This article is part of a series sponsored by Britam

Britam Insurance Company in Uganda is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kenyan-based British-American Investments Company. It provides life, property, accident, liability, motor, medical and Group Life insurance products in the Ugandan market.

The company was set up in 2010 due to Britam Group’s core strategy to establish dominance in East Africa’s financial services market. It represents Britam’s first venture outside Kenya since the 1970's and was a precursor to newly established Britam Insurance Company in South Sudan.

The company is headed by Mr. David Kuria. He is the General Manager and has worked with the Britam Group in Kenya for just over 11 years. Being a young company, Britam Insurance Company had a permanent staff of 10 as of last year. The company’s board of directors is mainly made up of individuals who also sit in the board of parent company British-American Investments namely J.Nicholas Ashford-Hodges (Chairman of the Britam Group), Benson Wairegi (M.D of the Britam Group), Peter Munga (principal shareholder of Britam) and Ugandan Simwogerere Katende.

Brief History

The first presence of Britam in Uganda was in 1973 when Kenyan-based British-American Insurance split its Nairobi office to include British-American offices in Uganda and Mauritius. Nairobi remained as the Africa region head office. Nationalization laws, implemented in East African countries, would later bind foreign companies to officially incorporating in their host country.

In line with the Britam Group’s  business strategy involving regional expansion, Britam Insurance Company was fully incorporated in Uganda on 26^th July 2010 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Kenyan-based British-American Investments Company with a share capital of KES 93 million  (2.79 billion Ugandan Shillings). Initially, the Ugandan subsidiary was incorporated as British-American Uganda Ltd but, three months later, changed its name to the current Britam Insurance Company Ltd.  Britam's Uganda subsidiary, which started operations in November 2010, was the first to carry the new Britam brand and logo.

Britam Uganda Rises

Within a few months of beginning operations in Uganda, Britam Insurance Company managed to position itself as a significant player in Uganda’s insurance market. In 2011, just one year after beginning operations, Britam Insurance Company reported revenue of KES 24.2 million with assets totaling KES 149.3 million but no profit yes. The Britam Group expects  Britam Insurance to be profitable by the year 2013 according to last year's annual report.

Furthermore, Britam is seeking a license to set up an asset management business alongside Britam Insurance in Uganda. With Uganda’s insurance market still greatly untapped, the company expects to grow into one of Uganda’s top insurance companies in the medium term.