Muradzikwa leaves NicozDiamond

BERNARD MPOFU

Long-serving NicozDiamond Insurance Limited managing director Grace Muradzikwa has stepped down paving way for David Nyabadza to take over the reins following a merger of the company with Tristar insurance last year.

Nyabadza is the managing director for Tristar.

“Following the approval given by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development for the transfer of TristarInsurance Company business to NicozDiamoind Insurance Limited, the board has resolved that Mr. David Nyabadza be appointed as managing director of the merged entity with effect from March 1, 2019. Mrs. Grace Muradzikwa will step down from
her position of managing director of NicozDiamond,” reads an internal memo seen by Business Times.

Muradzikwa joined Zimbabwe Reinsurance Corporation in 1984 and established the personnel department with the responsibility of setting up the human resource and administrative systems and conditions of service for ZimRe.

In 1994, she was promoted to assistant general manager (planning and marketing) focusing on spearheading ZimRe’s external strategic thrust.
Her rise continued as she was appointed general manager of Diamond Insurance Company in 1995 with the responsibility of turning arund the company which ranked 12 out of 13 insurers.

By 1997, she had turned it around to number 3 out of 20 companies. In October 2002, she oversaw the merger of Nicoz and Diamond to form NicozDiamond the largest short-term insurance company in the country. She then became the first black woman to list and head a publicly traded company in the country.

Last year, First Mutual Holdings Limited (FMHL) acquired NicozDiamond and said it would merge the operations with Tristar to create a single short-term insurance entity within 24 months.

FMHL said NicozDiamond acquisition would result in the merged entity enjoying all the benefits of having the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) as an investor. NSSA has controlling shareholding in FMHL and NicozDiamond and would benefit from consolidation of its investments in the short-term insurance sector through portfolio optimisation among other benefits.

As at June 30 2018, NicozDiamond had a market share for non-life insurers of 13,41 percent and 13,55 percent in terms of Gross Premium Written (GPW) and Net Premium Written (NPW) respectively. Tristar’s market share was 2,52 percent and 2,44 percent in terms of GPW and NPW.

NicozDiamond was the second largest capitalised short term insurer behind Old Mutual at $15 065 130 while Tristar’s capital position was $2 728 526.

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