In a country where insurance penetration has lingered below the 1% mark for years, you would not be wrong to wonder if the insurance companies in that market are operating profitably.

From the financial statements released as of December 2021, UAP Old Mutual was the leading insurance company in terms of revenue. They had shs152 billion in gross written premium, a summation of both their General and Health insurance businesses.

The closest competitors were Prudential Life at shs 95 billion, Sanlam at shs 89 billion, Jubilee Allianz at shs 83 billion and Britam insurance with shs70 billion. 

UAP Old Mutual also paid out a whooping shs 67 billion in net claims to their customers. A feat made possible due to their strong asset base with over shs 287 billion in total assets that translated into shs 84 billion in shareholder's equity. For comparison, the closest in claims payment was the Life insurance section of Prudential at shs 41 billion in 2021.

With such high payouts on claims in a market with few willing customers, profits can be quite elusive. Nonetheless, UAP Old Mutual still managed to close the year with shs 26 billion in profits before tax. These were driven by both the insurance business and investment income attained within the year. 

According to the Managing Director, UAP OLD Mutual Uganda, Stephen Chikovore, the lead is through superior customer experience and retention.

“We have focused on delivering a superior customer experience through continuous implementation of operational excellence initiatives and customer journey management by implementing and enhancing the touchpoints and feedback mechanisms,” explained Chikovore.  

Furthermore, UAP Old Mutual is a subsidiary of Old Mutual Limited based in South Africa which has been in operation for over 177 years and is in 13 countries. The growth of the business and becoming market leaders is also attributed to the experience the company has in the sector, a wide variety of insurance products and capacity to underwrite special risks.

It is also important to note that UAP Old Mutual’s growth has been a result of the strategic alignment of service and product development to the projected key economic drivers.

A report published by PWC titled The road to recover: Building economic resilience highlighted digital transformation as a key enabler for economic transformation and improvement in efficiency and productivity. UAP Old Mutual is strongly driving digital transformation to offer customers superior, quick, and seamless customer experience and solutions. An example of the digital solutions that the company recently added to their array of digital solutions is the online salvage auctioning site where customers have instant access to bid for motor and electronic salvage products online. 

The insurance industry seems to be on the right path in playing catch-up with other sectors of the financial sector such as banking that are rooted in the economy with more customers. It now remains up to the market leaders such as UAP Old Mutual to set the pace and exponentially grow the insurance sector.