This edition features a handful of Top 10 InsurTech leaders to watch in 2022 that are leading us into a better future

1. VOL 11 I ISSUE 04 I 2022
Salem Al Mannai
Salem Al Mannai
Group Chief Execu ve
Officer
QIC Group
Top10
10
10
InsurTech
InsurTech
InsurTech
leaders
to watch in
2022

4. The Traits that Signify
Excellence
he state of the insurance industry has come under deep
Tscrutiny, particularly as the pandemic revealed new risks
and weaknesses against a backdrop of market volatility. The
future of the industry depends upon modern insurance leaders
who have the visionary traits to disrupt and innovate within their
organizations.
Sometimes leadership sneaks up on us. It starts out with our
volunteering on a committee or speaking up at a meeting.
Someone may nudge us at first, giving us encouragement. Or
perhaps we raise our voice out of frustration or in defiance,
challenging conventions, shattering the established way of doing
things.
The insurance industry has unique challenges and opportunities.
Navigating these well is the key to success in the insurance world.
Your team needs great leadership to help them manage these
challenges and opportunities. One important aspect of being a
good leader is to nurture your team. As their leader, your team
looks to you for guidance, strength, motivation, and support.
You essentially take on the parent role for your team, and it is your
responsibility to make sure that your team is healthy and happy. A
good leader recognizes what makes each team member great. By
realizing each member’s strengths, leaders can better organize
their team and projects based on each person’s ability.
Innovation is essential to the survival of your insurance business. If
your company doesn’t innovate well, your business will plateau.
What’s more, competitors who are innovating will pass you by.
EDITOR’S NOTE

5. Innovation starts at the team level. The more you empower your team to innovate, the more innovative you
will become as a company. Fortunately, innovation can be cultivated.
Keeping the company’s overall mission in mind is an essential skill of a good leader. Without this vision,
teams can quickly lose their direction and get off course. Seeing the big picture and implementing it into
projects helps your team stay in alignment with company goals.
Embracing the journey of the leaders who are enabling novelties in the modern insurance industry with a
unique approach while showcasing significant traits, CIOLook features the “Top 10 InsurTech leaders to
watch in 2022,” who are enabling betterments in the niche.
Flip through the pages and comprehend the leadership traits that are enabling new advancements in
today’s insurance industry.
Have a Delightful Read!
Abhishek Joshi
Top10
10
10
InsurTech
InsurTech
InsurTech
leaders
to watch in
2022
Abhishek Joshi

6. 08
C O V E R S T O R Y
A l M a n n a i
A Catalyst in Intuitive and A ordable Insurance
Salem

7. Bruce Lucas
A Maverick of the Insurtech
Industry
Nonso Opurum
Deviating the appoach
of Accruing Premiums
Hermann Fried
Playing the Role of an
InsurTech Interpreter
16 20 30
C X O
Lars Gehrmann
Group Chief Digital Officer
Head of QIC Digital
Venture Partners
Technologies,
revolutions,
and crisis
26
24
Mr. Ahmed
Zebeib
28
Deputy Chief Executive
Officer, QLM Qatar Life &
Medical Insurance
Rao Tadepalli
Exhibiting Trasformational
Leadership
34

8. CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Executive Editors Abhishek Joshi
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art & Design Director Revati Badkas
Associate Designer Ankita Pandharpure
SALES
Vice President Operations Kshitij S.
Senior Sales Manager Prathamesh Tate
Sales Executives Rohit, John
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Prachi Mokashi
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
November, 2022
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9. Brief
Company Name
Rao Tadepalli
Digitran Technologies
Strategic consultant
to Guidewire
Ryan Schiller
Software Developer
Hermann Fried
Managing Director
Nitin Anand
Director
bsurance helps businesses to scale-up, by digitalising and
embedding insurance products directly at the Point of Sale.
Guidewire is the P&C platform that supports the entire
insurance lifecycle for leading insurers in 38 countries.
Aflac provides supplemental insurance to help pay out-of-
pocket expenses your major medical insurance doesn't cover.
ADNIC offers both commercial and consumers insurance
products that are customisable and scalable.
Bruce Lucas
Founder and CEO
Slide believes in leveraging technology and deep insurance
expertise to hyper-personalize, optimize, and streamline every
part of the home insurance process.
Slide
slideinsurance.com
bsurance
bsurance.com
Abu Dhabi National
Insaurance Company
adnic.ae
AV8 Ventures is an early stage partner in helping founders
build their companies.
AV8 Ventures
av8.vc
Nonso Opurum
CEO
SoCoCare delivers the market's most intelligent and highly
evolved Social Engagement solution for customer service and
sales organizations.
SoCoCare
sococare.com
Aflac Inc
aflac.com
Keyla Cabret-Lewis
Vice President
Auto-Owners Insurance is among the top insurance providers
in the U.S., offering a wide variety of discounts and coverages
to meet your needs.
Auto-Owners Insurance
accelins.com
Guidewire
guidewire.com
Mr. Salem Al Mannai
CEO
Qatar Insurance Group is the largest insurer in the Persian Gulf
region.
Qatar Insurance Group
qicgroup.com.qa
Patricia Antunez
Transformation
Director
WTW povides data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of
people, risk, and capital that make your organization more
resilient, motivate your workforce, and maximize performance.
WTW
wtwco.com
Featured Person
Amir Kabir
Partner

10. Salem
A l M a n n a i
A Catalyst in Intuitive and A ordable Insurance
QIC has made great strides
in integrating technological
advancements that address
some of the ine ciencies that
exist along the value chain.
Salem

11. C
O
V
E
R
S
T
O
R
Y
Salem Al Mannai
CEO,
Qatar Insurance Group

12. S
S The insurtech ecosystem is still
in its early stages in the
MENA region. Our goal is to
play a leading role in boosting
innovation and entrepreneur-
ship.
e as humans have access to limited
Wresources for risk management when it
comes to a situation where we dip into
accidents or similar consequences. What cannot be
provided, we try to obtain. Insurance is one such
instance that comes into play when we cannot manage
the casualties that we face; it gives us reassurance and
a stance to regenerate on the contrary.
Unpredictability and predicament are fundamental to
life; hence insurance is a prerequisite today. The
arbitrariness of life these days has no covenant, even
more than before. This brings the rise of the InsurTech
Industry today. The insurance industry is
predominantly backed by federal service providers,
with privately held enterprises holding a minor stake.
Ever-changing customer behavior, digital disruption,
regulatory pressures, and the competitive marketplace
leaves this industry to be a very volatile one.
Owing to the same, the Property and Casualty Sector,
P&C, of the InsurTech market is not any different;
challenges faced here are the same, if not more. But the
ability of P&C carriers for protection has continuously
increased over the last few years. The insurance
business is adding capacity because of the prominent
companies offering newly developed online services.
These shifting dynamics have heightened price-based
competition, fueled market development into new
geographies, and compelled insurers to provide
enhanced services.
Sustaining these changing dynamics of the market is
Qatar Insurance Group. Qatar Insurance Company
(QIC) is a publicly listed flagship insurer with an
outstanding performance history of over 50 years.
Since its establishment in 1964, QIC has demonstrated
its ability to consistently navigate individuals and
businesses through economic cycles by offering a
diverse portfolio of both personal and business lines of
insurance products, combining distribution with
excellent service delivery. And today, the firm stands
even more successful because of the never give up
attitude of its CEO, Salem Al Mannai.
To know his achievements and the sector better,
CIOLook had an interview with the radical of the
InsurTech Industry.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader until your current position as CEO of Qatar
Insurance Group. What challenges have you had to
overcome to reach where you are today?
Being a postgraduate of the University of South Wales
in the UK, I have held various key positions within
Qatar Insurance Group, the most recent being the
Deputy President & CEO of the Group. I started my
career in the retail department of QIC in 2001.
Subsequently, I was appointed as the Head of Energy,
Marine, and Cargo Insurance. And in 2013, I assumed
the responsibility of Deputy CEO of QLM. In 2015, I
was appointed as Deputy Group CEO of the MENA
region. Later, based on my knowledge and experience, I
was assigned the position of Deputy Group President &
CEO of the QIC Group in 2019. And in January 2020, I
was appointed QIC Group CEO.
Tell us something more about Qatar Insurance Group
and its mission and vision.
Our mission is to be recognized as the world's largest
and most trusted insurance group while continuing to
meet our obligations to shareholders, customers,
employees and society.
Our vision is to maintain our drive for growth and
excellence through innovation, diversification, and
responsible leadership. Through existing and new
strategic alliances and partnerships, we aim to create
the optimum framework for continuous profitable
development.

13. For example, in 2022, QIC Global, the subsidiary of
Qatar Insurance Group, announced its intention to
align its core companies under the Antares name (the
name of QIC Global's London and Asia-based Lloyd's
business, a well-known and well-regarded brand that
has been chosen to reflect the international nature of
the wider group's client base and global operations.),
creating a single identity to unify the brand across
respective entities.
Enlighten us on how you have impacted the insurtech
industry through your experience in the market.
QIC has made great strides in integrating technological
advancements that address some of the inefficiencies
that exist along the value chain. For example, we were
among the first in the last 10 years to implement new
digital propositions in the mobility space and health
insurance, such as, using AI modules in claims handling
to improve processing efficiency and reduce
operational costs.
This digital transformation has evidently resulted in
efficiency gains and better service provision; however,
the sheer pace of the change created a skills gap. That's
why companies must invest in finding and onboarding
people with the right skills and mindset who can come
in and challenge traditional approaches and test the
limits.
With this in mind, we launched QIC Digital Venture
Partners (QIC DVP): a unit that is tasked with fostering
a culture of innovation and accelerating our activities in
insurtech, through building new ventures, partnering
with BigTech and investing in insurtech startups.
QIC DVP marries the different capabilities of QIC
Group, specifically (Anoud Tech and QIC
Global/Antares) together with insutech's
entrepreneurial mindset to boost the MENA insurtech
ecosystem and to become the risk book of future digital
MGAs while helping provide the right management
tools and tech capabilities.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that
drives Qatar Insurance Group.
Innovation, diversity, and excellence are some of our
main values. We believe that a diverse workplace that
brings together people from different backgrounds,
nationalities, and genders who can draw upon their
unique experiences and perspectives, leads to

14. S
Sincreased innovation, strategic thinking, and problem-
solving.
We value every employee and acknowledge their
distinctive contribution, effort, and opinions. Our
Group is being built on teamwork, respect, and mutual
trust, and each person at whatever level she or he may
operate is empowered and encouraged to be
responsible for their actions. We acknowledge
innovation and reward excellence.
We encourage a safe workplace, comply with all laws
and regulations, and strive to meet the expectations
and requirements of our customers, whom we regard
as trusted partners, whose constructive feedback and
candid critique are valued, and we endeavor to
integrate into our business model.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
These days people expect to be able to acquire services
on the go through their mobile phones; therefore, in
order to address this consumer demand, we launched
qic. online: the market-leading digital insurance
offering where you can directly contract insurance in 2
minutes. We are proud to be the reference here for
many regional players.
And to expand those capabilities beyond QIC, we
launched Anoud Tech in March 2020, a wholly owned
IT services subsidiary of QIC Group. Its best-in-class
insurance IT platform called Anoud+ provides insurers
with an efficient and comprehensive way to manage all
aspects of their insurance programs.
With fifteen international insurers as clients, Anoud
Tech has become an insurtech infrastructure player. It is
also the first Qatari company to export internally
developed IT solutions to insurance companies in
Europe and the Caribbean. Those achievements have
earned Anoud Tech placement in ACORD and Alchemy
Crew's list of top 10 leading companies with great
current and future ability to change the industry
through insurtech.
To better work with our regional partners, we exposed
most of our insurance products and services via APIs
and have developed client management platforms and
interfaces to facilitate communication and workflow
between our organizations.
What change would you like to bring to the Insurtech
industry if given a chance?
The insurtech ecosystem is still in its early stages in the
MENA region. Our goal is to play a leading role in
boosting innovation and entrepreneurship by
connecting the different market players, such as
insurance incumbents, regulators, venture capital and
insurtech new founders.
We also aim to bring more insurance product
innovation and digital proposition innovation through

15. Our newly launched- QIC
Digital Venture Partners, builds
its ventures, invests in
insurtech start-ups, and
partners with BigTech to boost
the whole MENA Insurtech
Ecosystem.
QIC DVP's new ventures and by leveraging our Lloyd's
London and reinsurance capacity (Antares) and QIC's
dominant presence in the GCC region.
What according to you could be the next significant
change in the insurtech industry? How is Qatar
Insurance group preparing to be part of that change?
Enabled by smart phone and internet penetration rates
globally and within the region, consumer browsing and
purchasing patterns have witnessed a paradigm shift
from offline to online. A shift that was further
accelerated by a pandemic that forced corporations,
retailers, and users to embrace digitization.
Insurtechs worldwide followed a pattern of disruption
similar to what we saw with Fintechs. The first wave
happened on the distribution side of the value chain
where the rise of marketplace, comparison sites and
aggregators helped users quickly compare between
insurers and obtain a quote.
The second wave of disruption, which is currently
underway, is in the Direct to Customer (D2C) space,
where incumbents are either innovating towards online
offerings or working with insurtech companies that are
providing digital capacities that enable incumbents
reach online users, particularly, digital native
generations (Millennials and Gen Zs).
The third wave will see insurtechs leveraging digital and
data to provide an entirely new experience to the
customer, one that offers sustainable pricing and
profitability through better underwriting and risk
management, on-demand, or usage-based insurance
propositions, and embedding insurance into an
extended ecosystem around the customer's lifestyle
and daily activities to offer ubiquitous insurance
protection.
There are three strategic mechanisms by which QIC is
able to innovate, expand and impact the insurtech
ecosystem: Anoud Tech provides insurance incumbents
with a software and licensing delivery model called
"software-as-a-service" or "SaaS" that enables them to
adopt and integrate digital insurance solutions; QIC
DVP builds new ventures and invests in insurtechs and;
Antares our specialty reinsurance subsidiary that offers
a broad range of reinsurance and alternative risk
transactions, as well as commercial and retail insurance
products distributed through a network of respected
insurance intermediary partners and Lloyd's of London.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run
and what are your future goals for Qatar Insurance
Company?
As we progress further into the digital age, the demand
for digital solutions that improve speed, efficiency and
simplicity will continue to increase. Our goal is to
become a digitally enabled and technology-driven
insurance company that enables different propositions
and expands the MENA insurtech ecosystem. Our
specialty reinsurance, Antares, could provide us with
greater flexibility to add new corporate entities and
insurance-related services that will help facilitate a
future where we are the standard defining tech
platform for insurance incumbents in the region.
Also, with QIC DVP, we will have built leading
insurtechs in several verticals and expanded the MENA
insurTech ecosystem by creating, investing in and
nurturing insurtechs.
What would your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the insurtech industry?
The best solutions and innovations are born out of a
deep knowledge of the insurance space, so it is
important to talk to customers and to truly understand
their pain points. Also, partnering with the right players
is critical. Approach our QIC DVP team and get valid
feedback and to potentially partner and get financed.
My other suggestion would be to participate in the
second MENA InsurTech Startup Challenge.

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18. LUCAS
A Maverick
of the InsurTech
Industry
I
nsurance was designed centuries ago to protect
investments, like homes, from the financial impacts
of unexpected loss. The financial security insurance
provides, was and still is, fundamental to homeowners’
way of life. However, the value chain became broken
when the industry did not evolve at the pace of its
consumers. This has left modern insurance buyers
dissatisfied with the customer experience, the pricing,
and the products.
The first InsurTechs sparked a movement toward
digital-first insurance experiences that are more in line
with what consumers have come to expect from the
providers they choose to do business with. This
disruptive approach has garnered the interest of
consumers and investors alike over the past decade.
While these insurance innovators made significant
strides in the digitization of the industry, they did not
understand the complexities of insurance and not one
has achieved the profitability or financial strength
needed to fulfill their purpose.
Enter Slide. Slide was introduced to this dynamic
market in 2021 as a disruptor to the disruptor – its
approach is so unique that it is being lauded as the next
generation of InsurTech. In its first year, Slide has grown
to be one of the largest P&C InsurTechs in the nation by
revenue and is the first to be profitable. Propelled by
the never give up attitude of its Founder and CEO,
Bruce Lucas, the company marries deep technology,
data science, and insurance expertise to achieve what
was previously perceived as impossible.
Bruce is recognized as a leading InsurTech influencer
for his expertise in using Big Data and cutting-edge
technology to revolutionize all facets of the insurance
process, including operations, claims, underwriting, and
the experiences of customers and agents. We, at
CIOLook, had the privilege to have an interview with
this maverick of the InsurTech industry.
Below are the excerpts from the interview.
Bruce, please brief our audience about your journey as
a business leader until your current position at Slide.
What challenges have you had to overcome to reach
where you are today?
My career has been full of twists and turns. I started in
the insurance industry ten years ago with no
experience. I had to learn insurance, reinsurance, risk
management, claims, underwriting, customer service,
managed repair, public markets, capital management,
hurricane management, and how to function with little
to no sleep. The biggest obstacle for me was learning
how to empower and trust my senior team to make the
right decisions.
In my early days, I was a roadblock, and everything had
to flow through me, which made rapid growth difficult.
When I adopted a collaborative management process, I
not only empowered the management team to be
leaders, but I was also able to scale the company at an
incredible rate. You have to learn the balance between
grabbing the reigns and letting go.
www.ciolook.com | November 2022 |
16

19. Tell us more about Slide and its mission and vision in
the modern InsurTech sector.
I want to change the face of insurance as we know it.
The future of every business is technology-driven,
especially insurance. The industry has been slow to
modernize, and it no longer fits the wants and needs of
the consumer.
Slide strives to create a modern user experience, using
Big Data-driven underwriting, at a fair price for our
customers. I want to make insurance intuitive and
affordable.
Bruce Lucas
Founder and CEO,
Slide
www.ciolook.com | November 2022 |
17

20. Enlighten us on how you have impacted the InsurTech
sector through your expertise in the market.
My niche is homeowner’s insurance. Throughout my
career, I’ve changed the perceptions related to growth,
profitability, risk management, and M&A. In just a few
short years at Heritage Insurance, my last start-up
venture, I created the fastest growing insurer in the U.S.
two years in a row. During my tenure, I did more M&A
than any other coastal CEO, took the company public in
two years, grew revenue to over $1 billion per year, and
was profitable every year. Slide is off to an even faster
start and we are proving that insurance does not need
to be slow-paced and unprofitable
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that
drives your Slide.
Slide has five core values that are lived out daily:
• Slide it Forward. We adopt a charitable cause
every quarter and the Slide team around the
country participates supporting the cause.
• Keep it Real. Our team members are encouraged to
always be honest and forthright. We believe that
trust must be earned and maintained – whether it
be a fellow team member or a policyholder.
• Be an Intrapreneur. Every team member is
empowered to take charge of their domain and get
creative in the solutions they bring to the table. We
operate with a “best idea wins” philosophy.
• Empower Differences. We hire for diversity of
thought and give space for everyone to learn, grow,
lead, and unite around our vision.
• Enjoy the Journey. Work should be fun! We invest
in events and celebrations to ensure our employees
have time to do what they love and love what they
do.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging
technological advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
We are using a $5 Trillion TIV data set and 20 years of
historical claims information to better understand risk
selection and pricing. Our industry-leading data gives
Slide an insurmountable advantage over our InsurTech
peers, and sets is the foundation upon which we built
our proprietary underwriting AI. The combination of
Big Data and underwriting AI allows Slide to make
better-informed decisions relating to risk selection and
pricing.
What change would you like to bring to the InsurTech
sector if given a chance?
Prospective-based underwriting! I’m not afraid to be
contrarian, the entire industry has it wrong. They are
using retrospective data from as much as two years ago
to price a policy today. In an inflationary market, you
are always underwriting at a loss and the old
underwriting methods no longer work. The future of
insurance is prospective underwriting that looks at loss
costs for the next 12 months and adjusts the price of
each policy accordingly.
What, according to you, could be the next significant
change in the InsurTech sector? How is Slide preparing
to be a part of that change?
The next significant step forward is AI-based
underwriting and decision-making. Slide is at the
forefront of this trend and has developed cutting-edge
underwriting AI that is capable of making point-of-sale
underwriting and pricing decisions.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run,
and what are your future goals for Slide?
My five-year goal is to have $1 billion in premium and
continued profitability. My long-term goal is to make
Slide a household name in the insurance industry,
where we are known for ease of use and fair prices.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into the InsurTech sector?
If you want something bad enough, you have to work
and hustle to make it happen. Take the time to learn the
business and what is required to be successful. There is
a lot of ground to cover - Dream BIG and swing for the
fences.
www.ciolook.com | November 2022 |
18

22. Playing the Role of an
InsurTech Interpreter
A
ny relationship needs clarity of communication.
Errors in communication and comprehension
can lead to mistakes or substandard function-
ing. In such a scenario, a person who can bridge the
communication gap is vital and plays a crucial role in
maintaining effective communication with coherency.
Such is the expertise that Hermann Fried brings to the
table as the Managing Director of bsurance. Hermann
helps drive innovative digital solutions for insurance
companies and sales partners using his expertise and
knowledge of the insurance and IT field.
Hermann is a top insurance expert and former Member
of the Managing Board of Wiener Städtische
Versicherung. At bsurance, he is responsible for the
expansion of the company’s insurance partnerships. In
addition, he has developed innovative insurance
products together with sales partners from retail,
telecommunications, banks, energy suppliers, mobility
providers, and start-ups.
Hermann Fried, in an exclusive interview with CIOLook,
describes the changes that technology is bringing to the
insurance industry:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader until your current position at your company.
What challenges have you had to overcome to reach
where you are today?
I was born in Vienna in 1964. After completing my
studies at the Vienna University of Economics and
Business, I gained experience working for social
security and the hospital sector. In 1998, I joined the
Wiener Städtische insurance group, where I held
various management positions.
Key milestones in my career include the management
of health and personal insurance lines, management of
the Vienna regional HQ, and responsibility for Market-
ing, Sales, Advertising, and Property Insurance as a
member of the board of directors.
I also served on several supervisory boards and as a
lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and
Business. Always interested and engaged in digital
insurance, I finally quit my job at the insurance company
and made courses about digitalization at Chicago Booth
and Oxford University. For the last three years, I have
been working for an InsurTech company, bsurance.
My role is best understood as an
interpreter. Being able to
understand both insurers and
techies and speak both languages,
it is my task to bring together
those opposites and develop
innovative, client-orientated
insurance solutions.
www.ciolook.com | November 2022 |
20

23. Hermann Fried
Managing Director
bsurance GmbH
www.ciolook.com | November 2022 |
21

24. Tell us something more about your company and its
mission and vision.
bsurance is a leading B2B2C; white-label InsurTech
focused on Embedded Insurance. As an enabler with
both SaaS and MGA capacity, bsurance provides
Insurance-as-a-Service, including product develop-
ment, onboarding and real-time policy issuing, FNOL,
claims handling, and settlements.
Our mission is focused on simple, relevant, and fair
embedded insurance products, which adds value to
customers, businesses, and insurers alike.
Enlighten us on how you have impacted your niche
through your expertise in the market.
My role is best understood as an interpreter. The
insurance industry is very conservative and has its
difficulties understanding and implementing digital
solutions. Techies have their own difficulties in
understanding the basic needs and functionalities of
insurers. Being able to understand both sides and speak
both languages, it is my task to bring together those
opposites and develop innovative, client-orientated
insurance solutions. At the basis, those solutions are
still insurance coverages, but due to our technology, it is
unparalleled, available, easy, and fast for the customer.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that
drives your organization.
Our culture is rooted in our diversity and collaboration.
We have nationalities within our team and are of
9
varied backgrounds– from insurance specialists to
technology entrepreneurs. Our power lies in our ability
to brainstorm new solutions according to our partners’
needs and bring them to fruition in a short time frame.
Comparing it to my work in a big corporation – every-
thing is focused on our projects with a fast, high-quality
implementation.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging techno-
logical advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
Our solution combines the power of data and the
simplicity of online product offerings to create real-
time and relevant offers of insurance policies to the
right customer at the right time.
One example is our short-term ski insurance which we
created for a major bank in Austria. Based on purchase
data (and in the future, also location data), our short-
time ski insurance product is offered by push notifica-
tion within the bank’s app. This way, the customer can
buy, with a few clicks, the insurance directly in the app -
no need to contact the insurer.
What change would you like to bring to your industry
if given a chance?
We will be part of changing the insurance industry and
making it fit for a more and more digital world.
What, according to you, could be the next significant
change in your sector? How is your company prepar-
ing to be a part of that change?
This might sound funny, but we do not believe in B2C
insurance sales on a web page. But we do believe that
the current offerings are much too complicated and not
as available as people are used to these days. So, the
only chance to bridge that gap is by offering insurance
contextual. Sounds easy but has a lot of consequences
on product design, sales journey, and distribution
channels.
B2B2C is one of the ways to offer insurance contextual.
And the industry has just started! Currently, this kind of
insurance is offered for a manageable number of
products. In the near future, we will see that kind of
insurance dominating all end consumer insurances like
car and house insurance. The instruments are ready; we
just have to find partners who also see a big opportu-
nity in this.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run,
and what are your future goals for your company?
In the long run, I will be the Managing Director of one of
the market leaders of B2B2C insurance solutions in
Europe.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into your sector?
Look for innovative insurance people!
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26. s the digital economy continues to mature and
Acustomersgrowmoretechdependent,“digital”is
no longer just the trendy front of a corporation.
The move towards digitizing existing industries will only
continue to grow. The insurance industry is no different,
that’s why long-established companies like QIC are
recognizingtheneedfortalentthatcancomeinanddrive
digitaltransformationandinnovation.That’stheprimary
role of a Chief Digital Officer (CDO), it’s to combine a
digital mindset with existing insurance capabilities that
speed up digital transformation. By bringing in teams
equipped with skill sets that can innovate towards new
digital business models, companies can shift
organizational structures, capture new markets and
provide better services to their clients and partners
whilemaximizingefficiencygains.
In recent years, the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) region has seen major shifts towards digital
insurance by both insurance incumbents and insurtechs,
however, compared to other global insurance
ecosystems,theregionisplayingcatchup.Although,QIC
has been working on digital propositions for the last 10
years, has piloted several product innovations and has
one of the highest shares of digital insurance sales in the
region, QIC wanted to take the leap into becoming the
leading digital insurance company in the region. QIC’s
very own QIC Digital Venture Partners (QIC/DVP) is
helping to accelerate the ecosystem by building
insurtech related ventures, investing in early stage
insurtechs and partnering with leading companies that
will enter the region. While contributing thought
leadership and playing an active part in the MENA
InsurtechAssociation.
In April 2022, QIC, QIC DVP, Google Cloud and Deloitte
Digital, together with other partners organized the first
MENA Insurtech startup challenge. Inviting startups
globally to pitch and compete for the title of best
business models and technology. Following active
mentoring by internal and external mentors and
partners like Prifina, Plug&Play, Qatar Financial Center,
Qatar Life & Medical Insurance Company, over 140
participating startups went through several selection
rounds until the top 10 were selected. All were given the
opportunitytopresentattheMENAInsurtechSummitin
Doha earlier this year. Yielding co-building and
investment opportunities for the startups. Additionally,
we are proud to have arranged for four of the top ten
startups to present their innovations at Insurtech
Connect (ITC) 2022, the world’s largest insurtech event
thattookplaceinLasVegas,USAinSeptember2022.
Capitalizing on the success of the first challenge and
seeing the positive outcome for the MENA insurtech
ecosystem, we are now working with partners including
the MENA Insurtech Association on the 2023 cycle of
the challenge for seed-stage companies that are either
currently in the region or aim to build here. The winners
of the regional competitions will be present at our next
insurtech summit in 2023, providing them with an
opportunity for exposure to international insurtech
conferences, where QIC occupies a place as a go-to
digitalinsurancepartnerandthoughtleader.
Lars Gehrmann
About the leader
Lars Gehrmann is the Chief Digital Officer at Qatar
Insurance Group (QIC). His role focuses on leading QIC
Digital Venture Partners (DVP), a unit that aims to
reshape the digital insurance landscape by building
new digital ventures, leveraging exis ng assets,
partnering with Big Tech and corporates, and strategi-
cally inves ng in high poten al early-stage startups
while transforming the way QIC operates digitally. Lars
is a board member of Anoud Technologies, a wholly
owned IT services subsidiary of QIC Group. He has
twenty years of extensive experience in building and
managing digital companies in insurance, financing,
leasing, automo ve and educa on. He has a passion
for new digital business models, pla orms and
ecosystem, and is the strategic advisor to several
digitalstartups.
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24

27. Lars Gehrmann
Group Chief Digital Officer
Head of QIC Digital
Venture Partners
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25

28. Michael van der Straaten
CEO of Antares Global Holdings Limited
and CEO of Antares Re
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26

29. n March 2020 Antares went from an office-based
IorganisationwithmanagedITincentralisedlocations
torunningoverthreehundredremoteofficesaround
the globe overnight. Although not seamless, the
transition to an environment where business was done
via virtual meetings, online synchronous collaboration
and messaging replacing email, was quickly adopted
alongside millions of other companies. The companies
that provided the technologies that supported this
global change poured money into development of the
toolsthathelpusrunourbusinesstoday.
The lessons learnt from that accelerated use of
technology are now being applied throughout
organisations and form the basis of our digital strategy.
Our strategy aims to deliver operational excellence and
theadoptionofinnovation,boththroughinternalchange
and working with partners to extend our own
capabilities. This global revolution focusing on
operational excellence is driving the transformation of
our internal processes using automation, artificial
intelligenceanddatamanagementtechnology.
The pace of innovation in our market such as real time
flexibleproductsorAIdrivenclaimsassessment,present
additional opportunities if we can adopt and integrate
them into our business efficiently. There is obvious value
in using AI to make a claims assessment quickly and
accurately, but the full value comes from automatically
processingthedatafromtheassessment,carryingoutall
the fraud checks and making payments for the claim as
well as feeding and enhancing our risk and pricing
models. This also results in changing the roles of our
people to provide management and oversight of these
processesanditisthischangewhichmustbemanagedto
trulyrealisethevalueofdigitaltransformation.
The ability of our IT functions to quickly integrate new
innovations into our IT landscape has several challenges
and solutions, both technological and people. By
adopting a composite approach to solutions, we can
make the most valuable components of our systems
modularso they can bereused, aswell as investing in API
technology to support new services. The customer
engagement model is changing, and these technologies
will enable new digital products such as claims portals
andchatbotsthatcanhookintothesemodules.
ThepaceofchangeandopeningofITservicesalsobrings
increased cyber risk and this will remain high on the CIO
andBoard’sagendafortheforeseeablefuture.
The pandemic also brought about a change in the IT
workforce with many experienced IT professionals
leaving the workforce at a time when demand is surging.
This shortage of skilled IT resources is unlikely to be
resolved in the short to medium term so we must look to
attract, retain and train our IT teams to support the
transformation of our business and we see this as an
ongoingchallenge.
Ultimately, successful digital transformation is a
combination of people, process and technology and we
believe this can only be achieved by using a combination
of our own people and partnerships with other
companies to benefit from their specialist expertise and
systems.
Technologies, revolutions, and crisis
Ÿ The digital office has been adopted at an unprecedented rate due to Covid, we’re seeing ten years of evolu on in
workplace technology over the last three years.
Ÿ New ways of working digitally with automa on, AI and data management is now driving opera onal excellence.
Ÿ The ability to adopt new innova ons, o en working with partners, into an ever-changing IT landscape demands a new
approach to digital transforma on.
Ÿ he pace of change across all industries combined with the drain of experienced IT professionals leaving the workforce
throughout Covid makes a rac ng and retaining talent a significant challenge.
Core Points

30. www.ciolook.com | November 2022 |
28

31. B
ackground: QLM Life and
Medical Insurance is
considered as the largest
health insurance company in Qatar
and the only specialised company
that leads the health insurance
sector through its advanced
services and flexible insurance
programs that suit all segments of
society in Qatar.
We live in a world that has become
highly dependent on information
technology in management,
especially with managing a large
volume of data as is the case in
health insurance. Therefore, our
vision in this field was to develop a
system capable of absorbing any
volume of data and managing it
effectively in the most efficient way
possible. This will in turn positively
reflect on the speed of responding
to the requirements of our
customers and the requirements of
medical service providers at the
same time.
The advancement of technology
benefit both insured members and
insurance companies, QLM is no
exception. QLM is constantly
innovating and growing, we
capitalized on the extensive data,
experience, and technology
advancement to build an
outstanding insurtech to guarantee
excellence in our services, and at the
same time gives us a real time
feedback on operations. The
development of our solutions was
highly sophisticated as it involved
many parties internally as well as
externally. We've invested in
developing a highly sophisticated
solution involving both internal and
external parties.
We managed to build a system
through an interactive electronic
platform that automatically
approves without the need for
human intervention except in rare
cases, which shortens the time for
issuing approval to a record time
where the patient experiences a
seamless process. This electronic
platform helps health centers
communicate, get the right
information, and make the whole
transaction an easy journey for both
parties. All this is in the interest of
the client/patient who will feel that
they are receiving prompt and a high
standard service.
Today, our systems are all online and
fully integrated with healthcare
providers inside as well as outside
Qatar, the provider can at a fingertip
verify eligibility, obtain approval,
and submit a claim all online without
the need for any direct interaction
with our team. The secret behind
this is the claims auto-
approval/auto-adjudication, our
systems are equipped with all
medical international coding that
are mapped together in the back
end of the system. Therefore, any
CXO
Mr. Ahmed Zebeib
Deputy Chief Executive Officer,
QLM Qatar Life & Medical Insurance
coding the provider is using is
mapped and auto adjudicated in the
back end and the decision is
communicated to the provider by
the system.
The crown jewel of our IT platform
is the Artificial intelligence (AI) that
we have developed. Underwriting in
health insurance is always seen as
risky and needs extra attention, our
AI module analyzes the data
provided by the client and at same
time analyzes the existing QLM data
measuring behavior, trend,
frequency, etc. Thus, suggesting an
appropriate premium with
prediction of loss ratio based on the
suggested premium. Our AI is
constantly monitoring behavior of
providers in real time and alerting
our team of any abnormal behavior
that is taking place, it is monitoring
the auto-adjudication module and
correcting any errors that may exist
during the process.
We are constantly evolving and
growing as the leading Medical and
Life insurer in Qatar, as we rely
heavily on tech, we will continue
investing where appropriate to
maximize the satisfaction of all our
partners. In QLM we believe that
insurtech is the present and future.
We will continue playing our role
and assessing the markets
worldwide while simultaneously be
at the forefront when it comes to
tech and for others to follow.
Mr. Ahmed Zebeib
Deputy Chief Executive Officer,
QLM Qatar Life & Medical Insurance
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29

32. Nonso
OPURUM
However, in certain parts of the world, insurance is still
viewed as something that can be acquired only after
achieving a particular level of financial stability and
hence not viewed as a necessity.
To obliterate this belief, Nonso Opurum, a social
entrepreneur, has undertaken the initiative to provide
quality insurance by accepting cash or recyclables as
premiums to ensure health inclusion and environmen-
tal sustainability. Nonso has been fascinating to build
on excellent ways to bridge the gap in poor healthcare
and financing in Africa.
SOSO CARE, the InsurTech venture by Nonso, provides
Low-Cost Health Insurance that aims to enable millions
of million to access care nationwide and ensures
everyone in Africa owns a health plan irrespective of
their financial status.
Nonso was approached by Insights Success to provide a
brief understanding of such an entrancing approach
without previous instances in the InsurTech industry.
Below are the excerpts from the interview.
Brief our audience about your journey as a business
leader until your current position at SOSO Care. What
challenges have you had to overcome to reach where
you are today?
For us, we had to pivot from telemedicine (JARA CARE)
to micro health insurance (SOSO CARE). We had to
make the tough decision when we realized that millions
of low incomes could not afford data to connect with a
doctor online, and most times internet connection
wasn’t really stable. We figured out that what people
I
t is no secret that a person’s life and possessions are
exposed to the risk of tragedy, impairment, and
some circumstances at any given time. These
circumstances can invite themselves on any occasion,
whether you are prepared or not.
Although, one cannot avoid a situation but can surely
minimize the after-effects of the occurrence. Insurance
is one such reasonable strategy to transfer such risks to
a third party, as it provides coverage acting as a protec-
tion plan to subjugate the condition.
Such a significant attribute, for decades, was regarded
as a luxury rather than a need. This concept against
insurance has faded with the advancement of time.
Devia ng the appoach of Accruing Premiums
SOSO CARE is an
affordable health InsurTech
which accepts cash or
recyclables as a premium to
enable people to access care
across over 1000 hospitals
in Nigeria.
“ “
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30

33. people to access care across over 1000 hospitals in
Nigeria.
Enlighten us on how you have impacted the InsurTech
industry through your expertise in the sector.
What we have done at SOSO CARE is to change how
thousands of people view insurance. We have worked
really hard to eliminate the trust gap around insurance.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that
drives SOSO Care.
One of the things that drive us is the ability to be ahead
in our industry; as a pioneer in alternative ways of
financing health insurance premiums without cash,
we’re constantly searching for excellent ways of
need is inpatient and outpatient care, not just conve-
nient healthcare access like telemedicine, so we
launched the operation.
Tell us something more about SOSO Care and its
mission and vision.
As less than 10% of Nigeria’s 200 million population
have health insurance, millions of people are pushed
into poverty yearly as a result of no safety net and high
out-of-pocket health financing. Again, Nigeria gener-
ates over 20 billion pet plastics, of which less than 5% is
collected and recycled, leading to substantial environ-
mental and public health problems.
SOSO CARE is an affordable health InsurTech which
accepts cash or recyclables as a premium to enable
Nonso Opurum
CEO
SOSO CARE
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31

34. improving the value of recyclables as a means of
insurance premiums.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in
almost every sector. How are you leveraging techno-
logical advancements to make your solutions
resourceful?
Technology is a strong layer of our work. By leveraging
technology, we reduce the cost of micro insurance plans
and monitor our decentralized agents across communi-
ties.
What, according to you, could be the next significant
change in InsurTech Industry? How is SOSO Care
preparing to be a part of that change?
I think embedded insurance as a way of distribution and
awareness would continue to be the biggest change
that would happen to microinsurance. For us, we’re
positioning recyclable fragments as a premium or pay-
as-you-like model to give more people options for
financing their premium.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run,
and what are your future goals for SOSO Care?
We want to be able to replicate our solution in other
countries in Africa and Asia where there is an urgent
need for health care intervention and environmental
management.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs
who aspire to venture into InsurTech Industry?
Insurance is complex insurance, as most low-income
people consider it an expensive luxury; take your time
to find a niche.
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32

36. Exhibiting Transformational Leadership
Rao
leader motivates, challenges, and develops
Avarious skillsets to stretch people's imagination
& creativity and enhance their contributions
resulting in positive outcomes.
In recent years, transformational leadership has risen
to the surface. Organizations in all industries are seeing
a rapid change in today's digital era. Transformational
leaders know how to encourage, inspire, and motivate
employees to perform in ways that create meaningful
change. From time to time, every industry finds
talented leaders that are responsible for transforming
the industry.
Their proficient knowledge combined with the
emerging technologies gives them an advantageous
edge in the given volatile insurance market. Rao
Tadepalli is one such leader who brought
transformational leadership with a proven history of
success in the insurance industry as an experienced
executive.
Rao is currently a Strategic consultant to Guidewire on
Mergers & Acquisitions and Insurtech investments. Rao
is also an Insurtech advisor/mentor to PlugNPlay, a
Silicon Valley-based Startup Incubator and Innovation
platform. Rao was a judge for several hackathons and
works with the selected winners in introducing them to
venture funding.
Let's indulge in the remarkable Journey of an Innovative
Leader
After completing graduate studies in Computer
Science, Rao Tadepalli started his journey as a
Management Trainee with Tata Consultancy Services in
India. Early in his career, Rao worked in Australia,
Malaysia, and Europe before coming to the United
States.
Initially, Rao worked for consulting companies and
helped many clients successfully implement systems.
Rao's first project in the US was with an insurance
company based out of Santa Barbara, CA. After
spending a few years in middle Management with a
leading National Insurance carrier, Rao became CIO
and Sr. Vice President in 2007.
As an advisor for several Silicon Valley startups, he
helps the firms prepare the Go to Market Strategy and
product design, along with helping with the pitch deck.
Rao is the Founder and CEO of DigiTran Technologies,
a company that focuses on helping Insurance
companies digitally transform by partnering with
Insurtechs and replacing legacy systems that are
becoming an impediment to digital transformation and
innovation.
Rao is also an advisor for the Design Thinking Executive
program at the University of California, Riverside in,
USA.
A Benchmark of Excellence
Rao is an award-winning CIO who drives innovation
throughout the entire value chain by partnering with
Insurtechs and combining the deep insurance industry
knowledge with technology expertise to improve
efficiencies, cost savings, customer experience, and
competitive advantage. He can leverage his vast
knowledge of the InsurTech ecosystem to capitalize on
digital transformation and value creation opportunities.
Rao is a recognized leader in the insurance industry and
the Insurtech world, a thought leader, visionary, author,
and a sought-after speaker.
Rao is known for aligning IT with business to lockstep
with business strategy, reducing Combined Operating
Ratio (COR) by implementing technology solutions that
focus on increasing premiums, reducing losses, and
lowering expenses. He also creates a transformational
impact by proactively solving problems with innovation
as a priority and a collaborative approach with Insutech
partnerships.
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34

37. Rao is known for aligning IT
with
business to lockstep with
business
strategy, reducing Combined
Operating Ratio (COR) by
implementing technology
solutions
that focus on increasing
premiums,
reducing losses, and
lowering
expenses.
Rao Tadepalli,
Digitran Technologies
Strategic consultant to Guidewire
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35

38. Evolving with the Changing Times
Rao believes that Embedded Insurance is going to play
a significant role in disrupting the insurance industry.
He expresses, “We already see that companies like
Tesla sell auto insurance at the time of purchasing the
vehicle and this model is most likely going to expand to
other insurance lines like home and some commercial
lines.”
Moreover, he adds, “Telematics and other computer
vision insurtechs will bring pay-for-what-you-use
models into the insurance industry. Insurance for many
years was based on subscription-based models, and
now with telematics and IoT devices, the new model
will be the consumption-based model instead of the
subscription-based one. Rao recommends creative
adoption of Insurers striving to become successful
leaders should be flexible and be open to ideas from
other industries.
Having worked with a company close to Hollywood,
Rao has been able to take inspiration from television
production procedures in the form of a “runner” role.
Rao explained, “A runner is someone who does most of
the odd jobs,” In large projects, teams tend to act as
silos and neglect things that don't belong neatly within
their responsibilities. To close the gaps, Rao applied the
runner concept to keep projects on track.
Indulging in the Words of Wisdom
Rao advises Insurtech founders that a clear message of
the value proposition is critical. The carriers are looking
at three things, either increase the premium or
decrease the losses or lower the expenses. So, making
sure there is a clear value proposition and at least the
value proposition should focus on one of these three
things.
Rao says, “If you can do all three, fantastic, but at least one
of them should be there. And then assembling a diversified
leadership team is extremely critical. That should be multi-
generational, and the team should have challengers and
enablers with networking connections to the industries.
Also, don't underestimate the capital needed. Finally, one
has to understand emotion and not always the reason that
drives most decision-making.”
Rao calls it two ECs; they stand for Economic
Connection and Emotional Connection. These are
extremely important. “If you don't have a story, someone
else will make up a story, and that could be your
competitors,” he concludes.
Ÿ As an advisor, facilitated the acquisition of an
insurtech that is focused on identifying the safest
route for auto insurance.
Ÿ During covid, helped companies introduce digital
payment solutions at an accelerated pace.
Ÿ Advisor for worker's compensation return to work
startup using IoT.
Ÿ Implemented full suite of Guidewire Products,
including Policy Center, Claims Center, and Billing
Center, on time or ahead of schedule, realizing
implementation cost savings of 20% against budget.
Ÿ Increased new business submissions by 25% by
implementing an AI and ML-driven electronic quoting
system that enabled Straight Thru Processing (STP).
Ÿ By collaborating with Insurtechs, propelled customer
retention levels to 90% by deploying digital portals
with Analytics and Omnichannel capabilities that
dramatically enhanced user experience.
Ÿ Chosen to be part of the US delegation that attended
GES2017 led by Ms. Ivanka Trump in India.
Ÿ Judge at several Insurtech and Fintech startup
competitions at both national and international
levels, including the Kids Shark Tank competition.
Ÿ Published many articles on Insurance and Insurtech
and part of several podcasts on the insurtech subject
area.
Ÿ As a CIO, Rao won the Celent Model Insurer award
for successful transformation.
The Portrayal of True Excellence
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