WAICA Re enhances skill of insurers on marine and aviation insurance

Cross section of the participants

Insurance practitioners from various companies in West Africa are undergoing a weeklong international training course on advance marine and aviation insurance in The Gambia.

The training that started on Monday is organised by the West Africa Reinsurance Corporation (WAICA-Re), a sub-regional reinsurance company based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. 

It is being attended by about 50 participants from various insurance companies in English-speaking countries of West Africa namely Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.  It is underway at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.

The course was declared open by the governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, Amadou Colley, who was represented by Mr Saikou Gassama, a senior officer at the Bank.

The participants are being train on modules such as marine cargo underwriting, marine cargo and hull reinsurance, aviation insurance underwriting, and aviation insurance claims and adjustments.

Speaking on the occasion, the managing director and chief executive officer of WAICA Re, Mr Abiola Ekundayo, said marine and aviation are chosen to be main theme of the training because there are obvious challenges in underwriting those two classes of insurance in the sub-region.

“We know there are challenges in these fields in the sense that we do not have many marine and aviation underwriters.  Also, if you look at the insurance industry in Africa generally, the old people are going out and the younger ones they are leaving are not well versatile when it comes to underwriting skills, particularly marine and aviation insurance. 

“So we are trying to develop them, the younger ones, in order to prepare them for the future so that the industry will not collapse even if all the old ones retire.”

WAICA Re CEO claimed that at the end of the training, by the time the participants listened to various experts, the facilitators, they will also be versatile in underwriting the two classes of insurance – marine and aviation.

Last year, a similar course was organised on ‘the principles and practise of reinsurance’ and it was held in Freetown, Sierra Leone. 

Organising such training is part of WAICA Re’s objective of building the capacities, the skills of companies that cede business to them, to develop the companies for the future. 

WAICA Re is owned by the 5 English speaking countries in West Africa.  The company started operations in August 2011.  Its main objective is to provide reinsurance services to the insurance companies in West Africa and other regions. 

The company transacts all classes of insurance business. 

The aim of the company is to bring reinsurance to the doorstep of West African insurance companies.  In this vein, it has a branch in Nigeria and Ghana which serve their respective countries while the head office in Freetown takes care of all countries in West Africa and beyond.  Outside of Africa, the company operates in the Middle East and some parts of Asia