LOCALLY owned RNS Insurance Brokers and Consultants made history, on Wednesday, when it became the first insurance brokerage firm launched and owned by a woman principal.
An insurance brokerage is not like an insurance company that sells insurance. Instead, it is a business that helps clients to purchase insurance policies that meet their personal or business needs.

Founder and General Manager of the company, Ramona Singh, at the launch, said she was elated to be the first woman in a male-dominated industry to launch her insurance brokerage locally.
She said that the company will be utilising innovative technology to cater to the needs of its customers.

“We aim to utilise modern technology to ensure ease of access in doing business with us. One of our key focuses is to launch an interactive website which allows our customers to make queries, feedback and payments among other key features. Through this medium, we will also provide 24-hour insurance advisory services to our customers and the general public,” Singh said.

Some of the services that the company will offer to clients include insurance underwriting, claims management and reinsurance administration.

Singh has over 22 years of experience in the field of insurance. In March 2022, Singh obtained her brokerage licence from the Bank of Guyana, which was the first step towards achieving her goal of setting up her insurance brokerage firm.

TIMELY
Senior Minster in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, called the initiative “timely,” noting that the need for insurance for both businesses and individuals will grow exponentially over the years, based on the current growth trajectory of the local economy.

“The launching of this new company comes at a time when the Guyanese economy is going through its most significant transformation in history, and indeed the sharpest… the pace at which the Guyanese economy is growing, we are and will continue to be one of the fastest-growing economies of the world,” Minister Singh said.

In his advice to RNS’ principal, the minister said her business is positioned to benefit from the growth of not just the oil and gas sector, but also the non-oil and gas sector. He told her that the demand for insurance products is expected to skyrocket within the years ahead.

“Given the expansion that is taking place in terms of employment and disposable incomes, the demand I anticipate for all insurance products, industrial, commercial, household, and individual classes of insurance products, the demand for all insurance products will be increasing dramatically in the months and the years ahead,” Dr. Singh related.

NECESSITY OF INSURANCE
Minister Singh noted that the government was aware of the importance of insurance and over the years has been increasingly investing to ensure that insurance was affordable and accessible for all, and that there was a wider window opened for insurance brokers to offer a wider range of services.

The senior minister highlighted that the government included special fiscal incentives in Budget 2022 and has placed affordable medical and life insurance within the reach of more Guyanese by making premiums deductible from their chargeable incomes.

The government has implemented, for taxpayers, a deduction from their chargeable income for premiums paid for life and medical insurance up to a maximum of 10 per cent of their income or $30,000 monthly, whichever is lower.

That measure, which was projected to cost approximately $1.1 billion, will now reduce the amount of taxable income and ultimately the tax payable by the taxpayer, while at the same time guaranteeing that long-term health care needs and the needs of relatives in the event of death are met.