The authors are winners at the recent Continental Re 11th Pan-African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards 2026. Henry Uche topped the English Online category, Mercy Tyra finished first runner-up in the English Broadcast category, while Isaac Khisa won the English Print category and was named overall winner.
Chief executives and managing directors of insurance and reinsurance firms across Africa have been urged to move beyond boardroom rhetoric and take bold, measurable actions that deliver tangible impact across the continent.
Speakers at the recently held 11th CEO Summit and Continental Reinsurance Awards for Africa held in Kigali, Rwanda, stressed that the region’s transformation depends on CEOs who can turn ideas into practical solutions, backed by clear evidence of results.
Held under the theme “From Risk to Renaissance—De-risking & Enabling Africa’s Transformation”, the summit convened insurance and reinsurance leaders from across the continent for dialogue on regulatory developments, market resilience, innovation, and the evolving role of insurance in driving sustainable economic growth.
Pan-African business leader and advisor, Nyimpini Mabunda, who spoke on ‘African CEOs as Nation-Builders’, asked a rhetorical question: “Are we really playing our role as nation builders in order to nudge captains of industries to reflect on how well they have used their positions and influence?”
Action time
Reflecting on how business leaders can drive national resilience and inclusive growth beyond profit, he charged movers and shakers of insurance to start taking swift and informed actions that guarantee tangible results.
“I hate theory. We have spoken enough, let us change the approach. We must remember that business success is equal to societal success. The cost of doing nothing is very high. And doing nothing is not even an option. We have the power of connection to make decisions as corporate leaders,” said Mabunda.
He added that despite Africa’s potential for population growth of about 2.5 billion by the year 2050, and other prospects, “the pace of change is too slow”.
For Africa’s renaissance to be a reality, he maintained that leaders must rise to the occasion and take charge. Referencing some of Africa’s influential voices such as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Mo Ibrahim, he explained that more cross-sectorial leaders are needed to catapult Africa to an enviable height.
“To build vision is easy but to give people hope is difficult. So, we must ask ourselves, what have we done for our country? We need to go beyond our daily jobs. One question we must ask, if not me, then who, and if not now, then when? We must remember that the success of our continent is in our hands and we must collectively make it happen” he said.
Taking responsibility
Contributing to the discourse, former managing director and CEO of Kenya Airways, Allan Kilavuka, urged the captains of the insurance industry to take their responsibilities very seriously and ensure that every decision-making process is centred on value addition. Kilavuka challenged corporate leaders to show resilience and persistence to transform the continent.
“For African economic transformation and development to be really felt by the people, we need to consolidate African carriers. We need to get connected with one another. I am conscious of how my position affects the people,” he said.
“CEOs think they have solutions to every question, but I can tell you, you don’t have every answer to every question. So as leaders, since we can’t solve all our people’s problems, we should lessen them. We should externalise our views and maximise our positions for the betterment of our people.”
The summit explored the topic of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), with insurance and reinsurance leaders agreeing that it is no longer optional but a matter of survival as African economies grapple with climate change challenges.
From boardroom talk to action
Patty Karuaihe-Martin, managing director of Namibia National Reinsurance Corporation (Namibre) and vice-chair of Nairobi Declaration for Sustainable Insurance (NDSI), emphasised that ESG has to move from boardroom talks to implementation.
Market participants, business leaders and policymakers were challenged to move beyond sustainability commitments that happen in boardrooms to actively implementing their ESG strategies.
Karuaihe-Martin said ESG is no longer a compliance requirement but a tool for risk management and long-term sustainability, which can be used to address emerging challenges and capitalise on new growth opportunities.
“I am sure you will all agree with me that as insurers, the more floods we are having and the more events that are happening such as fires and famine, we become unsustainable, hence the importance for us to implement these ESG strategies,” she said.
She stressed that businesses and companies that fail to integrate ESG into their strategies risk being left behind in economies such as Africa, where climate vulnerability is already defining risks and opportunities.
Karuaihe-Martin also focused on the importance of sustainable insurance, highlighted by the Nairobi Declaration for Sustainable Insurance (NDSI), which started with eight members and has grown to over 260.
“NDSI strategy aims to move larger numbers of members towards greater sustainable insurance maturity via a segmented capacity-building approach,” emphasised Patty.
Evolving risks
The focus on moving beyond boardroom rhetoric and taking bold, measurable actions that deliver tangible impact across the continent comes at a time when insurance leaders across Africa are warning of a potential economic slowdown as surging global petroleum prices ripple through key sectors, on the back of the US-Israel conflict with Iran.
Godfrey Kiptum, chief executive officer of Kenya’s Insurance Regulatory Authority, said the spike in energy prices is likely to trigger broad-based economic strain similar to previous global shocks.
“We know that the rise in petroleum prices will have a huge impact on the rest of the economy. Production may go down, and we could see a repeat of past disruptions, such as during the Russia–Ukraine war, when grain supply was affected,” he said.
Kiptum said the knock-on effects could include rising inflation and higher interest rates, with direct implications for insurers through elevated claims costs, reduced investment returns and tighter liquidity conditions, factors that could ultimately slow economic growth across the continent.
He gave an example of Kenya’s economy which had been projected to expand by 5.2%, but the outlook has been trimmed to about 4%. The impact is expected to be particularly severe for net oil-importing countries, with Kiptum warning of “trouble for the continent” if global tensions persist.
He added that insurance costs have already begun to rise, particularly in maritime transport, energy and geopolitical risk covers.
Across the region, regulators say the effects are already feeding into insurance market fundamentals. In Zimbabwe, Grace Muradzikwa, commissioner of Insurance, Pensions and Provident Funds, highlighted the country’s heavy reliance on the US dollar as a key vulnerability.
With more than 80% of transactions conducted in US currency, fluctuations linked to global energy shocks are quickly transmitted into the domestic economy.
“So, for us, we are really monitoring the impact. One of the most immediate responses that we have taken is really to monitor expense ratios for our regulated entities,” she said.
Muradzikwa added that the country has implemented a risk-based capital regime, called the Zimbabwe Integrated Risk-Based Capital Framework, to ensure insurers hold capital commensurate with the risks they underwrite.
In Ghana, Abiba Zakariah, commissioner of the National Insurance Commission, said the Gulf conflict has reversed earlier gains recorded when fuel prices had declined.
“Before the war, our economy had been improving, and, for the first time in memory, oil prices had actually dropped. So, it had dropped, but it has now gone up because of the war,” she said.
“From a reinsurance perspective, war risk is not covered mostly in Ghana. So, for now, the insurance products that we have, have not experienced the effect yet. But as this happens, we expect it to spill over to other lines of business, and we suspect that reinsurance will increase their insurance rates, and probably withdraw certain cover.”
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