Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Adedayo Arowojolu, said the conference underscored the urgent need for insurers across Africa to expand access to insurance products through innovation, collaboration, and technology-driven solutions.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Arowojolu revealed that Unitrust Insurance, traditionally focused on corporate business, is now looking to develop products tailored to individuals and small businesses in a bid to contribute to the growth of insurance penetration in Nigeria.

“For us as a company, one of the key lessons we are taking away from this conference is the need to review our entire processes and product offerings,” he said. “We have concentrated largely on corporate business over the years, but going forward, we need to develop products that are suitable for individuals and strengthen our personal lines of business.”

According to him, discussions at the two-day conference highlighted the importance of leveraging technology to reach underserved populations and make insurance more accessible and affordable.

Arowojolu noted that despite Nigeria’s population of more than 220 million people, insurance penetration remains below one per cent, creating significant opportunities for insurers willing to innovate and address the needs of the mass market.

“The importance of extending insurance products to SMEs and individuals cannot be overemphasized,” he said. “The best way to achieve this is by using technology to reach those who currently have little or no access to insurance services.”

He added that affordability remains a critical factor in encouraging wider adoption of insurance products, especially in an environment where many consumers prioritize more immediate economic needs.

“If insurers can provide products that are relevant to people’s circumstances and financial realities, more Nigerians will begin to see the value of insurance and embrace it,” he said.

The conference also focused on fostering greater collaboration among African insurers, pooling resources, and reducing capital outflows from the continent, themes Arowojolu described as essential to the long-term growth and sustainability of the insurance industry.

He further noted that discussions around the role of insurance in sustaining businesses reinforced the need for increased awareness and education about the benefits of insurance protection.

As Unitrust Insurance evaluates the conference’s key recommendations, the company plans to explore new ways of delivering affordable insurance solutions to retail customers while leveraging technology to broaden its market reach.

“We need to let more people understand the value that insurance brings,” Arowojolu said. “By adapting some of the ideas and lessons from this conference, we believe we can play a greater role in deepening insurance penetration and expanding financial protection for Nigerians.”

This version makes Unitrust’s planned expansion into the retail and personal insurance segment the main news angle while weaving in the broader conference discussions as supporting context.

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Speaking under the event’s central focus on economic development, regional leaders argued that Africa cannot successfully scale up its manufacturing value chains or transition away from exporting raw commodities without building a robust, domestic infrastructure for risk absorption.

Delivering the keynote paper, Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President of Intra-African Trade and Export Development at Afreximbank, highlighted the stark reality facing the continent’s industrial ambitions. Across most of Africa, insurance penetration remains frozen at just 2% to 3%, compared to a global average of 6.8%. Furthermore, Africa’s entire continental reinsurance market accounts for a mere 1.6% of the global total.

Awani stressed that these deficits are directly choking industrial expansion, resulting in delayed infrastructure projects, higher financing costs, and a problematic status quo where too much African risk is ceded to foreign markets.

“Research shows the strong link between higher insurance penetration and higher manufacturing value-added per capita,” Awani said. “Put simply, if a country has industrialized, it means it has learned to manage its own risk.”

To support the industrial goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which spans 1.5 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion, Awani called on policymakers to view insurance as a fundamental pillar of trade and project finance rather than a peripheral service.

She noted that the continent faces an annual infrastructure funding deficit of nearly $90 billion. To bridge this gap, she urged global and regional insurers to mobilize their balance sheets, noting that directing just 0.5% of the world’s $42 trillion in insurance assets toward African infrastructure would transform the continent’s industrial capacity.

The conference also highlighted how national-level regulatory reforms can successfully unlock capital for broader economic growth. Mahmoud Farid, Egypt’s Minister of Investment and Trade, speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, detailed Egypt’s recent four-year regulatory overhaul.  

Farid pointed to a previously controversial mandate by Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) that forced insurance companies and private pension funds to invest a strict minimum percentage into listed equities. While initially met with industry pushback, Farid revealed the strategy has successfully energized local capital markets. Thanks to the influx of institutional insurance capital, Egypt is now preparing for four to five new private sector Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) alongside major state Listings like Misr Life Insurance.  

By tightening governance, driving digitization, and mandating equity investments, Egypt’s reforms demonstrated how a structured insurance sector can directly feed the wider financial ecosystem required for industrial investment.

Reinforcing the social necessity of these economic strategies, Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Affairs, H.E. Mohammed Abu Bakr, concluded that a strong insurance and reinsurance network ensures that individual citizens and businesses do not have to shoulder the volatile risks of economic transformation alone.

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