BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR–As part of it’s strategy to deepen insurance penetration in the country, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, has established strategic collaboration with ONE CARD a leading online platform to leverage on their technology infrastructure to promote the sales of compulsory insurance products.
Speaking at the event which was held recently in Lagos Ademola Ifagbayi, Managing Director/ CEO said the company is equally in alliance with LifePartners a leading HMO to grow it’s term Assurance and Loss of Job cover to guarantee health care services wherever the needs arises.
Explains how the initiative was conceived, he said “We have two major products that have been in insurance business for long, which is the term assurance and loss of job cover. What we did is to use that products as an enabler to penetrate the existing enrollees of HMOs.
“We discovered that whenever an employee works with an organization if they are no longer there whether by termination or restructuring, the first thing that they lose is their health cover. But we now discovered that we have a loss of job insurance cover that can guarantee the benefit of the family in the next one year. We did our research and we discovered it takes a waiting period of six to seven months for 70 percent of people to secure a new job after they lose their job.
He said “what we did is to introduce the loss of job cover to the amount of premium that they pay to the HMOs, so if anything happens to them we pay the claim to the HMO.”
He however said that they are focusing only on people who left their employment on a legal means.
He noted that the cover excludes termination as a result of disciplinary meandered or resignation.
He explained that HMO is always an integral part of the family because their spouses and children are involved.
“We asked ourselves, what value are HMOs adding to family incase an enrollee passes on, that is always the end of the relationship. We believe that the HMO can go a bit further to support the family that is why we introduced as part of the health package a term life assurance cover up to N500,000 to N1million they will package as a rider to the product that they are selling to the enrollee.
He said the “HMOs market controls a large number of people that believes in what they are doing and they are leveraging on us to ensure that we continue to get the patronage of their enrollees if they are not longer working in a paid employment why at the same time they are equally helping us to sell our term assurance products, so is a symbiotic relationship thst adds value to both organisations.”
He stated that insurance is driven by value and people see the value on the table they will be able to be a part of it and it will help to deepen insurance penetration.
On training for their retail team, he said “ what we did today is to ensure we get the buying in of our retail team to enlighten them on the products and to sell the products.
He stressed that in mutual benefits they place high value to training and retraining program for their retail staffs/ agents, adding that they are the face of the organization. “Because when an agent gets it wrong, they don’t border to know the company they are coming from.”
