Top Inspiring Business Leaders of Excellence Driving Nigeria’s Economic growth : emPLE

To celebrate Inspiring business leaders of Excellence Driving Nigeria’s Economic growth,Chioma kachi Ewelike sat with the professional par excellence in person of Mr.Olalekan Oyinlade Managing Director/CEO emPLE General Insurance and Mr.Jolaolu Fakoya Managing Director/CEO emPLE Life Assurance Ltd to discuss business so far.

Mr.Olalekan Oyinlade Managing Director/CEO emPLE General Insurance

1. You have built a distinguished career in Nigeria’s insurance and financial services industry. What experiences have shaped your leadership journey, and how are they influencing the kind of business you are building at emPLE?

My journey has spanned more than 27 years in insurance, across underwriting, reinsurance, claims, business development and executive leadership. Working across these areas has given me a practical understanding of insurance: you have to understand the risk, price it responsibly, build the right relationships and, most importantly, be there when the customer needs you.

I began my career in general business underwriting and reinsurance and have had the opportunity to work across different organisations and in leadership roles before becoming Managing Director of the General Insurance business. Each experience has reinforced for me the importance of technical discipline, strong relationships and keeping your word.

That influences how I lead emPLE General today. We want to build a business that is commercially strong, technically sound and trusted by customers, brokers and partners. Growth is important, but sustainable growth comes from doing the fundamentals well and consistently delivering on the promise we make to customers.

2. Following the industry’s recapitalisation exercise, what must insurers do to ensure that stronger capital translates into stronger businesses and tangible value for customers?

Recapitalisation is important, but capital alone does not create a great insurance company. What matters is what you do with that capital.

For general insurance, increased capacity should enable us to retain and underwrite larger, more complex risks locally, invest in stronger technical capabilities and technology, improve claims delivery, and develop solutions that respond to the changing risks facing Nigerian businesses and individuals.

At emPLE General, we view our capital position as a platform rather than an achievement in isolation. In 2025, our General Insurance business paid out more than ₦3.6 billion in claims. For me, financial strength becomes meaningful when a customer suffers a covered loss and the insurer has both the capacity and the commitment to respond.

The next phase must therefore focus on converting capital into capacity, efficiency, innovation and ultimately greater confidence in insurance.

3. Despite Nigeria’s large population and economy, insurance penetration remains relatively low. What needs to change for insurance to become something Nigerians genuinely understand, trust and choose to buy?

We need to stop expecting customers to adapt to insurance and start adapting insurance to the realities of customers.

For many Nigerians, the first questions are practical: “Do I understand what I am buying? Can I afford it? Is it relevant to the risk I actually face? If something happens, will the insurer respond?”

Our responsibility is to provide convincing answers to those questions. That means simpler products, clearer communication, more accessible distribution and consistent claims performance.

For example, with our Flexi Third-Party Motor proposition, the thinking was that insurance should not be one-size-fits-all. Customers have different budgets and protection needs, so the product offers different levels of protection rather than forcing everyone into the same solution.

Penetration will deepen when insurance stops feeling like an obligation or a complicated financial product and starts to be seen as a useful part of everyday financial planning.

4. Technology, AI and data are transforming insurance, but technology alone cannot create trust. How is emPLE approaching digital transformation while keeping the customer at the centre of the experience?

Technology is an enabler, not the objective.

The objective is to make insurance easier. If technology allows a customer to buy a policy faster but makes it harder to speak to us when something goes wrong, we have not necessarily improved the experience.

We should use data and technology to better understand risks, improve underwriting, reduce turnaround times, simplify customer journeys and communicate more proactively. But there must still be transparency and accountability behind those systems.

Insurance ultimately involves a promise between an institution and a customer. Technology can make that promise easier to access and administer, but trust is built when the customer sees the institution consistently deliver.

5. What is your approach to developing talent and building a strong, inclusive team at emPLE, particularly as the skills required to compete in insurance continue to evolve?

I believe strong businesses are built by strong teams, and that requires both competence and diverse perspectives.

Insurance today needs more than traditional technical expertise. We need people who understand underwriting and claims, as well as expertise in technology, data, customer experience, product innovation, distribution and risk management.

My responsibility as a leader is therefore not simply to have talented people around me. It is to create an environment where people are challenged, trusted, given opportunities and able to grow.

Diversity is also important because our customers and the risks we insure are diverse. If everyone around the table thinks the same way and has the same experiences, blind spots are inevitable. The strongest teams combine different perspectives with a common standard of excellence.

6. Looking towards 2030, what will differentiate the insurers that lead Nigeria’s next phase of growth, and where do you see emPLE in that future?

The leaders will not simply be the companies with the largest balance sheets. Capital will be important, but so will technical capability, customer trust, speed, innovation and the ability to understand emerging risks.

Nigeria is changing rapidly. Businesses are becoming more digital, infrastructure needs are increasing, climate and cyber risks are evolving, and customers expect simpler, faster experiences. Insurers must keep pace.

For emPLE General, our ambition is to build an institution capable of underwriting increasingly sophisticated risks while remaining relevant to the everyday Nigerian customer.

By 2030, I want emPLE to be recognised not only for how much business we write, but also for the quality of the risks we manage, the reliability with which we fulfil our obligations, and the confidence customers and partners have in us.

Mr.Jolaolu Fakoya Managing Director/CEO emPLE Life Assurance Ltd

1. You have built a distinguished career in Nigeria’s insurance and financial services industry. What experiences have shaped your leadership journey, and how are they influencing the kind of business you are building at emPLE?

My career has allowed me to view insurance from several perspectives, as a chartered insurer, an actuary, a risk professional, and now as a business leader.

The actuarial profession teaches you to think long term. You learn very quickly that today’s decisions have implications that may only become visible years later. That discipline has shaped how I approach leadership: understand the data, understand the risk, and never lose sight of the people behind the numbers.

That is particularly important in life insurance. We are dealing with people’s families, futures and aspirations. When someone buys a life policy, they entrust us with a responsibility that may extend for many years into the future.

At emPLE Life, I therefore want us to build a business that combines technical and financial discipline with a deeply human understanding of what protection means to the customer.

2. Following the industry’s recapitalisation exercise, what must insurers do to ensure that stronger capital translates into stronger businesses and tangible value for customers?

For life insurers, capital is fundamentally about the ability to honour promises over the long term.

The recapitalisation exercise has given the industry a stronger foundation, but success should ultimately be measured by what changes for the policyholder. Are insurers developing better products? Are we reaching more Nigerians? Are claims being settled efficiently? Are we investing responsibly and building institutions capable of meeting obligations for many years to come?

At emPLE Life, our capital position gives us greater capacity to pursue those objectives. In 2025 alone, our Life business paid out more than ₦4.1 billion in claims. That is the practical meaning of insurance: being financially prepared to support families and beneficiaries when the need arises.

The real opportunity now is to convert the industry’s increased financial strength into greater public confidence and wider participation in insurance.

3. Despite Nigeria’s large population and economy, insurance penetration remains relatively low. What needs to change for insurance to become something Nigerians genuinely understand, trust and choose to buy?

We have to make insurance relevant before we can expect people to adopt it.

For too long, insurance has often been communicated in the language of the industry rather than in the language of the customer. Most people do not wake up thinking about mortality tables, premiums or policy structures. They are thinking about their children’s education, protecting their income, caring for ageing parents, building businesses and ensuring their families remain financially secure.

Our job is to connect insurance to those realities.

At emPLE Life, one of our priorities is to make insurance easier to understand, more accessible and more relevant to everyday Nigerians. Our recent Protecting Little Dreams initiative with Ecobank, for instance, used conversations between parents and children to introduce families to financial planning and protection.

We will deepen our penetration when we combine education, accessible products, trusted partnerships and consistently positive customer experiences.

4. Technology, AI and data are transforming insurance, but technology alone cannot create trust. How is emPLE approaching digital transformation while keeping the customer at the centre of the experience?

Technology offers us an enormous opportunity to rethink how people experience life insurance.

Data can help us better understand customers, improve pricing and risk assessment, identify needs earlier and create more personalised solutions. Digital channels can also make it easier for customers to purchase cover, manage policies and engage with us. However, there is an important distinction between digitising a process and improving a customer’s life.

We should use technology to remove friction, not human connection. In life insurance, there are moments when customers and beneficiaries need empathy, clarity and reassurance. No algorithm can replace that responsibility.

For us, therefore, digital transformation must ultimately answer one question: does this make insurance simpler, more accessible and more useful for the customer?

5. What is your approach to developing talent and building a strong, inclusive team at emPLE, particularly as the skills required to compete in insurance continue to evolve?

Talent development has to be intentional. The future of insurance will require a combination of traditional insurance knowledge and newer capabilities in actuarial science, analytics, technology, customer experience, behavioural insight and digital distribution. We therefore have to create opportunities for people to learn across disciplines rather than remain confined to narrow functions.

I also believe inclusion is a business imperative. We serve people across different ages, income groups, professions, family structures and communities. The organisation making decisions about those customers should draw on equally varied perspectives.

My role is to create an environment in which talented people are given responsibility, encouraged to challenge assumptions and supported in developing into the next generation of insurance leaders.

6. Looking towards 2030, what will differentiate the insurers that lead Nigeria’s next phase of growth, and where do you see emPLE in that future?

I believe the defining opportunity between now and 2030 is to make insurance part of everyday financial life for many more Nigerians.

Nigeria has a young population, increasing digital adoption, and millions of individuals and families whose protection needs remain underserved. The opportunity is enormous, but capturing it will require us to rethink product design, distribution, and how we communicate the value of insurance.

The leading institutions will combine financial strength with customer insight, data, partnerships and the ability to create simple solutions at scale.

For emPLE Life, our ambition goes beyond being financially stronger. We want to make insurance simpler, more accessible and more relevant to everyday Nigerians, while building the partnerships and digital capabilities needed to reach them wherever they are. That is the kind of growth I believe can meaningfully change both our business and the wider insurance industry.

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