Prudential Insurance picks new team to drive growth in E. Africa

The United Kingdom headquartered insurance firm Prudential has appointed a new team to drive growth in East and Central Africa.

In a statement, the firm said it has picked  Arjun Mallik, formerly CEO of Prudential Uganda to oversee operations in the region that covers Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

He is credited for steering the Prudential Insurance brand in Uganda for the past five years. It was recently named the Most Innovative Life Insurer in Uganda by the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda. 

The firm which has regional offices in Nairobi has also been appointed Gwen Kinisu as CEO of Prudential Life Assurance Kenya (PLAK) and will report to Arjun.

She takes over from Raxit Soni who presided over a period of growth for PLAK and a series of impactful community activities.

Soni assumes the role of Chief Actuary, Prudential Africa. He joined PLAK seven years ago as the Head of Risk and Compliance.

Gwen has over 14 years of experience in insurance and banking. She was the Chief Commercial Officer for PLAK since 2018.

During her tenure, she drove continued growth in the business and built strong relationships with banks, brokers and other partners.

Announcing changes,  Wilf Blackburn, Regional CEO, Insurance Growth Markets, Prudential Corporation Asia said the firm has laid a solid foundation in Africa over the past seven years and will continue to scale its operations and strengthen local capabilities to deliver on its growth strategy.

 ''Our Africa leadership team demonstrates the opportunities we are creating and will continue to create for our talents in the continent,'' Blackburn said. 

East and Central Africa are one of four sub-regions in the continent that Prudential has a presence and interest in. Other regions include Francophone Africa, Western and Southern Africa and Northern Africa.

Prudential serves over 1.3 million customers, and has a strong distribution network of more than 13,000 agents and over 600 bank branches across 8 countries; Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, Cote d’ Ivoire, Cameroon and Togo.