…Opens five new branches
Universal Insurance Plc, one of the fastest growing insurance companies in the country, is embarking on an expansion programme to enable it to have more presence nationwide as part of its growth strategy.
Speaking at the 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) in Lagos recently sponsored by Universal, Managing Director of the Company, Dr. Ben Ujoatuonu noted that the company recently opened five strategic branches across the country.
Ujoatuonu said: “We are carrying out our expansion programme and in the course of that expansion, Apapa Branch came up, Lekki branch came up, Maiduguri Branch came up, Kano branch came and Yenagoa branch have just come up and we are still identifying areas where we are also going to have very strategic presence as part of our growth strategy.”
Ujoatuonu stated that Universal Insurance is among the top 15 insurance companies in the country.
He said: “Recently, there was an analysis of 15 top insurance companies in the stock market in terms of their performance last year and their growth rate. Universal made it to number 12 and what is very significant is that Universal had the highest percentage of growth with 58 per cent growth.”
In terms of product development, Ujoatuonu said: “When my administration took over, in business development, we have been able to come up with a whole lot of new products, we have a very robust retail line of business and products.
“In this month, we are flagging off two new products: Universal insurance network marketing which we have designed to sell our products and create revenue income for people through network marketing and also, our digital app is already on the play store which will be formally launched through which people can access our products. We are not resting on our oars, we have a lot in our kitty which we are still developing.”
While stating that its branch network is strategic, he said: “If you have a critical look at our branch network, you will see that the bulk of our presence is down east. It was not just done it was strategic, what we are doing is trying to penetrate other areas and markets. We have a very strong focus on looking at the northern region now. We are going to have more branches in the north.
“There is no state in the southeast where we don’t have a presence. In some states we have two branches, in Abia state for instance we have two branches, in Anambra we have two branches and in all other southeastern states we have two branches. And we have created a regional hub in that south also; the essence is to ensure that we have a strong grip of our origin so to say, in terms of driving our business.”
Ujoatuonu noted that Universal Insurance is collaborating with the southeast chamber of commerce in trying to see how they can penetrate all the industries within the southeast.
“The last Enugu trade fair was sponsored by Universal Insurance. These are part of our strategy in entrenching ourselves in the south east and we are not going to relent in doing that. The businesses are coming and we hope to grow them better because there are still tremendous opportunities there, notwithstanding the obvious challenges that are facing the economy of the southeast.
“The economy is so bad but we invested heavily in the retail line of business and of a truth, despite what we are having, our retail line of business is growing, and growing very well and that was what informed our network marketing that we created. That network marketing is done in such a way that even as a customer or policy holder that is buying insurance, as you buy and introduce people, you earn income from it. So you are not just buying the cover, you also make money from buying the cover. We devised it as a strategy to penetrate the market even now in this hard economic situation, so that people can earn money from their insurance purchase.”