My First Business Blog

Wow! This officially is my first blog. It's a very scary thing for a rookie but I'm going to be inspired by Justin Bieber's Never Say Never lyrics
I never thought that I could walk through fire,
I never thought that I could take the burn,
I never had the strength to take it higher,
until I reached the point of no return,
but there's just no turning back when your heart's under attack,
gotta give everything I have, cuz it's my destiny...

So goes that very inspiring song by a young man that's liked and disliked in the same breath due to God-knows-what reasons over in the U.S of A. But I digress, let me get back to this presentation. Why would anyone lose sleep over this social media and blogging thing anyway? The answer to that could be many but to me, it's just fear! 'What if nobody sees the blog?' 'What if they see it and don't like it?' 'What if they like it and still don't do anything?' Too many what-ifs, the worst of which could be; 'What if I don't try at all...'

This rookie's post is meant to address a major issue, a major financial issue which is the aim of this blog in the first place (others can come much later.) I happen to work in the Nigerian financial industry, the Insurance sector to be exact. I'm with Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited, Ikeja, a time-tested Insurance company and part of the Standard Alliance Insurance Group that's been in existence since October 1989, with a capital base of well over 200 billion naira. My company profile and other information can be obtained from http//www.salifeng.com.

I'm sure unless the reader is lying; nobody takes kindly to this kind of financial service. People don't even want to hear us, let alone listen to what we're offering (that is gist for another day.) 9 out of 10 persons I meet and talk to in Lagos, Nigeria would tell me, "I've no need for insurance." Most would say, "Can we believe in your service?" Let's not forget the commonest objection or excuse, "God is my insurance." I simply wonder if the parable of the 10 virgins of which we had 5 wise ones and 5 foolish ones, is not in the version of their bibles.

Lagos, Nigeria, let's not patronize ourselves, just because we lack information about the insurance sector doesn't mean the service is useless or fraudulent. Look at the banks and the Micro-finance banks and shiver! This ex-CEO forfeits xxxbillion naira and bags xx months' sentence and the other ex-CEOs are lining up to take plea bargain from EFCC. May this cup pass us over in my sector but for the time being not one insurance company's CEO is in the docks yet! Praise God! I'm not in anyway trying to be funny or disparage anyone's services but making a very solid and valid case for the Insurance industry! Lagos, Nigeria, you need us! Dwelling on that too long is only going to sound like a broken record. In due time, I'll be sharing with people, facts and figures and testimonials (my own experience in the industry, of course) of very satisfied customers of my company's services.

Let's address the issue of saving, which originally is what this post is all about. Yes! Why do you need to save? A primary and not difficult need for everyone yet very tasking to achieve if we look at the financial burden we have to carry or the financial environment provided by our ever-fumbling and wobbling banks and other financial institutions. We shall address the need to save first and other things later. Ladies and gentlemen, why do you need to save money?

People must save, so that they can have something to fall back on in future. There is need for people to save, to enable them to move to the next level. You may be asking yourself “Why is there so much pressure to save money?” if you have enough to pay for everything you need, why should you worry about putting any aside each month?

Different people save money for different reasons
1.  Emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses
     These could be an unexpected car repair, emergency appendectomy etc.
2.  Retirement
     The sooner you start saving for your retirement, the less you will have to save in the future.
3.  Down payment for a house or building project
     Much like retirement plans, the earlier this is started the better, you’ll have a lighter burden much later in     the future.
4.  Sinking funds
     Money set aside for future repairs or improvements in your possessions or lifestyle.
5. Children’s education
     Especially for the employed single, the ultimate destination is marriage after which you start raising children.   The earlier you plan for them the better for you.
     The way out is to starting thinking of financial planning, the solution lies in a savings plan. Think of the savings plan with maximum benefits.

Now, let's be practical with ourselves. So long as any individual is
  * 18 years old and above
  * Is employed or has a business he/she is running
  * Has dependents i.e. married with or without children (or intends to raise a family later in life if presently single)
  * Has a means, occupation or way of generating income, that person is qualified to purchase an insurance policy.

In my little experience in the business, I don't just sell insurance policies, I sell savings plans. Savings plans? Let me explain myself. The policies on offer in my company are designed to meet specific targets and needs. They have several benefits that allows for the insured or customer to have a need or target in mind and save money towards meeting that need, the moment the time your money is needed, the policy (which is designed to have flexible maturity date  in the first place) could be partially withdrawn or terminated outright. Like I said earlier, I have customers with pleasant testimonials about policy termination and prompt payment of claims and very satisfactory customer service.

Enough said already, in my subsequent posts I shall be sharing some of my company's policies and customer testimonials with photocopies of documents to substantiate my claims. Like I said at the beginning, this is my first business post and I'm not a professional writer nor journalist (at least not yet) nor an experienced blogger yet, so be kind enough to leave comments on how I can improve. And if you're resident in Lagos, Nigeria and you have issues concerning life insurance business, you can contact me, the rookie blogger, Olumide Ogungbemi, on 07056989820 and 07033588160.

Thank you and God bless you.