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For Mr Nathan Chikono winning the Business Leader of the Year for 2015 is reward for years of hard work and tenacity. The Champions Insurance Company managing director is a career insurer par excellence. “I am a career insurer having started working at National Insurance Company of Zimbabwe in 1993, and rising through the ranks to assume leadership responsibilities at various insurance companies in Zimbabwe,” he said recently.Mr Chikono joined the Champions Insurance Company in 2011, turning around an $800 000 annual turnover company into a firm making over $10 million annually in the past four and half years.

The meteoric rise of Champions Insurance Company was driven by tenacious leadership and a passionate team of staff, innovative product development, prudent risk management, customer focus, and technical partnerships.

The company has witnessed an impressive 14 percent growth in income as at 31 December, 2015 and over $400 000 in profits for the year.

Champions Insurance has grown to become a global brand as witnessed by the local and international recognition, and accolades that the firm has scooped in a short period of time.

Hot on the heels of scooping the Global Green Award in Berlin, Germany in 2014, Champions Insurance Company won two more international awards including The Best Enterprise Award given by the European Business Assembly in Oxford, United Kingdom in May 2015 and the Business Excellence award by the World Confederations of Business in Las Vegas, USA in August 2015.

“We could not have achieved such results without a focused and determined team as well as a vision to become an innovative customer centric regional and global insurance company,” Mr Chikono said.

He acknowledged the challenges besetting the insurance industry in relations to underwriting capacity.

“Some of our local risks end up being ceded to international markets because we do not have adequate underwriting capacity and as a result of that, the country loses money to international insurers who have the capacity to insurer these large risks.

“At Champions Insurance, we tackle the challenges from a two pronged approach.”

Firstly, underwriting capacity is measured in dollar terms and in terms of skills.

“From a dollar capacity front, we have relied upon the off-balance sheet capacity provided by reinsurers whilst we build internal capacity through re-capitalisation and ploughing back retained income to carry more risks to net account.

“From a skills perspective, we have made significant progress by entering into technical partnerships with counterparties in more developed markets where skills transfer takes place through secondments and attachments.”

Champions Insurance boasts of having 98 percent of its workforce being specialist graduates in various disciplines, who are encouraged and supported to pursue personal professional development plans.

As a leading short-term insurance provider in Zimbabwe, Champions Insurance continues to assert its presence on the Zimbabwean insurance terrain by providing an array of locally flavoured and relevant products with an international quality.

This, however, cannot be done without the right kind of leadership.

“To run a business in the current environment, I would suggest that one requires risk based thinking to navigate the dynamic environment in Zimbabwe as well as the evolving regional and global environment.

“We are connected to the global dynamics in everything we do. No matter what area of specialisation one comes from, business owners should employ risk based thinking and practices, in order to manage the effects of uncertainty on objectives.”

Mr Chikono said the liquidity crisis has created new and emerging risks which require new skills.

Insurance companies have traditionally survived from investment income but the past few years have shown that survival in the insurance industry should be based on achieving underwriting profits.

“Staff must be continuously trained and re-trained to embed new thinking and new approaches to risk management and underwriting.

“Micro-insurance is slowly emerging as the future growth point and hence underwriting skills and systems to harness this emerging market must be developed.

“There are a lot of lessons in Africa from which to draw success lessons on micro-insurance for example Kenya and South Africa.”

He said today’s leaders needed to be dynamic and innovative.

“Gone are the times when CEOs and MDs could rely on past experience alone. The business environment has changed so much in recent times and will continue to evolve.

“Therefore, for leaders to build locally and globally competitive brands, we have to constantly challenge ourselves to be better, to learn more about our changing business environment and how our companies can make an impact that is relevant to customers today.”

Champions insurance prides itself on being a learning organisation.

In order to attain global recognition, business leaders need to constantly learn from others around them, and from their customers. Companies that have built global brands have also blazed a trail as game changers and business disrupters.

“We are proud that Champions Insurance was commended by the European Business Assembly, which stated that Champions’ inclusion into the register confirms the level of strategic management of the enterprise and steady improvement of technological processes, which underpin sustainable development, continuous learning, and improvement.”

Champions Insurance creates 82 new jobs in 2015 as it strengthened its field force and service team to reach out to every uninsured Zimbabwean.

There 54 new offices were connected to the wide area network in every province of the country and now offer real-time networked services across the country. For the first time in the insurance industry in Zimbabwe, clients can now apply for insurance and pay for it using multiple payment options via the Champions Insurance website at www.championsinsurance.co.zw thereby providing real client convenience.

Similarly, clients can lodge claims through the website and they are also able to attach quotations.

Champions Insurance is also creating a global brand by benchmarking itself with regional and international insurance companies.

“We are relying more on ICTs and mobile networks as well as internet technologies to distribute our products. We have created a customer self-service portal for customers that enables them to assemble the service features they want and group then into a product. Payments and claims can be made online through our website,” Mr Chikono said.

Champions Insurance is using multiple strategies to develop and sustain its brand. The company also relies on the power of synergies.

“We constantly engage with our stakeholders and are always on the lookout for partners to create an evolving brand and product offering.

“Through our network of technical partners worldwide, we have access to cutting edge technology and research and development which gives us an edge in meeting customer needs.

“Where we do not have the skills, we knock on our partners’ doors to gain access to best practice and products in the world. Our distinctive competence is our ability to listen and respond to our customers’ needs. Everything we do is aimed at pleasing the customer.”

The company’s business is technology driven and relies on web-based systems to give real-time convenience to our customers wherever they will be.

“Embracing technology has enabled us to serve more customers with far fewer employees than we would have achieved without computerisation.
“Our staff appreciate technology utilisation because it reduces the workload by enabling customers to do self-service on our website and therefore having staff who are tech savvy is key to our business and should be a priority for business leaders today.”

Mr Chikono was in 2014, inducted in the International Who’s Who of business professional’s Historical Society.

He was also awarded the Business Excellence Leadership Award by the World Confederations of Business (USA) last year.

Locally, he was recognised for leadership excellence and voted the 2014 Businessman of the year-1st runner-up, 2014 Top 20 Outstanding Men in Business award, and the 2013 Manager of the year 1st Runner up by Megafest.

“I am a firm believer in sustainability, and to this end, I constantly aim to develop myself. I believe that a company brand is as good as the people who lead it and therefore a personal brand built on good leadership, hard work and integrity goes a long way in creating a globally recognised business brand.”