Olea Insurance Solutions, a Paris-based Africa-focused brokerage firm, has bought a 40% stake in Kenya’s Koolridge Insurance Brokers for an undisclosed value as it launches its entry into the East African market.
The partnership has resulted in Koolridge Kenya Insurance Brokers change its name to OLEA Kenya Insurance Brokers. Koolridge Kenya founder and Chief Executive Herbert Ocholi, who declined to disclose the value of the investment, said they were elated to partner with Olea, a PanAfrican firm present in 36 African countries. The company operates via 13 subsidiaries in different countries and partners in another 21 African countries.
“This rebranding is necessary because it reflects our new identity and association with, currently, the only true Pan African broker. It also gives us direct access to tools which make insurance portfolio management quite easy for our clients,” said Ocholi.
Strategic partnership
He welcomed the newly found partnership saying it is a realisation of his dream to open his business to new growth frontier across the African region via a partnership with a global brand. He termed OLEA’s investment as ‘a strategic partner in the provision of a one-stop shop multi-country insurance solution for foreign and local firms doing business in East Africa.’
Ocholi, who has been in the insurance industry for 40 years, started Koolridge Kenya as an agency in 2014. A year later, it became a fully-fledged brokerage firm serving local insurers across various business segments. Insurers, said Ocholi, recommended them to OLEA which was scouting for a lean brokerage firm, with capacity to manage big ticket jobs.
This led to OLEA assigning Koolridge its first international-cum-African cross border task to restructure an insurance package for a leading global logistics firm.
“We restructured their entire insurance programme to suit local insurance needs. OLEA was impressed by our prowess, thereby earning us our first big ticket job that we wrestled from an old and well established broker,” said Ocholi, who will continue serving as the new firm’s Chief Executive.
OLEA founder chairman Olivier Dubois said Kenya was a crucial import- export corridor (Mombasa Port) that serves the Anglophone (English-speaking) zone countries. “We are very pleased to announce our entry into Kenya via acquisition of a major stake at Koolridge Kenya. We have also previously worked with Mr Ocholi and have utmost faith in his abilities. This is a major part of our deployment strategy in Kenya.”
Nairobi to serve as launch pad into EA region
“Nairobi will serve as a launch pad into other East African markets, notably in Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania where we already have a robust commercial presence. OLEA is in Rwanda, while in Tanzania we are waiting for regulatory approval. In Uganda, OLEA is represented by a leading brokerage firm as it scouts for a physical entry point,” he said.
OLEA chief executive Olivier Canaule said: “Kenya is an important economic hub, and this was a key entry target to the Anglophone zone, that OLEA desperately needed a presence.”
Ocholi said Kenyan businesses eyeing export business across Africa now had a formidable insurance partner that offers Africa-wide insurance solutions on a single platform.
Olea , which serves French business international accounts in Africa also represents international broking houses among them GHALLAGER , SIACI , MARSH , GUEMAS , DIOT , LOCKTON , MITSUMI SUMITOMO and CHESTERFIELD GROUP. OLEA Group is currently pursuing partnership deals with Chinese and Asian dealers, which will enable them locally represent multinationals working across the region.
All their customers enjoy access to portfolio management tools where claims are lodged and processed online. Fleet owners have a platform to monitor operations from vehicle, driver, service as well as frequency of driver accidents’ status. For the first time in the Kenyan market, Kenyan companies operating across the region will receive information real-time on their affiliates’ insurance packages, just as multinationals now do on our extranet platform.
To further create a topnotch business case for the Kenyan OLEA entity, OLEA Group has seconded a business developer, who will be tasked with creating customer centric products that suits the local market needs.
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