Enterprise Life celebrates sales reps
The Senior Manager in charge of Distribution of Enterprise Life Insurance Ltd, Mr Francis Akoto Yirenkyi, has called on the government and the National Insurance Commission to take it upon themselves to educate the public more vigorously on life insurance to deepen penetration.
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He said the current practice where sales personnel added education of customers before they could sell to them was laborious and was not encouraging life insurance penetration faster, hence the need for the state and its agencies to take on that role head on.
Mr Yirenkyi, who made the call at the 2014 Broker Top 50 sales representatives conference held at the Best Western Premier Hotel in Accra on May 29, stressed that although companies were individually doing their best, the onus laid on the government and the NIC to push the education agenda.
However, he said a lot of opportunities abounded in the country, typified by the entry of more international investors into the market.
The conference was to recognise the top 50 sales persons at insurance brokerage firms who excelled in helping the company to achieve its targets for 2013. The sales force contributed 16 per cent to the gross premium of the company.
The regular winner, Mr Stephen Amemakakpor, a salesman at KEK Insurance Brokers, once again emerged the topmost performer, a title he has retained for more than three consecutive years.
For his prize, he would be paid an amount towards either education, acquisition of land or towards a building project. In addition, Mr Amemakakpor and the topmost five persons would receive certificates and plaques.
Mr Yirenkyi said for this year, Enterprise Life would grow its new businesses by about 20 per cent over that of last year, but even more important, improve on its conversion rate to about 90 per cent. The conversion rate is the number of sold policies that are actually paid for.
Last year, Enterprise Life recorded net premium income of GH¢122.3 million, an increase of 39.8 per cent over the 2012 figure.
The growth is dominated by individual life policies which now constitute 96 per cent of the company’s total premium, with group policies constituting four per cent.
“The environment is not easy but we have managed to do this through a peculiar culture we have built, trying not to compete with anybody but within ourselves,” the senior manager for distribution, said.
He added that the company had also adopted aggressive field work and sales approach to penetrate the market.
According to the Executive Director of Enterprise Life, Mr C.C. Bruce, the company had achieved a successful feat through a disciplined execution of strategy and operational management, adding that efficiencies in its operational spending, for example, improved to 16.2 per cent last year, compared with the 18.6 per cent recorded in 2012.
He said the outlook for life insurance remained positive, saying the low penetration of below one per cent of the population demonstrated the enormous opportunities in that market.
The winners
Out of the 50 top sales representatives, 19 of them came from KEK Brokerage; nine from Tristar, and one each from Dynamic, Safety, Edward Mensah Wood and Riscovery brokerage firms.
The second to sixth positions respectively went to Mr Isaac Danso-Kumi of KEK; Mr Nurudeen Mohammed and Mr Collins Agyei Gyan, both of Tristar; Mr Godwin Nenyo of KEK and Mr Adams Tetteh of Lordship Insurance Brokerage.
The rest from seventh position respectively are Messrs Francis Kwaku Kalefe; Thomas Nseakyure of KEK; Thomas Adanse and Edward Baah, both of KEK.
The theme for the conference was “Achieving Excellence through Quality Sales, carved out of the company’s 2014 annual theme of “Excellence of the Soul.”