NICO clocks 50 years
NICO group of companies is celebrating 50 years of operation in Malawi and its director says it has significantly contributed to development of country.
After celebrating the 50th Anniversary in Blantyre and Lilongwe, NICO took the celebration to Mzuzu where executive members, staff and stakeholders converged at Sunbird Mzuzu Hotel on Wednesday evening for a cocktail.
Born in 1971 just as an insurance company, NICO has over the years grown into a huge entity with nine companies forming NICO group. The companies include NBS Bank, NICO Technologies, NICO General and NICO Pensions.
It was the first company to list on the Malawi Stoke Exchange in 1996.
Group Managing Director for NICO, Vizenge Kumwenda, told Nyasa Times the Group of companies are diligently serving Malawians thereby contributing to the development of the country.
“We thought we could not celebrate this by sitting in our offices but to engage and bring together our customers, stakeholders, regulators and staff to have fan and at the same time give ourselves time to reflect on the past and think about the future because we have to continue growing.
“NICO has contributed a lot to the development of this country. Insurance alone is an indication that a country is developing. For a country to develop, especially the private sector, they need various financial instruments to help them protect their assets and to help them look after their employees. Such that when disaster strikes, that should not be the end of the companies or businesses,” explained Kumwenda.
Touching on the Covid-19 pandemic, Kumwenda said NICO was not spared just like any other group of companies.
“We lost a good number of our policy holders because of Covid-19. This year by August, NICO Life had paid over 1.8 billion Kwacha in death claims coming from Covid and we were there to comfort the beneficiaries. By the end of this year, we will have paid 3 billion Kwacha compared to 800 million Kwacha last year,” said Kumwenda.
Commenting as a stakeholder, Chief Executive Officer for Saint John of God Hospitaller Services, Dr Charles Masulani Mwale, said it was good that NICO was providing financial literacy to Malawians to understand insurance and other related issues.
“As Saint John of God, we have most of our property and vehicles insured with them. Many of our staff and the health sector in general has pensions administered by NICO,” Masulani Mwale said.
NICO owns part of Blantyre Hotels which includes Rayal’s Hotel. It also owns Chichiri Shopping Mall, Lilongwe City Mall, Kang’ombe House and many other infrastructures.
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