Introduce yourself in few lines.
I'm a travelling Breton, husband and father of one. After a Master's degree in law, I immediately turned to the marine insurance sector at Gras Savoye. In a department specializing in the insurance of pleasure craft and shipyards, I set out to develop new expertise, and we began assisting ocean racing teams with the insurance of their boats. This was exciting work, and already international, as the French market offered no solutions for this type of risk. I soon felt the need to broaden my horizons outside my native Brittany, and the African continent seemed an obvious destination: diversity of cultures and markets, growth in the insurance sector and the emergence of new, ambitious and innovative players.
How did you join OLEA ?
I joined OLEA in 2018 as a V.I.E (Volontariat International en Entreprise) in Nairobi, Kenya. OLEA had just acquired a brokerage firm in the country and we carried out a major development project to raise awareness of the Group and our solutions in an environment traditionally dominated by local or Anglo-Saxon brokers. This two-year mission, supported by Herbert Ocholi, CEO of OLEA Kenya, and Vincent de Charnacé, Director for the English and Portuguese-speaking zones, has been highly instructive. In April 2021, I will become Managing Director of OLEA Morocco. I'd like to thank the group's management for their confidence.
Tell us about your first 100 days as MD.
These first 100 days were, in some respects, an epic. Over and above the time-consuming administrative and banking aspects, my aim was to breathe new life into the team and draw up a new project for our structure, capitalizing on our strengths: experienced insurance professionals and the added value of the OLEA Group's innovative tools. Beyond our team, we needed to regain visibility. So I held a series of meetings with our customers and insurance partners to explain our ambitions for the Moroccan market and our DNA based on integrity, innovation and proximity. This forward march quickly bore fruit, and OLEA Maroc recorded some notable successes that perfectly reflect our expertise: the contract for a structuring infrastructure project (dam), the insurance program for a fast-growing Moroccan family SME supported by the entry into capital of a private equity fund recognized on the continent, and a historic hotel in Casablanca, in collaboration with an international broker partner.
What are OLEA Morocco's strengths?
We act local but think Pan-African! OLEA Maroc is a team of 25 professionals, based in Casablanca and part of a continental group. We combine our expertise of the Moroccan market with IT and international insurance placement solutions. We offer our customers the proximity of a local broker but the strength of a major player on the African markets, with in-house resources and partners who are experts in a wide range of sectors, including logistics, hotels and oil & gas! This dual identity is a real added value and a differentiating marker that is attracting more and more customers, particularly with the growing deployment of Moroccan companies in French-speaking Africa. Our greatest satisfaction comes from settling major claims on behalf of our customers. That's what our business is all about, and what sets us apart from insurers!
