From being Nigeria’s 104th biggest insurer 10 years ago, SAIG has risen into the top ten, counting the big oil majors such as ExxonMobil and Chevron among its clients.

Over the past 10 years, SAIG has foreseen market changes to put it at the top of the field, providing its clients with services and big returns

Standard Alliance Insurance Group, or SAIG, is intent on getting bigger and better. The company, which was Nigeria's 104th biggest insurer in 1996, has moved into the country's top 10 and is in the middle of an ambitious expansion plan that will permit it to offer its clients more services and give its investors greater returns.

“Standard Alliance Insurance is in the growth area of the Nigerian Financial services,” says Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, SAIG's Chief Executive Officer. “We want to be seen as an aggressive, competent and well-focused organization that is dealing with existing opportunities in Nigeria in a very efficient manner.”

The petroleum industry is the most important sector in Nigeria's economy, and SAIG can count the biggest oil companies in the world among its clients, including ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron.

From its base in business insurance, the company has moved into new areas to take advantage of growth opportunities, including life insurance, asset/wealth management, pension-fund administration, mortgage banking, and property and real estate development.

SAIG has set up six operating units to work in those areas, along with its traditional business insurance. All those units will soon move into a new headquarters the company is building near Lagos. The overall goal is to make life easier for its clients by offering them a wide range of products from one source.

“We saw that what we needed to run is an integrated financial service company, because when you do that your customers, which are the same customers that the banks are chasing, want their car insured and also want to buy that car if you offer them leasing,” says Emerhor. “So you have the same opportunity to cover the needs of your customer, and that is why we decided that we must become a full-fledged, one-stop financial services institution.”

SAIG wants to take on the country's banks in various arenas. It has already bought stakes in First Inland Bank Plc and in mortgage bank Lagoon Home Savings and Loans Ltd. The company is currently being rebranded to fit into SAIG's overall marketing vision.

The insurer is an expert marketer and retailer, with a large and ever-expanding branch and salesman network, and it plans to use those assets as it moves into new areas. The purchase of stakes in the banks will help SAIG as it enters the real estate sector – an area that is ripe for growth.

The company is going after the real estate market from two directions: development and mortgage lending, according to Emerhor. SA Property is working with international investors on development, and SA Capital is offering affordable loans to buy homes by seeking lower-interest funds from outside the country – lessening the impact of the high cost of borrowing within Nigeria.

“The problem of funding that sector is the high interest rates that we still have in Nigeria,” Emerhor explains. “So if you have a blend of international and local funding you can almost moderate the rate you eventually pass on to your customers to a tolerable level below at least double digits. That way you will be able to get people who can afford taking up a mortgage and paying it off over a period of time.”

Not that SAIG has had any problems raising money within Nigeria. A share sale in March, which raised more than 20 billion naira ($167 million), was 106 percent oversubscribed. International investors such as Renaissance Capital Group, Stanlib Asset management of South Africa, Enso Capital LLC, and IBTC Pensions demonstrated their confidence in the company by buying shares.

Those funds are being used to finance SAIG's expansion within Nigeria, and into other West African countries including Ghana and The Gambia. The insurer is in talks to buy an insurance company based in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, and to open a banking institution there as well. The plan for the Gambia is similar, Emerhor says.

“Our next stage of expansion, other than the organic growth that we envisage happening in the next couple of years, is to look at our neighbours, particularly the English-speaking countries like Ghana and The Gambia,” he says. “Our economies are very much linked together.”

Even with all the efforts to enter new business areas and expand abroad, SAIG hasn't lost sight of what its main business is. The company has remained focused on its insurance activities, where its strong record of prompt claims settlement originally won it a reputation for efficiency and reliability.
SAIG is ready to continue its rapid growth, within Nigeria and internationally, by using the newest technology to fully automate its operations and maintain its emphasis on customer service, and by offering its shareholders a solid return on their investments.