Over 500 delegates to grace ICEA Lion insurance forum

ICEA Lion Insurance Holdings Chief Executive Officer Ceaser Mwangi.

More than 500 insurers from Africa are expected to pledge the adoption of new business practices aligned to addressing environmental, social and governance risks.

This will be done during a virtual meeting this Thursday, hosted by ICEA Lion Group in partnership with the United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep) through its Principles of Sustainable Insurance (PSI) initiative. Out of the 140 global signatories of the PSI, ICEA Lion is among the five African insurers and the only signatory in the region.

Dubbed the Fourth Africa Market Virtual Event, the meeting, a first in East and Central Africa, seeks to align the insurance industry to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Sustainable insurance as a concept is a strategy in the business where all activities in the value chain are done in a responsible and forward-looking way by identifying, assessing, managing and monitoring risks and opportunities associated with the three sustainability issues of environment, social and governance,” explained ICEA Lion Insurance Holdings Chief Executive Ceaser Mwangi. “In whatever we do, we address them in a better way in our business practices.”

The meeting will result in the “Nairobi Declaration” where the stakeholders will make commitments towards insurance SDGs. “We shall look at the concept of risk management, where we shall advance the assessment, management and disclosure of climate change-related risks and opportunities,” says part of the declaration.

Key stakeholders will also pledge to bridge the insurance protection gap by developing inclusive and innovative solutions and support sustainable food and agriculture systems. Key speakers at the event will include Butch Bucani, leader of Unep’s PSI initiative, Mark Napier CEO of Financial Services Deepening Africa and ICEA Lion boss, Mwangi.