At the 6th edition of the African Insurance Awards held on 18 December, Mauritian insurer MUA was awarded Insurance Company of the Year. These annual awards are organised by the African reinsurer Africa Re, with the aim of promoting best industry practices and good governance whilst championing innovation and sustainable growth. The awards comprise four categories: Insurance Company of the Year, CEO of the Year, Innovation of the Year and Insurtech of the Year.

The jury, comprised of respected African insurance industry leaders noted “its strong growth these last three years; successful digitisation of its services and client centric strategies.” The award was made to a company that has demonstrated its firm commitment to respond to the needs of its clients, a level of excellence, solid performances and high standards of quality. Six insurance companies from across the continent were nominated in the category.

Bertrand Casteres, MUA’s Group CEO, commented: “To win the award for African Insurance Company of the Year would not have been possible without the contribution of each member of the big MUA family, across six countries. Since 2014 we have worked to position MUA as an innovative and dynamic regional insurer, the acquisition of Saham Kenya being the most recent milestone. We would like to thank Africa Re for organising this event, which is key to the insurance sector’s development.”

The African Insurance Awards took the form of a virtual awards ceremony this year, with 1250 insurance industry professionals gathered online. Fifty-two nominations were submitted in the four categories. Alpha Direct Insurance Company from Botswana won the category Innovation of the Year ; Valentin Ojumah from FBN Insurance in Nigeria was named CEO of the Year ; and PULA from Kenya won the award for AssurTech, destined for start-ups.

In his key-note address, Dr Corneille Karekezi, Africa Re CEO commented: “From our initial assessment of the African insurance sector in 2020, it’s evident that most insurance companies have been able to rapidly and successfully adapt to the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. We sincerely hope that the resumption of activities will be characterised by overwhelmingly positive changes, changes that will accelerate the process of closing the insurance protection gap that exists today in our different countries.”

Listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, MUA is the largest insurance company in Mauritius in terms of market capitalisation and features amongst the top 3 best-performing stocks (since listing in 1993). MUA has over 670 employees in Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Seychelles.