Kampala, Uganda | URN | Insurance training institutions across Africa say the coronavirus crisis has presented them with an opportunity to save money through conducting online classes for the professionals in the industry.
In a Zoom meeting with players from all over Africa, participants said before the outbreak of the disease, many professionals in the industry were reluctant to take on online classes opting for face-to-face training. COVID-19 pandemic left them with no options.
Saul Seremba, the Chief Executive Officer of the Insurance Institute of Uganda said when COVID-19 hit, they were scared and didn’t how to proceed. However, the lack of options has changed people’s perceptions towards the virtual classes and many have embraced them.
According to Dr Yeside Oyetafayo, the rector of College Insurance and Financial Management Nigeria, she said online classes are saving colleges billions in terms of paying facilitators travels expenses, hotel accommodation and allowances.
She said they have had training with facilitators from Singapore in the last two months at a much lower cost than they used to.
There are challenges though, Yeside says the colleges need software to run the training. Also, the trainers are worried about the cyber security during training. A lot of companies holding online meetings have reported their engagements being interfered with by uninvited people.
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Also, Yeside says facilitators from afar are refusing to share their training materials citing intellectual property issues.
Insurance is expected to be an important player in the post coronavirus recovery of many countries.
The trainings being carried out are expected to help people and businesses recovery. Practitioners in the sector need training on how to assess premiums in the uncertain times when businesses are not sure of their survival or when they would operate at full capacity.
