Uganda, Kampala. 5th April 2017 – Uganda Insurers Association (UIA), the umbrella organization for all insurance companies in Uganda, hosted their annual Life Agent of the Year Awards at their offices in Kololo today.
Established in 2011, the Life Agent of the Year awards acknowledge the contributions that life agents make towards growing the insurance industry in Uganda. Since their inception, the awards have progressively led to an improvement in the quality of individual life insurance business in Uganda.
Speaking about the 2016 awards, UIA Chief Executive Officer Ms. Miriam Magala noted that the Life insurance business registers a growth of 34% annually and this speaks to the appetite that the market still has for life insurance.
“The Life insurance category has one of the healthiest growth amongst all insurance categories- this means that insurers are responding to the needs of the market with value driven products,” she stated.
The awards are open to all life insurance member companies and the awards are given in the following categories;
- New business written in terms of policies and premiums
- The Best new Agent
- The percentage of policies that are still in force (also known as Persistency)
Last month, the UIA launched a 10 year Market Growth and Development Plan – a plan that streamlines a series of actions and activities under four key intervention areas; increased understanding and appreciation of insurance, lobbying and advocacy, leveraging on technology and capacity building – with the aim of increasing the insurance penetration from less than 1% to 3% by 2025.
”Life insurance is definitely a growth area for us especially as we advocate for government to apply saving incentives the same way these have been proposed for the Pensions sector. This will not only encourage the uptake of life insurance but will also ensure that people can continue to afford the same standard of living and provide for their loved ones, even when they do not have steady incomes,” added Mr. Joseph Almeida, Chairman of the Life and Pensions Committee.
Mr. Edgar Katsigwa won the Agent of the Year 2016 Award, Mr. Michael Kuka the Best New Life Insurance Agent 2016 Award and Mr. Ronald keeya Senabulya emerged the best agent in the Persistency category. Mr. Katsigwa was also recognized as the Agent who brought in the highest premium.
Uganda Insurers Association currently has a membership of 31 companies of which 9 are Life insurance companies, 20 are Non-Life General insurance companies and 2 Reinsurance companies. The Life and General insurance companies have an extensive country wide branch network.
