WAICA RE appoints Dr. Abiba Zakariah as chief operating officer

WAICA Reinsurance Corporation, a sub-regional insurance organisation with headquarters in Freetown, Sierra Leone has appointed Dr. Abiba Zakariah as its Group Chief Operating Officer.

WAICA RE with over 200 institutional and individual shareholders spread over Africa made the appointment as part of efforts to strengthen its human capital in its quest to enhance strategic business operations.

Dr. Abiba Zakariah is expected to assume her position at the organisation’s headquarters in Freetown, Sierra Leone on March 1, 2019.

Dr. Zakariah, is joining the WAICA RE team as a seasoned insurer and brings on board over 20 years experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry.
Until her appointment, she was the Managing Director/CEO of Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited.

Dr. Zakariah is a Chartered Insurer and a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of United Kingdom and the Institute of Risk Management Professionals of Ghana.

She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, United Kingdom.

She holds a BSc Hons. degree from the University of Ghana, Legon, and an MBA from the same university. She earned her PhD in Management Studies from the Swiss Management Centre.

Among her outstanding qualities are the strong ability to effectively engage with, build and maintain beneficial relationships with stakeholders at all levels. She is also a very articulate communicator.

In a related development, other appointments have been made within the executive management level of WAICA Re.

It includes the appointment of Mr. Clement Owusu as Group Technical Director, who hitherto held the position of Assistant Director for Ghana.

Mr. Steve Odjugo, also a seasoned insurance/reinsurance practitioner with outstanding oil and gas expertise is now the head of WAICA Re operations in Nigeria.

The Group Board has appointed Mr. Wilberforce Machimbidzofa, an experienced Zimbabwean international insurer and broker to head its subsidiary in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Before this appointment Wilberforce was a top executive with AON and later moved to join in the setting up of Reinsurance Solutions, a Pan African reinsurance broker based in Mauritius, where he was an Executive Director.

The Group will in March 2019 formally launch its operations to cover East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya and also outdoor the CEO for Kenyan subsidiary in the person of Kenyan-born Charles Etemesi. The Group launched its Zimbabwe and Southern Africa operations in December 2018.
WAICA Re is one of the fastest growing reinsurance organisations in Africa and is currently ranked 11th in Africa and 2nd in West Africa by the Reinsurance Ranking index.