PICTURES:Lion Assurance Joins Club of ISO Certified Companies

Lion Assurance Company Limited has clinched the most coveted (International Organisation for Standardisation) ISO 9001:2008 certification.

URS (United Registrar of Systems), which is a member of Registrar of Standards (Holdings) Ltd, awarded the certificate to Lion Assurance.

“ISO 9001 is a Quality Management System that we have integrated into our business. It is focused on ensuring that our business delivers a consistent level of quality to our customers by having a well-defined and regularly reviewed processes and procedures. We are delighted for having been recognized for our excellent services,” said Mr Newton Jazire, the Lion Assurance managing director, in Kampala during the dinner ceremony to celebrate the achievement.

Emcee of the night Roger Mugisha (L) and Lion Assurance Marketing Manager Donato Laboke at a dinner to celebrate Lion Assurance's attainment of the ISO 9001:2008 certificate at Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday, October 23, 2013.
Emcee of the night Roger Mugisha (L) and Lion Assurance Marketing Manager Donato Laboke at a dinner to celebrate Lion Assurance’s attainment of the ISO 9001:2008 certificate at Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday, October 23, 2013.

“ISO 9001 certification is a seal of approval from a third party body that our company runs one of the internationally recognised ISO management systems. This means as a business, we are committed to a very high level of quality service delivery in our offers to the market,” Mr Jazire added.

ISO is a worldwide federation of international standards bodies. The benefits of attainment of ISO certification are far reaching.

“Some companies, both private and public, use ISO certification as a filter in their tender screening of service providers. The certified status shows our company’s credibility and should instill confidence in the potential clients that we, as a business, will keep our promises,” he said.

Lion Assurance Limited is a member of TA Holdings and belongs to a regional insurance group which has its presence in Botswana, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Lion Assurance Limited was re-capitalised In January 2006 to the tune of $7 million, making it the second most capitalized short-term insurer in the Uganda.

Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde, Stanbic board chairman Hannington Karuhanga and Lion Assurance MD Newton Jazire share a light moment at the dinner.
Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde, Stanbic board chairman Hannington Karuhanga and Lion Assurance MD Newton Jazire share a light moment at the dinner.

Based on that, Lion Assurance is regarded as one of the most reliable insurance companies in Uganda.

The underlying rationale of recapitalisation was to enhance the policyholder security through strengthened balance sheet while at the same time enhancing the underwriting capacity and the service delivery of the company.

Lion Assurance is the third local insurance company to get that kind of ISO certificate, among the many that are in operation today. Lion Assurance was the runner up in the Insurance Services sub-category during the 2012 Financial Reporting (FiRe) Awards. It won in the same category in 2011.

Mr Jazire said the streamlining of operational procedures to international standards, whereby all departments started working as a team led Lion Assurance to attain excellence and conformity with the ISO Quality Management system and the eventual accreditation.

“The fact that we aligned our different departments to work together over the last one year must have caught the eye of the ISO certification awarding body to recognise us, and thus award us the certification that we now proud of,” he said.

Mr P.K Pandey, the ISO consultant, makes his remarks at the dinner on Wednesday.
Mr P.K Pandey, the ISO consultant, makes his remarks at the dinner on Wednesday.

Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde congratulated the management of Lion Assurance for the achievement, cautioning it to enhance existing products and services in order to give better services to the public.

“Management must always remember that the public outside there is watching and they now expect better services and products from Lion Assurance. It is my humble request that Lion Assurance enhances the existing products rather than introduce more,” Minister Kyambadde said in her keynote remarks.

Mr J.K Pandey, the ISO consultant, congratulated Lion Assurance upon the achievement.

“Companies that qualify for ISO standards like Lion Assurance are those that have absolutely consented to the required management systems of operations. ISO management system standards include; ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 31000,” said Mr Pandey.

“Lion Assurance recruits right people with perfect required backgrounds of all the positions in the company, they train all the employees based on the requirements of the particular position so that each employee meets the need and requirement of the client,” he said.

Minister Amelia Kyambadde hands the ISO 9001:2008 Certificate to Mr Jazire as Mr Karuhanga looks on.
Minister Amelia Kyambadde hands the ISO 9001:2008 Certificate to Mr Jazire as Mr Karuhanga looks on.

He added that the company also carries out right documentation for each activity it takes to avoid any gap in addressing their role and responsibility and it organises feedback from the clients so that they may address and gap/ lacuna as notified by the clients.

Mr Jazire said Ugandans insured by Lion Assurance Company Limited should expect a high level of insurance services quality, continued improvement and practical approach to decision making.

Insurance Reulatory Authority's Mariam Nalunkuuma.
Insurance Reulatory Authority’s Mariam Nalunkuuma.

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