The Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Life Insurance, Gideon Ataraire, took members of the Ghana Insurance Brokers Association (GIBA) through a training session on Succession Planning as part of the Association’s CEOs’ educational programme. This very interactive session took place at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.

Succession planninginvolves the identification and development of high performing individuals in order to groom them for critical/ leadership positions within anorganization in the future.

Gideon explained to the CEOs’ present that it was important to have a succession plan in place in every organization to ensure leadership continuity, retain organizational knowledge, reduce cost and turnaround time in filling vacancies, and also to give the organization the opportunity to nurture home-grown talents.He remarked that many institutions do not go beyond the first generation because they don’t have a succession plan in place.

As reiterated by Gideon, “There is the need to formalize the process so that the employee knows that he/she is part of a succession plan. It is very important to carry everyone along in this process”

The members of GIBA found the training to be very useful and informative and were eager to implement succession planning within their various companies.

The Ghana Insurance Brokers Association (GIBA) is the National Trade Association for licensed Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers in Ghana. GIBA is the voice of Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers and an advocate for insurance consumers. The Association which is currently made up of 78 brokerage firms has as part of its objectives to promote, raise, maintain and uphold a high standard in insurance Broking and Consulting practice. GIBA also promotes and encourages learning and research into all branches of Insurance and Insurance Broking and related disciplines.

Gideon Ataraire holds a Master’s Degree in Global Human Resources Management from the University of Liverpool, UK. Prior to his appointment as the CEO for Allianz Life Insurance, he served as the Chief People Officer in Allianz Nigeria.

Allianz Life Insurance Ghana is a part of the Allianz Group, the world’s no. 1 Insurer according to the newly released 2019 Interbrand Global Brand Rankings, which saw the Allianz brand value increasing from $10.8bn in 2018 to $12.1bn. Allianz has more than 92 million retail and corporate customers globally and is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 673 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers. In 2018, over 142,000 employees in more than 80 countries achieved total revenues of 131 billion euros and an operating profit of 11.5 billion euros for the group.