Garikai Dhombo
Executive Head: Short Term Insurance
Midrand
Summary
My work philosophy is that the harder one works, the luckier one gets. I believe in situational as well as consensual leadership and am of the opinion that there must be an intersection of business objectives and personal objectives and that it must be worthwhile for both parties. I believe there must be defined deliverables with an upside for exceptional performance and a downside for not meeting targets. The rewards system must look at both the short-term and long-term periods to attract new business and retain existing clients.
Knowledgeable Insurance Practitioner with proven track record of driving company growth and enhancing operational efficiency. Successfully led high-impact initiatives resulting in significant improvements in profitability and market positioning. Demonstrated leadership in strategic planning and stakeholder management.
Results-driven leader with forward-thinking approach centered on company success and competitive growth. Demonstrated record of success in building successful teams and managing profitable operations.
Overview
36
36
years of professional experience
Work History
Chief Executive Officer – Short Term Insurance
Growthhouse Financial Planning Services
07.2024 - Current
- Responsibilities
- Setting short term strategic goals
- Drive strategic intent and execution
- Attain set targets
- Provide strategic leadership and direction
- Ensure compliance and adherence to governance and legislation of the Short Term Insurance Act
- Provide operational oversite
- Financial management and budget oversight
- People and culture
- Client centricity and retention
- Business development
- Strategic partnerships
- Relationship management
- Build team cohesion
- Understand market developments
Executive Head: National Sales and Distribution
Discovery Life
11.2019 - 06.2024
- African experience in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Establishing a National Sales and Service Distribution Team within Discovery Short Term Insurance as well as designing and implementing the sales strategy. Successfully launching retail collaboration strategy.
- Responsibilities
- Responsible for marketing and business development by ensuring decrease in overall sales cycle timelines.
- Managing client value proposition design and deployment of products.
- Collaborating with other parts of Discovery Group
- Ensuring the group attain maximum value from a client through offering various client solutions whilst collaborating with other distribution channels.
- Deploying work site capabilities.
- Responsible for prospecting of clients, lead generation and client presentations.
- Establishing internal and external partnerships.
- Optimising sales capabilities and client retention strategies.
- Enabling the sales team to achieve sales targets in personal and business insurance whilst facilitating sales of other products such as life insurance in the group to achieve value chain optimisation.
- Defining and assisting in product strategy by identifying value chain optimisation.
- Coordinating legislative, compliance and risk management efforts across the business unit with support from group compliance.
- Ensuring effective outcomes through Business Executives.
- Influencing product strategy (product demand management).
- Ensuring sales best practice and support as well as establishing sales processing.
- Managing business unit profitability and establishing operational efficiencies in the process to minimise business risks.
- Ensuring effective product upselling.
- Ensuring continued staff engagement.
Executive Chairman
Compsure Insurance Company (CIC)
02.2017 - 10.2019
- Managed a staff complement of 8. (Note – this was my own Broking Company).
- Responsibilities
- Founding Member of a short-term insurance broking entity.
- Set-up, driving and executing growth strategy.
- Assisted in new business initiatives.
- Maintained client relationships.
- Managed budgeting and tracked budget accordingly.
- Managed cash flow.
- Established client register and risk management process.
- Responsible for IT monitoring and management thereof.
- Ensured compliance with FSB requirements.
- Established a marketing strategy and execution thereof.
- Ensured organic and inorganic growth.
- Gathered and monitored market developments on a national and regional basis.
- Responsible for wholesale and retail insurance distribution.
- Analysed markets.
Setting up own company
11.2016 - 01.2017
- Worked on starting up own brokerage.
Managing Executive: Retail Sales and Service
Alexander Forbes Group
04.2016 - 10.2016
- Managed a staff complement of approximately 1 200 staff across Alexander Forbes retail operations in South Africa.
- Responsibilities
- Managed all retail distribution channels.
- Set retail sales strategy for Alexander Forbes Group.
- Managed after retail sales business for Alexander Forbes Group included private wealth, tied agencies life and short term, partnerships, multi tied, sales call center (life and short-term), claims centre, financial planning, e-channels, franchise opportunities and funeral insurance.
- Responsible for servicing channels.
- Responsible for life, funeral, short-term financial planning and investments.
- Responsible for retail service channels within the Alexander Forbes retail space.
- Managed open market acquisition, cross-sell opportunities within retail and developing an integrated distribution channel.
- Liaised with product houses namely Alexander Forbes Life, Alexander Forbes Insurance and Wealth and Investment.
- Spearheaded worksite marketing strategies.
- Managed provincial executives throughout the South Africa market to drive Assets Under Management (AUM) targets, life and short-term insurance sales.
- Drove business insurance sales.
- Defined and set the private client wealth strategy looking at planning and consulting.
- Defined and spearheaded the tied sales channel strategy, multi-tied sales strategy and customer service channel.
- Set and monitored sales targets in various channels across retail offering.
- Prepared budget for the Board and attended Board meetings and explained deviations from the budget.
- Responsible for Human Resource Management.
Managing Director
Alexander Forbes Insurance Limited, South Africa
03.2006 - 03.2016
- Successfully converted Alexander Forbes Brokerage to Alexander Forbes Insurance. Launched a business insurance channel and built a strong retail distribution channel. Managed a staff complement of 650 countrywide with 10 Executive Committee Members.
- Responsibilities
- Assisted in reinsurance placement programmes and signed off in respect of both facultative and treaty re-insurance programmes.
- Set the strategy for the short-term insurance entity and getting sign off on set targets and strategy with the Board.
- Negotiated re-insurance programme placement.
- Introduced an underwriting administration business (premium in excess of R220 million).
- Introduced in-house assessors.
- Assisted in the formation of AFI Namibia (one of the fastest growing businesses).
- Introduced an effective cross sell initiative in the business.
- Introduced an outbound new business call centre (contributed in excess of 20% new business).
- Managed the loss ratios of an insurance portfolio and ensuring profitable returns for all stakeholders.
- Marketed and distributed direct motor and household insurance, personal accident, value-added products, breast cancer products, funeral insurance and credit life as well as business insurance policies.
- Ensured products remained competitive from a product offering and pricing point of view.
- Set strategic direction of the organisation to deliver sustainable growth ensuring training and development of staff.
- Set budgets in line with shareholder expectations.
- Kept abreast with financial services regulations, ongoing liaison with the relevant regulatory authorities.
- Represented the organisation at all relevant public forums.
- Prepared Board reports for quarterly business reviews.
- Responsible for growth and development of new business and opening up of new markets to ensure growth of the organisation.
- Responsible for high level discussions with affinity partners including banks, brokers and mortgage bond originators.
Executive: Underwriting
Alexander Forbes Personal Services (AFPS) (Brokerage)
04.2002 - 03.2006
- Responsibilities
- Responsible for the entire underwriting results for AFPS included development and implementation of rating tables, ensuring that policy wordings were in line with intended business objectives as well as product development.
- Responsible for multi-claimant’s management process and monitored average cost per claim.
- Assisted with the general business strategy of the entity.
- Managed loss ratio.
- Tracked underwriting matrices i.e. average premium, average cost per claim, gross premium movement and organic growth.
- Negotiated and placed both treaty and facultative re-insurance programs.
- Worked with re-insurance brokers and re-insurers to ensure optimum placement of the Alexander Forbes programme.
Area Manager
Santam Insurance
04.2001 - 03.2002
- Managed two Brokers.
- Responsibilities
- Responsible for national brokers namely Glenrand MIB, Thebe and Nedcor amongst others.
- Responsible for annualised premium income of about R300 million in respect of all aspects of short-term insurance.
- Ensured continuous growth and profitability of these portfolios.
Branch Manager
Allianz Insurance, Pretoria
07.2000 - 06.2001
- Managed a staff complement of 15 and a premium income of R40 million.
- Responsibilities
- Responsible for the management and profitability of the Allianz Pretoria office.
General Manager
Allianz Insurance, Namibia
05.1993 - 06.2000
- Responsibilities
- Responsible for the Namibian operation of the Allianz Group handling all aspects of insurance i.e. corporate commercial and personal lines.
- Ensured underwriting profitability of all lines of business.
- Focused on top-line and bottom-line growth in line with shareholder expectations.
- Set up renewal and re-insurance treaty arrangements.
- Ensured on-going team spirit to achieve set goals.
- Set on the Allianz Namibia Board.
- Responsible for placement of both treaty and facultative re-insurance programs included renewal negotiations.
Senior Broker
Minet Insurance Brokers Harare, Zimbabwe
09.1990 - 04.1993
Education
Masters in Business Administration -
University of Natal
South Africa01-2005
Skills
Organizational management
Strategic planning
Business development
Ethical leadership
Risk management
Organizational leadership
Negotiation
Customer relations
Strategic visioning
Business management
Executive leadership
Strategic partnerships
Accomplishments
- Managed to double the Allianz Namibia business in 5 years, harnessing the team behind me and growing profitable business until my transfer to head up the Allianz Pretoria Office.
- Was founding Managing Director of Alexander Forbes Insurance transitioning business from a broking entity to an insurance company. Grew the Company from R500 million premium income to R2 billion premium before business was sold to MMI.
- Established Compsure Insurance Consultants which wrote premium income in excess of R40 million before leaving the business to join Discovery Business Insure.
- Established Discovery Financial Consultants – Business Insure working through Financial Advisors and Independent Insurance Consultants.
- Strong at putting together plans, building aligned team and executing those plans more so in the sales and distribution space. I have over the years put together teams to drive new business growth.
- My greatest strength lies in that I take the teams I put together on the journey and share the ultimate objectives to ensure they have a shared mandate and objective. I am a strong believer in that “you eat what you kill”.
- My most dominant competencies are:
- Building teams with a shared objective
- Putting together business plans in the sales and distribution space.
- Sharing the vision with the team and ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goals.
Affiliations
- Non-Executive Director, Fidelity Life Assurance - current
- Non-Executive Director, Eskom Insurance Board (ESCAP) - resigned
- Member, Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) - current
- Member, Institute of Directors South Africa (IODSA) - current
- Board Member, Alexander Forbes Insurance Ltd South Africa, 2002 - 2017
- Chairman, Alexander Forbes Insurance, Namibia, 2012-2017
- Board Member, Alexander Forbes Life Insurance, Coy, 2014-2016
- Board Member, Guardrisk Insurance Company, 2002 - 2017
- Executive Member, Alexander Forbes Group, 2010 – 2017
- Board Member, Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance (OSTI), 2011 – 2013
- Board Member, Ombudsman of the Short-Term Insurance (OSTI)
- Board Member and Vice Chair, South African Insurance Association (SAIA)
Additional Courses and Training
- Fellow of the Insurance Institute of South Africa (FIISA)
- Management Development Programme, University of Stellenbosch
- Management Development Programme, University of Cape Town
- Management Development Programme, University of Stockholm, Sweden
- Management Development Programme, Allianz
- Key Individual (RE1 and 5)
Timeline
Chief Executive Officer – Short Term Insurance
Growthhouse Financial Planning Services
07.2024 - Current
Executive Head: National Sales and Distribution
Discovery Life
11.2019 - 06.2024
Executive Chairman
Compsure Insurance Company (CIC)
02.2017 - 10.2019
Setting up own company
11.2016 - 01.2017
Managing Executive: Retail Sales and Service
Alexander Forbes Group
04.2016 - 10.2016
Managing Director
Alexander Forbes Insurance Limited, South Africa
03.2006 - 03.2016
Executive: Underwriting
Alexander Forbes Personal Services (AFPS) (Brokerage)
04.2002 - 03.2006
Area Manager
Santam Insurance
04.2001 - 03.2002
Branch Manager
Allianz Insurance, Pretoria
07.2000 - 06.2001
General Manager
Allianz Insurance, Namibia
05.1993 - 06.2000
Senior Broker
Minet Insurance Brokers Harare, Zimbabwe
09.1990 - 04.1993
Masters in Business Administration -
University of Natal