This is a humble but great moment for me and my team as we launch our 10th Anniversary edition with messages from our well-wishers and friends. Their wonderful messages, recorded from A to Z, are indeed encouraging and inspiring for me and my team. We do feel appreciated and even loved.
Thank you very much, everybody and we hope to make the next 10 years even more memorable. You have inspired us to be better and give of our utmost best to the Region.
But what a change the 10 years has seen. We came in during the heady days of 2006 when everything was turning to gold. With the bubbles in the oil price surge, many companies were rushing in without even a strategy, and sometimes even without knowing the markets in the MENA region. Even the term MENA was almost unknown just 10 years ago. Takaful was banked on, not betted upon, as another sure winner.
Then came the Global Financial Crisis and the Arab Spring, and the markets went south. Today the region is gripped with the political turmoil and uncertainties and the throes of low oil prices. But the resilience and spirit of the Arab region is salutary and we bask in that same spirit to keep business as usual.
On our part, MEIR is committed as a matter of editorial policy to look for the good in the region’s insurance industry and to uncover pockets of opportunities as well as exhort the market to greater professionalism and higher standards.
It is in that same spirit that we launch the 3rd Middle East Insurance Industry Awards this month to recognise and salute excellence in the market. And to ensure that we spread the good message and inspiration all round, we have added a restriction that each company can only opt to take part in only one of the 12 categories except for composites which can take part in both the life/ family takaful and general business. Come forward to be recognised and do follow the criteria strictly in your write-up to stand a better chance to win the Award. It is a real honour to be recognised by your peers and leaders in the market in an Awards where the criteria is clearly defined and the whole process transparent and independently audited. Try it.
For this month, our usual fare includes a country profile on Saudi Arabia where there is confidence that the positive momentum can be sustained. Our General Insurance feature is on construction & engineering where buildings are going green and where there are more opportunities for tech-risk savvy insurers. Our Risk Management feature urges people to manage risks in new ways, and in takaful, the stress is on stepping up to the resilience of Islamic finance.
We celebrate this 10th Anniversary with a resounding Summit on the theme of “Underwriting for Profit – Reality or Myth in Today’s World”, where we aim to challenge leaders to re-think insurance and re-imagine the risk business to get ahead with definite victory.
We can only hope and cheer. The rest is up to you. But we will talk the walk with you!
MEIR is here to stay.
Sivam Subramaniam
Editor-in-Chief
Asia Insurance Review