“Insurance is sold, not bought,” organisers told the gathering, warning that without public awareness, most Gambians only consider cover after disaster strikes.
Declaring the workshop open, Mamodou M. Joof, Managing Director of West Africa Takaful, said the goal was simple: support, awareness, and education.
“Insurance offers protection against risk,” he explained. “When a home is razed down by fire, the first question people ask is, ‘Oh, was the house insured?’ But by then it’s too late.”
Joof also called for stricter enforcement on roads and in markets.
“It is about time we stop seeing vehicles playing on national roads without identification,” he said. “We have so many victims of heat and blood because those at risk cannot be identified. Even in congested markets, we need access for firefighters.”
HaddyCorr of Capital Express Assurance, Gambia Limited, said the workshop would help bridge the trust gap between insurers and the public.
“The importance of this training is that it will help us to know more about insurance,” she explained. “Some stakeholders don’t know the importance of insurance, whether motor or life. All of them are important. Sometimes when we go for marketing, they won’t even let us present because they believe ‘insurance doesn’t pay.’”
AbdouWillam, Safety Officer 1 and Head of the Accidental Claims Unit at the Gambia Transport Union, urged wider outreach.
“This training is very important and long overdue,” he said. “The insurance association should do more outreach, because it’s time for everybody to understand the importance of insurance. Our lives are full of risks.”
Willam stressed that police, hospitals, and community markets must also be educated. He cited the law’s minimum third‑party compensation of “at least D250,000” and questioned how many accident victims had actually received it.
“Somebody who was very healthy, taking care of family responsibilities, is now amputated because of an accident, and he did not have compensation,” he said. “Insurance should put people back to their position after a loss.”
The week‑long workshop will feature facilitators from the West African Insurance Training Institute, whose Director General was praised as “the fountain of insurance knowledge in West Africa” for his support to Gambia’s industry.
GIA leadership thanked partners for attending and urged participants to return to their institutions as ambassadors.
“Go back and advise your management and staff when they are interested in insurance for their activities,” organisers said.
Expected outcomes include stronger public sensitisation, faster claims processing, and stricter enforcement of insurance for commercial vehicles and markets.
