Innovation UnderCover had a wonderful conversation with Achille Sime, Founder & CEO at SL DRA, Chairman at SL Financial, and Consulting Actuary at Pinnacle Actuarial Resources. SL DRA brings innovative insurance solutions to the emerging African market using data science tools, while SL Financial offers actuarial consulting services to public and private risk financing entities.

McKinsey & Company positioned the African region as the second-fastest-growing insurance market after Latin America. The region's growth was projected to be 7% between 2020 and 2025, exceeding that of North America and Asia.

Our special guest significantly contributes to the African insurance market by developing a central data repository & analytics platform to assist insurers, regulators, and investors in Africa. Renu and Michael will satisfy your curiosity by asking Achille Sime about the differences between emerging and developed markets and the challenges of building a business in Africa.

Some of the topics we discussed:

• Born and raised in Africa, studied in France
• Being inspired to start his own firm by his former boss
• The quality of data being the biggest challenge for insurance companies
• Traveling around and making an effort to keep in touch with Africa by going back every 2 years at least
• Needing to make trade-offs when building a company

Other titles we considered:

1. It's Different, It's Complementary
2. My Goal Is To Do The African Dream
3. I Enjoyed Having Something To Say About The World
4. Asia Is Taking The Lead
5. Trying to Shape the African Dream

This episode was produced by Isabelle Goh and Khrystyna Khmilovska.