By HELEN ZULU –
THE Organisation for Eastern and Southern African Insurers (OESAI) has urged Zambian insurance companies to join regional and continental bodies to get full benefits from the sector.
OESAI secretary general Eunice Ndathi said the benefits of belonging to regional bodies were vast ranging from being able to lobby policy makers with one voice as well as to learn new things through networking.
Ms Ndathi said in an interview that Zambian companies should take advantage of the fact that the chairperson for OESAI is Charles Nakhoze, a Zambian.
“We want to encourage insurance companies in Zambia to belong to regional bodies so that they can enjoy the benefits of what is happening in the region, they should also take advantage of the fact that the chairmanship is in Zambia,” she said.
Mr Nakhoze said currently only about five out of 33 Zambian companies belonged to OESAI, a situation which needed to be changed.
He said if companies belonged to OESAI, they would be able to learn how to increase insurance penetration in the country as it was currently low.
Mr Nakhoze said in a separate interview that Zambian companies would be better equipped with best insurance practices once they belonged to such organisations because they would be networking.
“As the organisation, we hold training for our members to teach them on best practices and how to deal with clients to ensure that they appreciate insurance products.
“Companies that join our organisation will be able to enjoy all these benefits and also be able to improve insurance penetration in the country,” Mr Nakhoze said.