Marketers and sales persons have been charged to adopt the aggressiveness of bankers in selling insurance products in the country. The Chief Executive Officer of Vangaurd Assurance, Mr Gideon Amenyedor, threw the challenge at a ceremony to award sales executives for outstanding performance in 2011. He said unlike bankers who managed to change the situation where Ghanaians largely kept their money under their beds to one where even market women now troop to the banks, sales personnel of insurance products were not proactive enough. Mr Amenyedor said many Ghanaian companies and individuals were not taking insurance seriously because “insurance sales professionals are not adopting innovative ways to convince the good people of Ghana to adopt insurance as the most time-tested medium to hedge themselves against insurable losses.” In addition, he said the reliance on the extended family system was one reason Ghanaians were not recognizing the essential nature of insurance. “Insurance is the father of all profession. Insurance provides financial protection to individuals and corporate bodies and thus gives peace of mind to them to pursue their dreams. Unfortunately most small scale businesses are not insured. A good example is what is reported in the front page of today's Daily Graphic that a blazing fire swept through a section of Suame Magazine in Kumasi last Wednesday night. According to the report which showed the picture of the scene, the owners are traumatized because the goods destroyed are worth thousands of Ghana cedis [but] are not insured,” he stated. He said now that “our dear country is now an oil economy and this coupled with the fact that we practice one of the best forms of democracy, many investors will continue to choose Ghana as the safe place for the investment. As the economy expands many people look up to the professional insurance to provide the appropriate advice to hedge against insurable losses.” He believes the award will spur sales executives on to achieve greater heights.