5 Insights from Five unique InsurTech Female Leaders #Innovation #Leadership

With New Year celebrations just behind us, it’s time for a little reflection on the past year.

The insurance sector is undergoing a journey akin to a series of tidal waves of impressive magnitude. Some players are successfully surfing the tide. Others are overwhelmingly succumbing to the speed and the volume of changes.

We must recognise that the industry has indeed seen a lot already, and more will be seen as strategies become more meaningful and focused on long term design and growth objectives. And while a few are likely to benefit from a little pause to identify best route of actions, we see a fundamental shift in the way the market thinks about its current identity, how things are done and could be improved, how to create, collaborate and imagine a future that matters as well as what it will take to thrive as we settle into 2019.

So, could there be a better way to start the year but by sharing great wisdom and insights from a very few talented women, friends and SBC InsurTech portfolio companies?

Five amazing women active within InsurTech shares with us five most inspiring lessons to start the year on a positive note.

1.   The world is shrinking. Confusion and regionalisation are both increasing

No, we’re not talking literally. Still, it is helpful to recognise that the global insurance sector is undergoing turbulent times with a low-interest rate environment, a challenging equity market, increased demand for regionalisation and tighter regulatory regimes [I am French so I know how it feels!].

In some parts of the world, insurance is growing fast while getting in others increasingly challenged, largely due to changes in customer consumption behaviour and thanks to the increasing benefit of digitisation and emerging technology.

Not so long ago, the international insurance industry sat firmly in the hands of huge corporates, operating out of only a handful of centres around the globe. Today, not only are sources of profit and growth sitting in emerging and fast developing markets, but also digital InsurTech challengers are re-enforcing the threat of the fittest in markets relying on increased trust and transparency.

There’s still a dichotomy when it comes to East meets West. The insurance world is shrinking with boundaries closer than they have ever been, however, we continue to fail to understand one another.

Jessie Shi, VP at ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co. Ltd, describes her drive for getting involved in this, first as a China-Europe InsurTech expert and mentor of our SBC InsurTech program.

She starts with highlighting that the gap between the Chinese and the Western insurance markets is wider than she ever imagined since leaving London for Shanghai. She describes the “lack of mutual understanding between both sides of the pond, but also in some cases, the overestimating or underestimating of key opportunities in Asia.” 

Jessie when in London was an effective communicator of how InsurTech could bring value to Chinese insurers and vice versa. Culture, even commercially driven ones, is indeed so important.

Shi goes on to explain the East-West split: “Chinese insurance practitioners know or care very little about the business models and product lines developed in advanced markets. On the other hand, our western peers observe a rapidly changing Chinese insurance market, with unique and sizeable opportunities that many want to grab. However, clear confusion on the rules of operations, the regulatory and competitive challenges overcast decisions that were once so easy to make.”

We all know that China insurance market today ranks second worldwide after the United States (1 377 billion USD). It is ahead of Japan (422.05 billion USD) and the United Kingdom with 283.33 billion USD in premiums.

Jessie’s insight: Embrace the ability to tackle the breadth of the insurance conundrum regionally and internationally but do so within the context of education, expertise and respect of cultural differences.

2.   Success lies in teamwork

Insurance of old saw a large number of individuals scramble over each other in pursuit of the winning Unicorns. Finally, we are learning that success as an industry, and in innovation, lies in teamwork and in pushing normal boundaries.

The need for teamwork is now more important than ever. We need access to old-school insurance knowledge, but we must combine that with innovators (intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs) from within and outside the industry. Marrying these two sets of skills together requires unique collaborative thinking on a level we’ve never needed or seen before.

Charlotte Halkett, MD Insurance Products at buzzvault a subsidiary of the buzzGroup, and who launched in December a new offering to market with Munich Re Digital Partners says: “There is no such thing as the perfect person, but you can make a perfect team." She goes on to explain that we need to embrace “dissenting voices into the sector and [find] ways to channel their talent into success.”

Charlotte’s inspirational lesson: Success lies in opening our systems, processes and very being, to the influence and input of others.

3.   Social responsibility in insurance matters

As Millennials come of leadership age, they are putting the rest of us to shame. This generation isn’t just out for a fast buck, but they are changing the way we think about work, the workplace and performance. Most importantly they are challenging and changing why we do specific things in certain ways.

This attitude is shaking up insurance. Not only from a talent acquisition viewpoint, but also from the very technology that is at the heart of today’s revolution, so that it more fairly and appropriately meets the needs of consumers. As an industry, we will start to thrive as we begin to pay more attention to our social responsibilities.

This desire for social responsibility is aptly summed up when we look at the success of Becky Downing, CEO and Founder at buzzGroup, respected award-winner and SBC alumn. Becky explains: “I have always been driven by the idea of building a legacy and a business that solves real, relatable problems. Managing upwards (meaning appease senior managers) was not my thing!”

Her inspiration came from her own experience, after a poor home insurance claim following an invasive burglary. The insurance industry is grateful for this wave of real-world problem solvers, especially as we nearly lost Becky Downing to the Navy, military law or wooden clog-wearing. Fluent Dutch speaker, Becky was schooled in Holland for many years before returning to the UK!

Together with Charlotte, Becky has built one of the most fulfilled teams in the UK InsurTech space, and when asked where do we fail young professionals? Becky responds: “Institutional limitations, red tape, politics, inside the box thinking, hiring in one's own image, ego-driven behaviour, lack of opportunity to push boundaries and challenge the status quo. The boring same, same, same...”

Becky’s insight: Solve a real palatable problem, intellectual challenges that never end and always push your personal skills and boundaries. Be inspired too! Look at how people view the insurance industry and shape answers to these problems they abhor most. Then work out a solution.

4.   Expect that there’s a seismic change happening, but understand the ways of old

Former geophysicist Charlotte Halkett knows a thing or two about corporate seismic changes. She also knows how big a shift the insurance market is currently experiencing, having been a key staff member for one of the most renown telematics insurer, Insure-the-Box. Charlotte is not shy to recommend great practices from her past.

“Right now, things aren’t staying the same and nor should they.” As Halkett states: “[she has] an inherent belief that there has to be a better way to do things! I have a healthy dislike of following the crowd and inbuilt scepticism that the Emperor is actually wearing any clothes – just because everyone seems to be following a process, doesn’t mean it is right.”

However, Halkett goes on to urge caution. She explains that we “must understand the weak points of a relevant process before [we] try to change it.”

To enable a change in the way we do things there needs to be a fundamental shake-up of recruitment in our industry. We need to embrace gender diversity and a focus on the talent for tomorrow. We have seen interesting points of view in the areas of inclusion, diversity and the future of work. More needs doing though.

As Downing states: “[we need to create] an environment that rewards people based on pure merit and doesn’t impose ‘ceilings’ of any kind. The sky (and beyond) should always be the limit; else one loses interest very quickly.”

Huge strides are being made with gender diversity in the industry. However, despite these leaps forward, only 18.7% of board-level positions in insurance were filled by women in the last year. 25% to 30% of founders applying to our programs are female founders.

Shruti Rao, CEO of Adapt Ready, an intrinsic problem solver with extensive expertise in natural catastrophe assessment and engineering, explains that “unconscious bias that goes unchallenged is an enormous problem within the sector and investor community.” She explains how last year, “only 2% of all VC funding went to female-founded startups. Yes, 98% of investment went to men only shaped startups, even though it is proven that female-led startups deliver higher ROI. Opportunities are being missed.” She explains that investors need “calling out [on] this prejudice” and that this is “the need of the hour.”

Halkett underlines the same problem: “Recruitment processes too often look for ‘more of the same’ and for people who will fit in the existing framework. Or if diverse people are recruited, they may be expected to fit into processes that don’t enable them to flourish, so they become disillusioned and frustrated.”

It goes beyond the initial startup stage too. Rao explains that: “removing bias is just one aspect. We also need to work hard to remove existing barriers that dissuade talented leaders from progressing, by giving them a support system – a system that not only creates new opportunities through networking but also helps instil confidence among female founders.”

Insights: Understand old-school insurance but think outside the box, especially in light of recruiting and when it comes to developing contemporary solutions that meet the needs of the customer of tomorrow. More women VCs are certainly welcomed so that we don’t miss out on the opportunities presented by half of the world population.

5.   Resilience, grit and persistence are the holy trinity of insurance startups

While chatting to our inspirational female founders, one lesson stands out more than any other: to succeed as an InsurTech startup entrepreneur you will need bucket loads of resilience, grit and persistence.

Janthana Kaenprakhamroy of Tapoly, who built a business from the ground up based on clear values, believes, purpose and determination states: “In my world, there is no such thing as impossible. The real question is not whether something is possible, but how hard and for how long you are willing to work to get there. Having a good idea alone will not make your dream come true. You need drive and integrity to keep going, and patience to see things through, even when it is difficult, or naysayers are in your way.”

Rao explains: “I always say the bigger the obstacles you face, the more resilient you become. But at the end, being customer-centric and focusing on what really matters have been two of my major driving forces.”

Our Martin Freeman fan, Jessie, puts it into a Sherlock Holmes formula: “Courage + Persistence + Teamwork = Success.” While Charlotte reminds us to keep asking the question “why, why, why”.

Downing agrees: “The number one thing you need to be a successful entrepreneur is grit. You can be super smart with an MBA from Harvard, but without determination and drive, you will get nowhere.”

Our final insight: Make 2019 the year you thrive as an insurance entrepreneur, intrapreneur, innovator and leader by topping up with resilience, grit, persistence and lots of persuasion factor too. All had a clear message to convey “remove existing barriers that dissuade talented leaders from progressing, by giving them a support system – a system that not only creates new opportunities through networking, sharing, inspiring, but also helps instil confidence among female founders.”

So, as you strategise on those actions you must prioritise this upcoming year, look forward to 2019 and beyond. Take inspiration from the five leaders we have featured here and get ready to rock, that insurance world.

#WomenInFintech, #WomenInTech, #TechSheCan, #InsurTech, #FinTech, #Innovation