3 minute read
‘Brokers are the bedrock of our commercial business’
After only three months on the job, King Price’s newly-appointed commercial division MD is putting his footprint on the local insurance industry. Minnaar Fourie’s first point of business has been to forge better relationships with the insurer’s growing broker network, which makes up an increasingly important portion of its revenues. But his major area of focus will be to drive a greater culture of data-driven decision-making to take the company, and the broader industry, to the next level.
“Our brokers are the bedrock of our commercial business, and our relationships with them are key. One of the areas where we canstart showing real value to them is by sharing better data about our customers and the industry. I’m a huge fan of data-driven decisionmaking: ‘trusting your gut’ might have worked 30 years ago, but it’s a totally inconsistent way of making decisions. I see huge opportunity for us to transform the way we handle and use information,” says Fourie.
A metallurgical engineer by training, his focus on data has been honed through 14 years of project management for the construction and civil engineering industry, including a two-year stint heading the project management office on one of the most challenging projects in the world: Saudi Arabia’s $500bn NEOM mega-city. Here, creating focused action plans in a rapidly-changing environment was a requirement for the job – an attribute that he believes will stand him in good stead in the highly competitive local insurance industry.
“The great thing about insurance is that it’s an extremely cash-flow-positive industry. In the construction industry, cash flow is always an enormous problem. In short-term insurance, you get paid up front. This is a step change in managing solvency, and it brings a lot of opportunity. But to realise this, we’ve got to tighten up our processes, and be more efficient in the waywe do things and make decisions,” he says.
Fourie’s view of a data-driven world starts with people, and giving them a solid understanding of the importance of good data management and what it can do for them.
“Many people still think data management is an IT function. I disagree. It’s a collaboration between the business and IT, that enables good intelligence, which feeds good decision-making. We don’t do reporting for reporting’s sake; we do it to enable proactive, effective decisions. I want to create a culture of data management where our people, our brokers and our underwriting management agents (UMAs) let the system do the hard work to answer the important questions,” he says.
That’s why one of his goals is to have an industryleading commercial pricing ‘engine’ in place within the next couple of years – to drive consistency and repeatability in the business. At the same time, he wants to retain the knowledge of what he calls the ‘older generation’ of underwriters, whose experience of the variables in the commercial space will help shape the flexible products that brokers and clients are looking for, especially in areas like King Price’s fledgling agri business.
But for all Fourie’s focus on processes, efficiencies and data, he’s a people’s person at heart. “This is a relationship business, and my management and collaboration style is all about people. Internally, it’s about making sure we have the right people in the right seats, and then giving them the ability to manage the day-to-day running of the business. This allows me to be more strategic and explore ways to further enhance the business – to be on the business, not in the business. Then people feel valued, and have the authority and accountability to do things,” he says.
Minnaar Fourie, MD: Commercial Division, King Price
