East African Breweries (EABL) chief financial officer, Risper Genga Ohaga, has been appointed the Group Chief Executive Officer of APA Apollo Group, marking her return to financial services after six years in the manufacturing sector.
The Business Daily has established that Ms Ohaga will take over from the company’s long-serving Group CEO, Ashok Shah, who has been at the helm of the group for the past fourteen years.
Ms Ohaga's tenure at EABL Plc is set to lapse at the end of June 2026, and coincides with Diageo, brewer’s majority owner, sale of its stake to a Japanese firm.
APA Apollo Group is a stable of six companies that mainly play in the insurance and asset management sectors, including APA Insurance, which is the flagship subsidiary, APA Life, APA Uganda, Apollo Asset Management, property management arm Gordon Court and Reliance Insurance in Tanzania.
Latest data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) show APA Insurance is the country’s second largest general insurance, commanding 8.9 percent of gross premium income behind Old Mutual with 9.4 percent lead.
Topping Ms Ohaga’s in-tray at the country’s second largest insurer will be tiding the company through the transition from International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 4 to IFRS 17.
The transition from IFRS 4 to IFRS 17 marks a significant overhaul in accounting and financial reporting treatment in the insurance sector globally, with the main goal being increased transparency and comparability of businesses across multiple jurisdictions.
A major departure in transitioning from IFRS 4 to IFRS 17 is the introduction of immediate loss recognition for what are deemed to be onerous contracts, implying insurance companies will now be required to be a lot more guarded in onboarding and underwriting businesses that are predisposed to loss-making.
APA Apollo Group also needs to reverse the fall in profits.
In the year ended 2024, APA Insurance reported profit after tax closing at Sh926.7 million, a decline from the Sh1.1 billion reported in 2023, even as the company’s topline remained strong with insurance revenue at Sh17.46 billion, an increase from Sh16.72 billion reported in 2023.
In October 2023, South Africa-based insurance firm, Hollard Group, acquired a significant stake in APA Insurance, becoming the second international entity to acquire a stake in the company after Swiss Re in 2014.
At a macro level, Ms Ohaga will be taking over APA Apollo Group at a time when insurance penetration is under strain in the wake of depressed disposable incomes with data from IRA showing that insurance penetration stands at 2.4 percent, trending below the global average of 7.4 percent.
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