In 1988 when Afro-Asian Insurance was founded, it started small. This business began in an office opposite the old Wembley stadium with three desks, one for Udai Patel, who is today the Executive Chairman and CEO of Afro-Insurance, one for his father and founder of the company, Rasik Patel, and one for the company’s secretary.
“We have now grown into a diversified group employing 70 people, with over eight offices including the UK, Africa and a couple of offices in India,” says Udai Patel when we speak to him today. “It has been a journey, but what has defined us is our business focus. We are focusing on reinsurance broking only, as specialists in the African business sector.”
A Family Business
While Rasik Patel has sadly passed away, his vision continues to influence the business. He spent half his life in Tanzania and Zambia, as Managing Director of the subsidiaries of Clarkson Puckle (Lloyd’s Brokers) before eventually joining the main board in London in 1975. He spent his career building the relationships that would form the foundation of Afro-Asian Insurance.
“He was given a wider authority and responsibility to develop the African, Middle East and Asian business for the Group,” Patel says. 
While his father has always lived and breathed the insurance business, Udai Patel came to it later.
“I did not start out in insurance. I am a qualified accountant, becoming the Finance Director of a public affairs subsidiary of Saatchi & Saatchi in the 1980s,” Patel recalls. “In 1995 I left that job and joined my father in the running of Afro-Asian Insurance. Then we continued to grow the company together from 1995 until his passing in 2008.”
Today the business has grown to the point where it is trading in 37 countries in Africa, with thriving offices in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We plan to grow our network further in Africa in 2025.
“We are unique as the only Lloyd’s broker with a portfolio that has been 100% built on African reinsurance,” Patel tells us. “That specialisation is our USP, and our success is due to our understanding of African culture. We speak various African languages, and know the challenges on the ground for ceding companies.”
Because the business has been so shaped by Patel’s father, when he passed in 2008 it was not only a personal loss, but a pivotal moment for the company.
“The dilemma was that the company had grown between 1988 and 2008 purely on my father’s relationships with various CEOs in Africa,” Patel explains. “This is a relationship-based business and the key relationships were between those CEOs and my father, rather than between those CEOs and me, or between our businesses. So when he passed, we had to make a quick decision about what our future path would be.”
Cutting a New Path
Afro-Asian Insurance could continue leveraging its existing relationships, but as people who knew Rasik Patel retired or moved to other positions, that business risked falling away. Instead, Patel opted to move in a different direction.
“We decided to increase our footprint in Africa by slowly growing our network of offices across the continent,” Patel says. “The firm applied for Lloyd’s accreditation, receiving it in 2009. That was the first critical point in the development of the company.”
The plan paid off, and the company grew rapidly from 2008 to 2014. However, that brought its own challenges.
“We were growing at such a rate that we stopped working efficiently. Costs were increasing but the rate of top line growth was flattening out,” Patel remembers. “We saw that if we continued that way the company would become unprofitable.”
To correct course Patel and one of his colleagues joined the Cranfield Business School’s “Business Growth Program”. It was a course designed for owner-operators. It was a very steep learning curve, and he wasted no time in applying those lessons to the business.
The results speak for themselves.
“Between 2014 and 2024 Afro-Asian Insurances’ turnover grew by 162%. Even more astounding, the company’s profit grew by 1,400%,” Patel informs us. “The company is still on a growth trajectory.”
But as we talk with Patel, it becomes clear that for him this business is not just about the bottom line. Patel is passionate about the work his company does.
Plugging the Gaps
Patel’s goal for Afro-Asian Insurance is not just to grow the company’s profit, but to use its position to further the entire industry in Africa. He is intrigued by finding ways of increasing the rate of insurance penetration throughout the continent, and where possible, finding ways to fill the insurance gaps in the market.
“We have invested heavily in training, acquiring an organisation called the London Insurance School,” Patel says. “It provides training in reinsurance, risk mitigation and management subjects.”
The London School of Insurance had been operating for 30 years when Afro-Asian Insurance purchased it 10 years ago. The London School of Insurance has made significant contributions to training professionals across Africa, in both English-speaking and Francophone countries. The School deploys both Internet-based and face-to-face training. But Patel is seeking innovative ways of using the School to grow insurance awareness in Africa.
“We have branched out from training insurance professionals to working with people at a political level in African countries to help them understand the basics of the industry,” says Patel. “In most of these countries, the regulator reports to the Ministry of Finance. Unless that Ministry and other ministries in the government understand the benefits of insurance, the regulators cannot do their job effectively.”
Working with MPs and permanent secretaries, the London School of Insurance has assisted in the creation of “Insurance Ambassadors” in Tanzania, who in turn share their knowledge with other MPs. The School has even worked on private sector projects launching academies sponsored by African reinsurers in English and French. Afro-Asian Insurance also hosts networking conferences for CEOs to come to the UK and learn more about the innovative trends in the industry. Patel has even launched a podcast series under the banner “Africa Ascending” to address the difficult topics affecting the African insurance sector. All of this furthers Patel’s vision of increasing insurance awareness across the continent.
“The fact that insurance penetration is so low in Africa itself shows the potential for growth,” Patel points out. “Penetration of an average of 1.5% means that you have potential for growth of 98.5% to look forward to.” With growth comes the need for cascading over socially responsible projects. Afro-Asian Insurance is a signatory to the “Nairobi Declaration on Sustainable Insurance”, and joins other African insurance leaders with the aim of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Alongside these initiatives, Patel is enthusiastic about the potential benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area, creating the ultimate vision of one African economic powerhouse. “This road is long and full of challenges, but the rewards for Africa will be amazing” reminisces Patel.
“What we are offering is the best of both worlds,” says Patel. “Our presence in London means access to markets for the large and specialist risks in Africa. At the same time, we have knowledge transfer taking place through our network of locally licensed offices in Africa run by indigenous staff with local shareholders. They are African companies. Going forward we are going to be a UK company undergoing Africanisation.”
