Minet’s presence in Zambia dates back to 1952 when J.H.Minet Zambia Limited was established as a locally registered insurance broking and risk management company. In 1997, the company was acquired by AON as part of their African expansion plan. In 2017, Capital Works - a private equity firm - acquired Aon’s shareholding in several African operations alongside local shareholders, which has created what is now Aon’s largest Global Network correspondent: Minet.
The rebirth of Minet marks a historic milestone in the risk advisory industry as Minet prides itself on an extensive African footprint, owned and led by Africans in Africa. Minet’s Zambian affiliate, Minet Zambia, has its head office based in the capital city, Lusaka and a branch on the Copperbelt town (Kitwe) with over 45 employees.
At Minet, we promote career development among our members of staff through education programmes such as the Chartered Insurance professional qualification. We attach great importance to professional development because of its power to provide the technical knowhow needed by staff to assess and manage the ever-changing risk desires of customers through the provision of professional advice and service. Another notable benefit of professional development is that a technically sound workforce will uphold the professional ethics which helps to maintain order and soberness in the industry resulting in client confidence.
Attainment of Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII) qualification by several employees has brought benefit to the company through improved technical competence and quality advise extended to our clients. Also, such qualification can help ensure acceptance of tender bidding documents as some require key staff to have an ACII qualification.
As a company we prefer Certificate in Insurance (CII) qualified employees because of the in-depth knowledge that is exhibited by ACII qualified employees and their advanced problem-solving skills in insurance. To incentivize employees that attain ACII qualification, we promote them to the position of Account Executive.
One of the internationally recognized insurance qualifications is the ACII diploma provided by the Chartered Insurance Institute of the United Kingdom. CII Zambia is estimated to have over 100 students pursuing studies with CII and Minet Zambia encourages all its staff who currently do not have this qualification to do so. Minet Zambia sponsors over 10 staff who are pursuing the CII qualification at various levels (Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma). We also made it a company policy to pursue the CII professional qualification.
To show its commitment towards the promotion of professional development among insurance professionals in Zambia, Minet arranged a virtual meeting between CII representatives and various Zambian insurance professionals studying for ACII, in order to discuss the learning services offered by CII to an African country like Zambia.
CII was represented by the newly appointed African Director Mr. Laurence Smith in the company of Mr. Tony Ward (Customer Operations Director) and Jeremy Mullen (Accreditation Manager). The meeting brought to the fore challenges the Zambian CII students were facing in pursuit of their studies. Key challenges include:
Customer operations issues bordering on contact with CII for concerns such as examination result appeals.
Anxiety among students regarding the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on their studies in general and more especially on the October 2020 examinations. CII assured that multiple-choice question (MCQ) examinations will be conducted either from centers or via remote invigilation, while written exams will happen as usual (provided government health guidelines allow) or via remote invigilation.
The need of detailed feedback from CII on coursework studies, especially to candidates who’ve fallen short of the pass mark by a small margin. CII advised that falling short is often due to underperformance in technique rather than in knowledge; it therefore seems sensible to have more materials that can assist students with technique.
The cost of pursuing CII came up as of great importance. The students are appreciative of the fact that CII provides a 50% discount (to be confirmed) to students located in African countries; however, they still requested a further discount in light of the economic turmoil that the country is undergoing.
The meeting was deemed very successful as CII not only provided valid answers to the issues raised but also provided guidance and pledged to continue providing and maintaining the quality and scope of their learning. The appointment of an African Director demonstrates their commitment to help Africa attain the highest levels of insurance provision through competent professions.
It is with hope that in the next few years, when the current pandemic is a thing of the past, CII learning will be more digital than it is today and students would be able to take exams whenever they feel they are ready to do so, and feedback would be immediate. This would in turn reduce the number of years spent by students studying for ACII and show an increase in the number of graduating students.
Willance Mukosha ǀ Senior Broker – Corporate and Middle Markets ǀ Minet Zambia
Libi Kwaleyela ǀ Broker – Bancassurance ǀ Minet Zambia
Comments
Post a Comment