2 Bodies school businesses on insurance policies
About 200 business owners, mainly Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from the Bono East Region have taken part in a two-day sensitisation workshop on insurance products.
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The workshop was aimed at whipping up the interest of MSME operators to insure their businesses against risks.
It was organised by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) and supported by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and Insurance Awareness Coordinators Group (IACG) to sensitise them to use insurance policies to manage risks.
NIC said research showed that most of the MSMEs, which dominated the country’s economy were unable to revive after disaster because they were not insured against any risk.
It was to help them identify and understand the risk associated with their operations, the need to insure their businesses and how insurance could help them manage their risks.
The training formed part of the NIC's nationwide sensitisation efforts to boost interest of the participants and help them to identify the risks associated with their businesses and sign against those risks.
Design suitable products
Addressing the participants in Techiman on Monday, the acting Commissioner of Insurance, Michael Kofi Andoh, charged insurance companies to design suitable products for the informal sector operators.
He said the commission had extensively engaged insurance companies to specifically introduce such products to entice MSMEs to sign onto them.
Mr Andoh said only 12 per cent of Ghanaians were working in the formal sector, while 88 per cent of the people were in the informal sector.
"But our insurance packages by default are designed to suit mainly the formal sector workers,” he said, emphasising that majority of Ghanaians were excluded from the insurance market.
Access
Mr Andoh said the commission was working hard to improve access to insurance products and services as well as making processes for claims flexible and faster.
He said the commission had also introduced a new initiative dubbed "New Inclusive Insurance Strategy" to help sustain and grow informal sector businesses.
Mr Andoh said the initiative was to help support MSMEs to grow to become big companies to improve the country’s economy.
Caution, interest
He cautioned the public to be mindful of fake insurance companies.
He said the commission had published the names of all licensed insurance companies on its website and urged the public to visit the site to authenticate companies they intended to transact business with.
For his part, the Technical Advisor of the GIZ, Obed Annan Nortey, said it was crucial for the MSMEs to take interest in insuring their businesses against any form of risk, since they always found it difficult to revive their businesses after disasters.