He has climbed the highest mountains and is taking Kenya’s insurance sector to the top.

A general look at him and you see your everyday managing director. However, once you have a session with him and talk about insurance, you realize that you are dealing with nothing short but an insurance guru.

Attesting to this, his peers in the insurance industry, in one voice said that his achievements and contributions to the insurance industry could not go unnoticed when he became the first ever recipient of the Insurance Lifetime Award at the inaugural Insurance Awards 2010. This is a special award which is rewarded to an individual voted by the CEOs of Insurance companies, brokers, and agencies as having made the greatest contribution to the growth of the insurance industry during their lifetime.

Meet Ashok Shah, Managing Director APA Insurance. His humility in accepting the award and respect from the industry is evident, as he says that all he has is the passion for insurance and the strong desire to see it benefit majority of Kenyans.

And though insurance has been his cup of tea right after leaving school, it comes as a shock to learn that the Ashok, born and bred in Thika, studied Chemistry at the university.

With a low insurance penetration in the country of less than 3%, Ashok says the award has motivated him to do even more for the industry. “The greatest breakthrough in insurance will be when more Kenyans have trust in insurance,” says Shah. “Kenyans will say that insurance companies do not pay claims. However, they should understand that not all claims will be paid but all genuine claims must be paid.”

Ashok adds that the biggest impediment to improving trustworthiness in the insurance industry is the lack of information by Kenyans on insurance. He says that this has influenced APA’s new marketing campaign, where the company is focusing on giving more information to the public on different covers it offers.

“The insurance industry has the potential to grow and play a bigger role in the economy. Looking at how the banking sector has grown since the 80s to date, there is a lot of room for the insurance sector too if only Kenyans have more information on how insurance works.”

To push forward its agenda of improving insurance penetration in the country, Ashok says APA Insurance has focused its energy on providing innovative covers that will appeal to most Kenyans by identifying with their risks.

“We are looking at areas other insurance companies will not want to be involved in,” adds Ashok.

In 2001, APA Insurance was the first company to start offering a HIV/AIDS health cover, a move that was taken up by other insurance companies just two years ago. Currently, it is the only company offering a health cover to the senior citizens up to 75 years. Other insurers are offering the same cover up to 65 years.

The company has also ventured into the agriculture sector where it is offering farmers a cover against crop destruction and livestock theft or death. Working with the meteorological department, APA is paying claims when rainfall is not enough. By logging in to the department’s automated weather system, APA Insurance is able to know how much rainfall has reached a particular area and thus determine how much the farmers will be paid.

“If the rainfall is 80% of what was expected, then we will pay 20% of what the farm would have yielded,” says Ashok.

Recognizing the difficulty in covering livestock especially against theft, APA has put in place adequate measures to ensure that the cover is fraud free. According to Ashok, the company is using a Radio Frequency Identifying Device on the livestock to know exactly which livestock have been insured. The company is also putting in place a database of the authorized veterinaries who they will work with in the areas they have rolled out livestock insurance.

In the eyes of the insurance industry, the introduction of such covers is surely a breakthrough in the provision of insurance. However, to Ashok this is but the tip of the iceberg. “We are planning to provide insurance to all sectors of the economy from the corporate insurance to individuals and to micro-insurance.”

According to the company’s Head of Corporate Communications Gladys Nashipae, Ashok’s authority in the insurance sector once again comes into play with the roll out of the innovative covers. “Combine his extensive experience in the insurance industry with the young staff here at APA that is aware of what the market wants and you have a team committed to the growth and development of this industry in a fresh and new way.”

As the financial sector warms up to the idea of agent banking to increase the access of financial services to more Kenyans, APA Insurance on its part is thinking of using the same model to grow insurance. By working with commercial banks, APA plans to set up APA Insurance kiosks in the banking halls to boost the availability of insurance countrywide.

However, does he do this solely for the love of the industry? Ashok says that he expects the new products to not only play a part in growing insurance penetration in Kenya, but also propel APA Insurance from its current 8.5% market share, which has seen it become the largest general insurer in the country to at least 12% in the next two years.

“It is to my delight that the current market campaign is bearing fruit by setting apart APA Insurance from the rest. After years of being confused with a competitor, people are now able to recognize APA’s blue corporate colour and the range of new insurance covers. We therefore believe we are on the right momentum in growing our current market share.”

Currently, APA Insurance, which was born from the merger between Apollo Insurance and Pan African Insurance, has 11 branches countrywide a regional presence thanks to a fully owned subsidiary, APA Insurance Uganda and a 34% stake in Reliance Insurance of Tanzania.

It has been said that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, the same applies to Ashok; it is not always about insurance. When he wants to clear his head from the world of insurance, Ashok says that he is an avid hiker. Till now, he has climbed the two tallest mountains on the continent, Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya and has also gone to Tibet and the Himalayas.

So next time you see a scene set up as an ancient library on your television set and hear these words, “We are APA Insurance and we have ripped up the insurance rule book,” think of Ashok Shah as the man behind the insurance company providing the new dimension in insurance.