When Tony Elumelu stood before Nigeria’s insurance regulator five years ago and vowed to replicate the banking revolution he led at UBA, the room was skeptical. Industry veterans knew the score: Nigerians simply didn’t trust insurers, and penetration hovered below one percent of GDP. Elumelu’s promise to change that seemed like a pipe dream.
Today, that dream is a reality. Heirs Insurance Group has not only survived the notoriously tough Nigerian insurance terrain but has thrived, earning a spot on the Financial Times list of Africa’s fastest-growing companies. The group’s end-to-end digital channels now allow customers to purchase policies in under three minutes, with claims settled in as little as 24 hours—a radical departure from the industry’s slow, paper-heavy norm.
The journey began with a challenge. In 2020, then-Commissioner for Insurance Sunday Thomas warned newly licensed firms that their permits were leased, not owned, and could be revoked. Elumelu, visibly excited, promised to uphold corporate governance and deepen penetration through innovation. “To whom much is given, much is expected,” he said, recalling how UBA dispensed over N1 billion through ATMs in 2005. He pledged to bring that same cutting-edge thinking to insurance.
The results speak for themselves. After an initial loss in 2021, Heirs Insurance Group broke even rapidly. Gross written premium surged from N6.1 billion in 2021 to N61 billion in 2024—a tenfold increase. Profit before tax hit N11.2 billion, and total assets reached N92.9 billion. Claims payments soared to N10.4 billion, up 149 percent year-on-year.
Product innovation has been key. Heirs Life Assurance became an official pension provider for Lagos State. Heirs General Insurance launched Her Motor Plan, a female-centric product that won the Most Female-Centric Insurance Product of the Year award. The group also rolled out a bancassurance partnership with UBA, offering insurance through 250 branches nationwide.
Digital transformation is at the core. The group introduced seamless channels including a website, USSD, mobile app, and chatbot. It launched Africa’s first insurance web series, The Underwriters, and Nigeria’s first multi-lingual Gen-AI assistant, Prince AI. The Heirs Insurance Hackathon targets students to develop AI solutions for insurance.
Awards have followed. Heirs Insurance Group won Insurance Company of the Year in 2025, Best MSME Insurance Company of the Year, and the SERAS Africa Best in Technology for Development award. It also received ISO 27001 certification for global security standards.
The group’s sustainability initiatives include The Good Project, which transforms plastic waste into reusable items, and the Heirs Insurance Football Club. The Heirs Insurance Essay Championship promotes financial literacy among students and their families.
Elumelu’s vision was always about more than profits. He aimed to grow insurance’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP from under one percent to three percent. Five years in, Heirs Insurance Group has proven that disruption, trust, and innovation can transform a stagnant sector. The question now is whether it can sustain this momentum and set the pace for an entire industry.
