NICO GENERAL CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL SQUASH COMPETITION - 02/Dec/08

Zambian players were on the loose again, scooping all the top prizes in the K1.5 million NICO General Classic International Squash competition held at Sunbird Capital Hotel for three days.

NICO RAISES SPONSORSHIP FOR SQUASH TOURNAMENT - 21/Novt/08

NICO General Insurance Company on Thursday 20th of November announced sponsorship increment for Squash Malawi's international classic tournament from K1.2 million to K1.5 million.

ZAMBIANS TO DEFEND NICO SQUASH TITLE - 20/Nov/08

NICO General Insurance Company international squash tournament, which will take place from November 28 to 30, has attracted 16 internationals including Zambian defending champions Kelvin Ndlovu and Sharon Chifwembe.

NICO GENERAL TO INSURE POULTRY - 25/Oct/08

Short-term insurer NICO General Insurance Company Limited says it will later this year introduce a poultry insurance policy designed to hedge poultry farmers in the country from various unforeseen circumstances

TEMBO WINS DEBUT NICO GOLF TOURNAMENT - 25/Sept/08

Shepard Tembo won the inaugural NICO General Golf tournament in Mzuzu while Masauko Chiomba finished second. The coming in of NICO General in the Mzuzu golf world has obviously added hope to the rejuvenation of he game in the region, which has big and upcoming names.

14-YEAR-OLD GETS NICO GENERAL CHAMPIONSHIP

The experienced and best golfers were all at Nchalo Sports Club on a hot Saturday afternoon. But when it came to honours, the red carpet was rolled out for 14-year-old John Mphande junior. Playing off handicap 25, the Kamuzu Academy Form IV student won the 2008 NICO General Insurance Invitational Golf championship with three shots, effectively shrugging of a field of 72 golfers.

MANAGEMENT SKILLS COURSE

Insurance as a market is dynamic. Skills too need to be dynamic. In pursuit of this truism, in May, the Company pooled together its middle managers from all its three branches to an in-house training course at National Bank of Malawi Training College in Blantyre.  The course was facilitated by one of the country’s renowned high management trainer, Wilfred Chinthochi, Senior Management Consultant at Malawi Institute of Management and was aimed at equipping the company’s middle management with skills in strategic management and planning.

ACHIEVEMENT OF A CREDIT RATING CLAIMS PAYING ABILITY (AA-)

We are pleased to announce that Global Credit Rating Company Limited of South Africa has accorded NICO General Insurance Company Limited a domestic Malawi Kwacha Currency claims paying ability of AA- (Double A minus) with effect from June 9, 2008.

LONG SERVICE STAFF AWARDS

NICO General has accorded special recognition to long serving staff in the country at a function held at the headquarters in NICO House in Blantyre on Friday, 9th May 2008 as a way of motivating hard working staff. The leading insurance and Investments company has since asked all staff members to continue being dedicated to serving the company because that is the sure way to register more successes. >> Read More

INTRODUCTION OF RECOGNISED PANEL OF MOTOR VEHICLE REPAIRER/ GARAGES

In a bid to improve repair services on accident damaged motor vehicles, NICO General Insurance Company Limited is pleased to announce the introduction of Panel of recognized Motor Vehicle Repairers/Garages.
Our initial list of Recognised Motor Vehicle Repairers/Garage per region (presented in alphabetical order) is as follows:

Southern Region

1. CFAO Malawi
2. City Motors                                            
3. F&M Motors
4. Fernando Motors
5. Forge Ahead Motors
6. Kingston Motors
7. Nunes Panel Beaters
8. Olympia Motors

Central Region

1. City Motors
2. Andrews Panel Beaters
3. M.A. Motors North End Motors
4. Nunes Panel Beaters
5. Pegas Panel Beaters
6. Touch line Panel Beaters

Northern region

1. DG Motors
2. Double M Motors
3. Mzuzu Panel Beaters

The list will be reviewed annually and from time to time as and when it is necessary to do so.

We shall only recognize repair quotations from any two garages that appear on this list. Our clients are however at liberty to take their vehicles to any garage of their choice that is not on this list on the understanding that we shall not issue any LPO or Repairs Authorisation to such a garage. We shall instead settle such claims, after involving a loss assessor, on cash-in-lieu-of-repairs basis.

NICO GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY 2007 HIGHLIGHTS IN REVIEW

Insofar as insurance business is concerned, the year 2007 has been an eventful year for NICO General Insurance Company. The year started on a high note in January when for the first time ever, the Malawi insurance industry saw the introduction of accredited garages in claim service.

In a bid to improve repair services on accident damaged motor vehicles, NICO General Insurance Company introduced a list of “designated or preferred garages”. Designated or preferred garages form a panel of garages to repair accident damaged vehicles insured by NICO General. What this means is that in the event of a motor claim, requiring repairs, the claimant is required to obtain a quotation from any of the two garages in the panel. This has mutual benefit. The clamant is provided with quality service and we are able to deal with garages in an orderly manner since terms are agreed in advance.

>> Click here to download this article (Adobe Acrobat Format)

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

There is a tale that is often heard in one’s first economics class, about three folks who were stranded in an uninhabited island. They had nothing for food except one small tin of fish. Now, their problem was how to open the tin. The first person suggested that they open the tin with a locally made catapult. That was not a brilliant idea according to the next person who suggested that they burst open the tin by heating it up on fire. “Wait a minute! How do we share the pudding when we have opened the tin?” chipped in the third person who foresaw another problem lying ahead after the contents were ready for consumption. Any guess who these people were? Well, the first speaker was a physicist, the second one was a chemist and the third was an economist!

The message behind the story is that, in addition to devising systems to combat habitual business problems, one needs to institute measures that reduce the effects once the main risk sparks off. You are required to plan beyond the current environment. By virtue of business being perpetual, there is need for readily available mechanisms to make it so in times of risks that threaten its assets and earning capacity.

So what is business continuity planning?

 Business continuity planning is a set of actions that a business adopts immediately after a disaster and other long term plans with an aim of restoring the business to its pre-accident level of operation. The plan is broken down into four phases namely; the crisis, the emergency, the recovery and the return to normality. Actions taken in each phase differ, but collectively they make one process.

The crisis phase is when the risk, which can be insurable or uninsurable, has not yet triggered into a loss. This is what you and I call a threat in our daily conversations. There may still be possibilities of averting the loss or if not, of taking steps to reduce its impact.

At this stage, it is important to ensure that your business is equipped and ready to spot any early signals that something may be about to go wrong. The specific actions need to be defined and communicated to all employees. Constant updating to the plan is essential as risks change with time.

When the risk has triggered, immediate actions have to be taken to safeguard life and property. This is called the emergency phase.

Essentially, the emergency plan must provide a basis for knowing what needs to be done immediately; who is the best person to carry out the first action; what facilities and information must be available to enable staff carry on with the unaffected operations. During this time, the business is recommended to have two sets of staff - one set working on the disaster and the other carrying out routine work to diminish competition from your rivals.

Your emergency plan must be worked out in liaison with the public emergency service providers like the city or town assembly fire brigade, ambulance service, the police and other security service providers. The plan should be compatible with public policy. In times of emergencies, the police and other public service providers are given extensive power to evacuate, ban access to or travel to and from the affected areas.

The recovery phase is when the effects of the loss is dealt with. This is the time that you must collect, update and store your business information. It is important to maintain the information in a form and place that make it immediately available when it is needed. A well written recovery plan demands that you identify key personnel, not necessarily managers, and allocate them momentous responsibilities for different functions of the business.

The return to normality phase is a conclusion of the recovery phase. This section of the plan is the least rigid in design since its implementation depends very much on the scale of the loss. It is important to have thought ahead to ensure that there is a procedure for deciding when normality has been reached. At this stage, all temporary measures put in place to speed up recovery must be discontinued forthwith.

For effectiveness, your business continuity plan must be tested and practiced as regularly as possible whilst thinking wide like an economist mentioned in the tale above.

^^ Top

>> ARCHIVES

>> NICO General has new general manager, Eric Chapola.

>> Tony Chilembwe retires

>> NICO General Pumps One Million Kwacha into Squash

>> Celtel Malawi presented with a K 200,000,000 Cheque for fire claim