Students from the University of Nairobi, Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, have been urged to pursue Insurance as a career for the rewards is massive, says Dr. Ben Kajwang, Director and CEO, College of Insurance.
Speaking as a Guest Lecturer to second year students, Dr. Kajwang , who is former President, African Insurance Organization on November, 23, 2023, he observed that in their class, Class of 1993, out of 56 students who studied insurance, 49 of them ended up being Chief Executive Officers of various companies. No other career boasts of such high number of CEOs, not even their counterparts in Marketing or Accounting Department.
He challenged students to pursue insurance as the professionals in the insurance sector can work anywhere, from banks, microfinance, united nations agencies, embassies and mobile network companies.
He explained further that the retirement benefits sector and insurance sector are the two sectors that run the economy and more so the stock market. He also challenged students to think globally and be ready to work globally. As an individual, he has travelled to over 100 countries.
He pointed out that as CEOs and captains of industry, their main challenge is getting top performers, and retaining them and giving them clear succession plan in the organization and equipping them with skills, and reducing the turnover. As CEOs, their work is aacquire talent, deploy talent and retain talent and more specifically to connect with the talent or manpower.
In choosing a career, he challenged students to pursue insurance as they have serious shortage of insurance professionals. The opportunities available include : underwriting, actuary, risk assessment, insurance brokerage, claims handling, reinsurance specialists and loss adjustors. He challenged the students to be ready and be prepared as the workplace is volatile, uncertain and ambiguous.
Unlike other sectors where people are worried of retirement, Dr. Kajwang pointed out that in the insurance sector, upon job completion or retirement, he can venture into the business world of insurance brokerage or consultancy.