6th Middle East Insurance Industry Awards honour 16 industry stalwarts
Sixteen industry stalwarts were lauded at the 6th Middle East Insurance Industry Awards (MIIA) gala dinner in Dubai on 21 November.
Recognised as the Oscars for insurance in the MENA region and judged by a panel of distinguished industry leaders, the awards attracted some 300 entries. There were several first-time winners this year out of the 16.
Marsh Middle East & Africa, one of the new winners, made a splash by sweeping up two awards: Broker of the Year and the Educational & Training Initiative of the Year. Its broker graduate programme, aimed at developing local talent and grooming future leaders, impressed the judges, as well as its dynamic efforts in implementing a client-centric strategy.
Others celebrating their inaugural wins are: Cigna Insurance Middle East for Health Insurance Company of the Year; KPMG Lower Gulf Ltd for Service Provider of the Year; and Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, MENA for Reinsurance Company of the Year.
MetLife Gulf, Chedid Re and NEXtCARE each clinched their fourth wins in six years for Life Insurance Company of the Year, Reinsurance Broker of the Year and TPA of the Year, respectively.
As the topic of digitalisation continues to dominate boardroom discussions, the two most hotly contested categories were Innovation of the Year and Digital Initiative of the Year. And with health being an equally hot topic in the region, the two winners for these categories came from the health sector: Health at Hand clinched the Innovation of the Year for its leading telehealth app, while Now Health International was awarded the Digital Initiative of the Year for being one of the first specialist IPMI providers in the Middle East to launch a mobile pass membership card.
The inaugural Woman Leader of the Year went to Oman Insurance Company EVP, head of strategy, international operations, legal & compliance Louise O’Donnell, in recognition of her passion and tenacity in promoting and mentoring women at the workplace.
The awards also paid tribute to industry veteran Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company CEO Ahmad Idris for his contribution and dedication to the industry as he continues to be the driving force behind the company’s achievements. Mr Idris is this year’s Personality of the Year.
“We see the strive for customer-centricity in most of the entries we received this year. Everyone is trying hard to simplify insurance to make the public understand insurance and realise what it can do for them. Technology, more than regulation, is in many ways forcing this move as customers are demanding for better service standards. The industry has to keep up, and as we saw in the entries, many are keeping up,” said Mr Sivam Subramaniam, editor-in-chief of Middle East Insurance Review and organiser of the awards.
winners Profile >