Mohammad Bachar El Zein is the Vice President of the Medgulf Group and its CFO. He is an excellence seeker and today focuses on making both the staff and the management team a stronger and a more cohesive unit.
“We have to provide our people with more training and continuing education. We have to improve our internal systems, strengthen our procedures in order to become more efficient, and we have to pursue opportunities on a market by market basis. I think the opportunity is huge if we get the future medium term and long term policy settings. The Vice President adds that Medgulf is now one of the largest privately owned groups in the region. He is setting new standards in Information Technology, Change Management and Corporate Governance which will help tremendously in strengthening Medgulf and the industry. Finally, he believes in an environment where the insurance companies, the regulators and the providers work in unison in order to provide better solutions that optimize medical insurance for all concerned, especially the end user, our insured.
BL: What factors helped in the growth of Medgulf locally and internationally?
M. El Zein: We do not look upon our markets as a single regional market. We don’t manage them globally; we manage them market by market. There is no doubt that the biggest asset we have is our people; it’s our people that make the difference and that is the point of differentiation between us and our competitors. The seniority that we have in our staff helps tremendously because it keeps the experience in house and it allows us to rotate the staff in the region.
BL: When did you join Medgulf and what are your contributions to this growth?
M. El Zein: I joined Medgulf in 2005. I would believe that my single contribution is that I brought in a huge focus on financial controls and financial management which have strengthened Medgulf.
BL: What’s Medgulf’s market share in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
M. El Zein: Presently, we don’t have the numbers for 2012, but in 2011 we were close to 16% market share. We believe our performance in 2012 led us to maintain and grow our market share. We look forward to the final reports!
BL: Do you think that the purchase of Saudi Oger’s share in the Medgulf insurance and reinsurance group was a positive factor to this growth?
M. El Zein: The reason for the acquisition of Saudi Oger’s share was instigated by Saudi Oger. They are the ones who opted to get out of the group for their own reasons. Operationally there was no major impact and I don’t think strategically it did have any impact either. Our shareholding today is focused operationally and that is what counts.
BL: Going back to Oger’s acquisition, why did it take the big number of 16 banks to successfully arrange 400 million acquisition deals by Medgulf group?
M. El Zein: I think the number of the banks is a credit to the transaction. It shows you how much the transaction was well-received by the industry. The large participation was a reflection on the strength of Medgulf, not only in Lebanon but also across the whole region.
BL: Is it true that presently your group is the largest ever insurance and reinsurance group in Lebanon and the Middle East?
M. El Zein: Yes, I think we are the largest privately held group. However, there are other public organizations that are larger in written premiums.
BL: How do you rank Medgulf in Saudi Arabia?
M. El Zein: A strong number Two! Working hard to be number One! Operationally, I think we are improving day by day; we still have a lot of work to do to get to the excellence level that we seek. We always motivate our people to do their best and to continue doing their best. We are implementing new IT programs, new development programs and new training programs at a huge investment cost. We do that because we believe that there is still a whole lot of things that we can do internally and in the marketplace.
BL: What new things you might do internally and in the marketplace?
M. El Zein: On the technology side, I think there are a lot of things that we still can do. Today, we are implementing a nearly 20-million dollar program that will dramatically enhance our technical processing capability across the board. This huge transformation project impacts every single department in the company and it will give us an enhanced capability to outperform in the customer service are while offering our management team better controls. It will also enable us to deliver products to the market place in a more speedy and efficient manner. I believe that this transformation project will have a huge positive impact not only on Medgulf, but also on the marketplace.
BL: Does Medgulf, as it stands today, fulfill the expectations you had when you joined it?
M. El Zein: If I say yes that means I have achieved all our goals. Therefore, the answer is no. We can never say that we are satisfied with what we are doing today and there is a huge room for growth in the industry and in the region. Also, there is a huge room to continue improving ourselves to become better. Accordingly, our objectives and goals must continue adapting to the ever changing world we live in today.
BL: What are your next plans amidst this turbulent Middle East region?
M. El Zein: Our focus today is on making ourselves stronger and better. We have to make our people stronger in the sense of providing them with more training. We have to improve our systems and our procedures to become more efficient and we have to pursue opportunity on a market by market basis. I think the opportunity is huge if we get the future medium term, and long term policy settings right.
BL: How do you keep Medgulf growing day by day?
M. El Zein: Focus. Market research. Timely identification of opportunities. Training. We also see ourselves as having a responsibility towards the market place and to help develop the industry.
BL: What are the differences between today’s insurance industry and 20 years ago?
M. El Zein: Consumer growing understanding of the insurance industry and insurance products is a noticeable difference. There is tremendous room to grow, but the important thing is to educate the marketplace on the benefits of the insurance products because really the benefit is not only for the industry, the benefit is for the overall economy.
BL: Is there a limit to health cost in our region?
M. El Zein: I think if you read the news about health insurance in the States or in Europe, you will discover that we are starting to face the same challenges. We have to make sure that we work with our providers and our customers, in addition to our regulators, to identify areas where the industry can pioneer cost savings while improving the service levels. This is an on-going challenge and we all have to chip in.
BL: What’s the best way to fix Medicare?
M. El Zein: I do not believe there is really a magic solution to this challenge. Medicare is still a growing phenomenon in our markets; we have to have more hospitals, have more training for our doctors, improve our lab capabilities, improve our reliability and we have to improve the way we control claim processing. And, again, there has to be better communications between the industry, the regulators and the medical care providers, not only to minimize the cost, but also to improve the efficiencies.
BL: How did IFC contribute to the operations and growth of Medgulf?
M. El Zein: I think IFC is a strong partner with a strong brand, I mean the World Bank is the largest financial institution in the world. They are also the school on corporate governance and compliance. These are two areas that we are trying to perfect within our institution. They bring also a wealth of networking on a regional basis. But more importantly, IFC is a partner that believes in our vision and in our mission, and they stand firmly behind our operations and support our regional expansion.
BL: What are the next plans for 2013?
M. El Zein: Get better in what we are doing in the markets that we are in today. Strengthen our base. We will continue identifying opportunities for growth in key regional markets. But, the most important short term objective is to get stronger and better in the markets that we are in.
BL: Could you elaborate on your network around the world? And what are the plans for expansion? What about Africa?
M. El Zein: We don’t have North Africa in our scope at this stage. This doesn’t mean than if tomorrow there is an opportunity that comes in, we don’t look at it, but our strategic vision today is focused around the markets that we compete in. In addition, and this is no secret, we are currently implementing plans to expand our operational base in Egypt, Iraq and Turkey.
BL: What about Europe and the US?
M. El Zein: The US is definitely not in our scope, it’s not our market, and it’s not our culture. So, we are not going there. We do however have an operation in Europe, in the UK, Omni Life. It’s a part of our strategic plan to grow our current organization there. We are putting a lot of energy behind growing it and further expand our presence in Europe as we develop a Takaful arm to it in order to serve the need of our consumers in that part of the world. . So, we have plans to grow there, but again you have to do it slowly and surely more than anything else.
BL: Mohammad, what is your constructive criticism on the industry?
M. El Zein: The industry improved dramatically over the last few years. The mission that we have is to improve the quality of the industry and its reputation. The stronger the industry becomes financially in fulfilling its commitments to the marketplace then its reliability will become stronger. And as we do this, we will see the insurance penetration in each market grow accordingly. I think we have done quite a bit of improving ourselves and we still have a lot of work to do, but we are on the right track.
BL: Recently, the region showed keen interest on the green energy, renewable energy and also the nuclear energy. Is Medgulf equipped to cater to these lines of business?
M. El Zein: In all the key development projects that are blossoming across the region, the presence of Medgulf is there. We are able to offer risk management capability. We are able to attract reinsurers to cover all risks at extremely competitive rates. Our financial strength is an indication on our capability. Our expertise is second to none. I see Medgulf at the forefront in developing products to meet all arising needs. We are ready for the challenge of any new business.
BL: Is Medgulf stronger on the insurance side or the reinsurance?
M. El Zein: We are mainly an insurance company. We do little re-insurance.
