The Managing Director, Capital Express Assurance Limited, Mrs. Bola Odukale, in this interview with NIKE POPOOLA, speaks on the challenges of the job, children, insurance among other issues
Why did you take up a career in insurance?
Some people say they went into a certain job by accident. I would really think that it was like that for me even though I try to look at it from a spiritual perspective: that everything in life has been destined. Many years back, when I left the university, I had the intention of being a banker like my other colleges to earn huge money. I was looking for employment, and somebody just told me about a job somewhere. I did not know what the organisation was all about. But as a young person, I wanted to work, that was how I found myself at the Nigerian Life and Pension in 1991, after my National Youth Service. I did not know it was an insurance company. It was when I got there that I knew. Of course, insurance was alien to me then because back in my university days, we did not have insurance as a course at Obafemi Awolowo University, so I never had any interaction or anything to do with insurance. That was how I got into insurance.
How did you cope with a profession you had no knowledge about?
Within the first two years, it was challenging. I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but with time, I started developing interest in it. I had good people who mentored me. They were people I saw as being successful in that field, and I knew they did not study insurance and were doing quite well. That encouraged me to stay. I was also encouraged to start doing the professional exams. I have always worked in a specialised arm, which is life insurance. I felt if I could work hard, I could also do well in insurance. I got the interest over time and decided to stay in insurance.
How do you feel being a female chief executive officer in a male dominated field?
Generally, the efforts that a woman would need to get to a certain position in most organisations will have to be like three times of what her male counterpart will have to put in. That is the general thing whether in the insurance industry or any other industry, especially in the financial institutions. The financial sector is dominated by the males. My experience is that as a female, to get to an enviable height, you need to put in more than your male counterpart. Where you have a particular setting, you could have about six males at the same level with you; what it means is that as the only female, you need to do more to be on top. It is like a competition. I believe we have equal opportunities with the male counterpart, but you need to do much more to get that opportunity. As ladies, we need to be more disciplined; we have diversity of roles to play. For the married women, we have the home to keep, and the job to keep.
How tasking is it being a chief executive officer and maintaining the home?
For me, from day one, as a professional, I had known that to be successful managing the home and a career, there is a need to strike a balance between the two. What I have done to ensure I strike a balance is that I put 100 per cent attention into both. When I am facing home issues, I ensure I put in 100 per cent attention without any form of distraction. As a wife and mother, I look at the things expected of me. I ensure that the moment that I have with my children at home, I give 100 per cent attention. Once I leave that and I come to work, it is 100 per cent attention. At times, I may have a cause to stay in the office late to meet up with targets. Then, I know that is the job and I have to do it that way. But once I am out of the job and at home, everything I do, I put my whole into it. I ensure that no one suffers for the other. My home and my jobs don’t suffer. What I look at are the critical things, as far as private life is concerned. I don’t get involved in unnecessary distractions. If it is not compulsory that I should be at a party, I don’t have to go. If there is something I need to do to cater for the home, my children at that point, I set it at that time. That is the way I have been able to balance the two and I can tell you none has suffered for the other. My children are grown up now. They are all in their different schools, even though they know mummy is always busy, they have never complained of being neglected by any means.
What impact have you made since you became a managing director at Capital Express almost a year ago?
When I was appointed and given the job, I sat down and asked myself a few questions, not forgetting the fact that the shoes that I stepped into was a very big one. I asked myself, which area I wanted to make an impact. I looked at Capital Express in relation to the customers outside there; I asked myself, how does an average customer and insuring public, perceive Capital Express? That is an area I really want to work on. I want to ensure that Capital Express is printed on the heart of the customers out there, through excellent service delivery. In trying to achieve that, I have made myself open to customers. I get customers who call me at different times. My number has become a customer service number. When they call, I ensure that whatever wrong impression they have about the insurance industry is corrected.
What innovative insurance products do you offer?
Our product offering has witnessed a lot of transformation in recent years. All through last year, we were working on different products to serve as solution to people’s problems. Today, we have an array of products to meet the needs of Nigerians – students, workers, retirees, young couples. Everybody needs an insurance product that can meet a particular need, even if you are the richest person. It could be a product to meet your medical needs, or something that will allow you to give something back to the society.
What kind of insurance should a young father consider for his home?
There are different risks a young man who is just starting a family can face. Notwithstanding the age, anyone can face the risk of death. If he is not there tomorrow, there should be something to take care of the child. Because he is just starting his home, he can from day one, take an education policy for the child, which will take care of his education. If he is there or not, by the time the child is 16 years old and he is going into a tertiary institution, which is very expensive, he would have built some savings to ensure he is well catered for. If he has many responsibilities, then, he would have built savings to give the child quality education.
He can also decide to have a savings insurance policy, so that in the next few years, he can start his building project.
He can take a policy that will have an element of investment to build capital for him for a particular number of years.
How do you convince the disenchanted public to embrace insurance?
Insurance has come a long way. We have had our challenges in the past. An average Nigerian never believed in insurance; but that was in the past. Today, we have an insurance industry that is very vibrant. The National Insurance Commission is up to the task of supervising the insurance industry and bringing sanity into the industry. The confidence of the average Nigerian is now more strengthened. Insurance is important to the life of any individual or organisation. Insurance simply backs you up when you run into troubles. We are exposed to all manners of risks. If a man dies, his wife is disturbed; the children cannot go to school. But with insurance, some money will be provided; it will help to mitigate certain losses. Today, the insurance industry is much better than it was in those days. I enjoin members of the public to give insurance a chance. They should have the belief that insurance can provide solutions. We are a lot better now; we do business with technology; we want to satisfy the customer and we know people are watching us.
