, and the contacts you have. Of course, my experience from the technical arm helped me to understand the product, because as a marketer, you need to understand and know what you are selling. So having come from the technical arm, the product development and product knowledge aspect of the business, it became easier for me to sell. Because when I meet the client, I would be able to make them understand what the product is all about and what the benefits are.
What would you say is the acceptability of insurance in Nigeria, in present day 2022, compared to when you started in the industry?
How well has Nigerians accepted insurance? I will say that in general insurance penetration in Nigeria is actually growing. Initially, we were less than 1% GDP who patronized the insurance market, but currently, we are about 3.7%, I will need to confirm the exact figure, but it is thereabout. The penetration ratio is growing, and it is because, the insurance companies are well-capitalized. Like I mentioned earlier on, in the past when insurance started, the capital base of an insurance company may just be N150m, then if a company has a claim of N1b, what will they do, they will rather close shop. But now, the capital base of insurance companies is so huge. The minimum capital base as I speak, which has actually been increased and some companies are already implementing theirs. For life insurance companies that is companies that specialize in life insurance only, their capital base is about N8b, it was N2b before. And for general insurance it was N3b before, now its N10b. But the deadline is not yet exhausted, companies are still trying to get to that capital base. But some companies in Nigeria are already operating with a capital base of even N50b. And the only way they can sell themselves is to pay claims. So, if you check the financial reports of some insurance companies, you will see that for 2022 already, some of them have paid over N1b in claims. So, if you pay claims the news of your company will spread. So, the level of confidence from the public on insurance, especially corporate organizations is really on the increase, where we have a bit of challenge is with individual policies.
So, what specific roles does Mega Trust Insurance play, in filling gaps in the insurance industry?
I would say that the experience myself and my colleagues have gathered over the years is a lot to bank on. To start with, even though we have about 62 insurance companies in Nigeria, including brokerage firms and reinsurance companies, life companies, general companies and then composite companies, but a good broker should be able to know the specialty of each insurance company. We have insurance companies that specialize only on life insurance, there is also general insurance companies, and we know the general insurance companies that are better with motor insurance operations, marine insurance operations, bond insurances etc. So, we know these insurance companies and we are in a position to direct our clients to use the right insurance company with the expertise specific to their needs. And this is what the insuring public may not know. These needs may differ, it might be contractors all race, it might be public liability, it might be professional indemnity, there are insurance companies that have over the years developed expertise in the various classes of insurance and we know them all. And in the area of claims, the role of Mega Trust is to make sure that your claims are settled as and when due. There are companies that we would insist on getting SLA from them, to insist on the date we want the cheque or transfer of the claim once you have the full documentation. And they would obey, otherwise, they risk being on that account for subsequent years, because most insurance policies are usually annual contracts. Of course, we have all it takes to make you obey. We can also, report the insurance company to NICON, we can also use peer pressure, we can also report to the brokerage institute. Also, because of relationship that we have built over the years, we can bypass the manager or head of technical and call the managing director, or the chairman to say, ‘we have this before your staff and he is delaying our claim’s. These are some of the benefits that the insured would benefit from using us as their insurance broker.
So, it is actually safer for an insured to work with a broker through the entire process?
100%, it will be faster, no hassles and at no extra cost to the insured. In Mega Trust Insurance Company, we also do trainings for our clients. I think about two years ago, our regulators came up with a policy that ensures that the insured goes through these premiums and understand them. It is not enough to pay your premium and get your documents, because some of these insured would not even bother to go through it. We now insist that we have a meeting with our insured, after payment, we deliver the policies and obtain a suitable date and time for us to come and put the insured through the content of that policy. And in so doing, sometimes the client might say ‘oh no, can they amend this, or ‘can they do this’? So, our periodic trainings with our insured especially on life products, or group life products, helps them understand the policies. Group life is the one that covers the employees, it is one of the 7 compulsory insurance policies. It covers the insured, the employees of an organization, up to the tune of 3 times their annual emolument. In this case, the organization is supposed to pay the premium, it is a policy that came up in 2004, by the promulgation of the Pensions Reform Act, the same act that brought about the contributory pension scheme, is the same act that brought about group life insurance. And what it says about group life is that, if an employee dies in employment the beneficiaries’, that is the family or dependents, will receive three times the annual emolument of that employee. It is a legal regulated policy, so if an employee earns say 5M per annum, the group life is 15M, which is given to the family if anything happens to the insured.
When did you start Mega Trust, and what are the challenges, the high and the low moments?
Mega Trust Insurance started about 15 years ago. The journey so far, has been filled with high and low moments. High moments comes when we pitch for a big account, and we win. The lowest moment is when we bid and we don’t win, or maybe we bid and through one process or the other or maybe the Nigerian factor plays out and the business goes the other way. Even though we did the best having your insurance done through a broker, the benefits cannot be over-emphasized and at no extra cost to the insured. we could, that is usually our lowest moment. But of course, when we win is usually something of joy and it encourages us to push further.
You are going to be inaugurated into a prestigious position in your organization. Tell us about it, how did you journey to this present position? Was it by selection or election, share the story?
Professional Insurance Ladies Association (PILA), is an association that has been in existence since 1976, it is the oldest female professional body in Nigeria. And I am coming in as the 14th president. The process of picking who the president would be is by election, just like as we speak, our AGM is coming up. But once you are picked as the vice president, you automatically move in as the deputy president and then into becoming the president. But you still have to go through some screening, because they want to be sure that even though you were picked as the vice president, you are still suitable to grow through the ranks from deputy president to the president. Basically, what PILA does is to encourage female practitioners to take up the professional status by going through the professional exams. We have the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, who are the parent body of PILA, because all practitioners are either members, associate members or fellow of the Chartered Institute of Nigeria. By the way, I am a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Nigeria. We realized that female employees of insurance companies were not showing interest in becoming professional, so what PILA does is to encourage them to take the exams and become professional. And if you do not have some of these professional qualifications, there will be a limit to which you can grow within the industry. Before now, you would see that a board of about 10 persons may not have a lady, or just 1 lady. We may have 60 managing directors, and there would only be 2 or 3 females amongst them. This led to the forming of PILA by women in the insurance industry at that time, and now women are being encouraged to be professionally qualified to move higher on the cadre and assume higher positions. So PILA as a body does a lot of mentoring of our members, we do annual career talks, we visit secondary schools and even universities, to encourage the students to take up insurance as a career. Once in a while, we give out scholarship or mentoring to the bright ones. And we would encourage them and also help them to get employment within the insurance industry. We have bi-monthly trainings, and we always do mentoring, and also bring in a resource person to talk to us, to train us on management, or on how to have a work-life balance.
As the incoming president of PILA, what are the new things you would bring to the that body to take it up the ladder?
I have a lot on my plate, but I would mention just a few. I just mentioned career talk, we have been having career talk for years. Usually after that career talks, we distribute small gifts to the students. But in my tenure, I want us to write a book on insurance as a topic, so that after each career talk, we would be able to leave a resource material with the students, so they can really understand what insurance is all about and then take up a career in insurance. The book would also help deepen the insurance penetration, so that people would know some of these benefits. The book would also contain information that would help the insuring public to understand what insurance is all about. That would actually be one of my major projects. To do a book that would be easy-to-read, and with easy language for the layman. Also, in our over 40yrs as an association, the association is not fully represented in other parts of Nigeria. It is mainly in Lagos; I plan to move PILA to become PILA Nigeria. We will be having branches in at least the 6 geopolitical zones. There have been pockets of gathering of insurance ladies here and there, but we have not really formalized it. That is part of what I want to do is for us, to have PILA Nigeria. In PILA, we also have international training, we would just pick ourselves and leave the shores of the land, where we can be free from family distractions. We do that periodically; however, we have not done it since Covid, but before then, we have been to South Africa, Ghana, Gambia, Kenya. It’s usually a one- week trip, we get a resource person to train us and all that. Through these trips we have developed relationship with various insurance practitioners in other countries, and we have actually started talking about PILA Africa, though we have not really put it together. Part of what I want to do in my tenure is to have PILA Africa as an organization, we would have our constitution and run it as an organized body. There is a platform that would actually help us with that, African Insurance Organization (AIO), they would be having their annual conference in Kenya, from 25-30 June 2022. So, we are partnering with AIO, to recognize and give award to 50 women in Africa, PILA started this partnership with AIO in 2021, but we have not really firmed it. But with the award we are now trying to put together for 50 deserving African women. Right now, as I speak, we have gotten nomination from about 22 countries, 62 people have applied to be part of the 50, and nomination is still open for some African countries. So, I want to make sure that after that outing PILA Africa will be registered and be a running organization, and they will also begin to have elections into positions. And it would take care of the rest of the women in insurance in Africa.
That would be really good. So how long is the tenure?
It’s a two-year tenure.
What last words do you have for women in insurance, insurance practitioners, and the insured?
To the women in insurance, PILA as a body is a rollcall of approximately 300 women, but we have over 600 women in insurance. Some of these women already have the qualifications, but they don’t want to participate in PILA. I advise them is to join us in the association, because they would be gaining a lot. Every meeting of PILA, whether online or physical meetings, we get to be trained. Some of us, actually got more training from PILA than we ever got in all the years of our career from our employers. And the annual fee, which the companies usually pay is very small. Your financial commitment to PILA in a year might not even be up to 50,000. And you get a lot of training etc., so I encourage them to come in. And to those who have not started going for the professional exams with the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria. I would encourage them to do that, because if you found yourself in insurance, you have to make the most of it. Some of us found ourselves in insurance by accident. In fact, when I came into insurance, I just told myself that I would be there for 2 years and then move to the bank. But here I am, my advice will be for them to take the professional exams so that there would be nothing limiting them. They would be able to apply for viable positions and get it. And the more you move in the industry, the higher you grow. My advice to the insuring public, is that the benefits of an insurance broker cannot be overemphasized. Because at no extra cost to them, they get the best in terms of coverage and premium to be paid. Because insurance premium is negotiable, but it is the broker that would be able to the lowest for you and at the lowest possible cost. And when it comes to benefits, life insurance for instance, I had earlier said that the benefits is 3 times your annual emolument. The premium for life is fixed, but there are some companies that would give extra benefits, some companies that would cut off the employer family from some benefits e.g HMO, in the case of death. But there are some companies that would say, for all the employees in that package, they would have an extra year for the wife and children to enjoy those medical facilities. It might be educational support, apart from paying the sum assured to the beneficiary, who may be the wife and children or any other named person, the company could also decide to give education grant to the children. They could say we would pay N1m into the school account of the children, there are companies that have various benefits and packages, which are not known to the insured. So, having your insurance done through a broker, the benefits cannot be over-emphasized and at no extra cost to the insured
