Mr.
Jawo retires as secretary general at the permanent secretariat of the IAG where
he has been working from 2000 to 2016.
A
trained-teacher for 15 years and a former school headmaster, Jawo joined the
insurance industry in The Gambia in 1985 when he was appointed branch
supervisor at Senegambia Insurance Company.
“Mr. Jawo’s service in the insurance industry
has been outstanding. He [is] a hero, a mentor and an exemplary leader,” Fatou
Jallow, country manager of Enterprise Life Assurance Company (ELAC), said when
she read a citation of the man.
Jawo
took up appointment with the IAG secretariat in 2000 as secretary general and
head of the Brown Card Insurance Scheme at a time when the position was
considered “not very attractive”.
“He
weathered the storm by transforming the secretariat and the National Bureau into
a permanent general secretariat and made them relevant institutions to the
admiration of many,” Ms. Jallow said during a farewell cocktail reception held
at a hotel in Bakau on May 27, 2016.
The
IAG is the first industry association with a permanent secretariat in The
Gambia and that record was achieved under his term as secretary general of the
institution.
Ms.
Jallow said: “As a leader, father figure and unifier, Mr. Jawo had inspired and
empowered many in the industry and was very instrumental in bringing up the
industry captains together as one successful family.”
Not
only did Mr. Jawo make his mark in The Gambia but also in the regional
arena. He had served as an executive
committee member of the Ecowas Brown Card Scheme for two terms from 2009 to
2015.
She
said Jawo’s personality and positive contributions at the level of the Council
of Bureaux of Brown Card made The Gambia a highly respectable country by both
Francophone and Anglophone countries of the scheme.
Makaira
Badjan, vice president of the IAG, said the IAG secretariat and the National
Bureau of the Brown Card are manned by people groomed and trained by Mr. Jawo.
He
noted that Jawo is very passionate about the insurance profession and the growth
of the industry.
“We
want you to know that we will continue to really count on your wisdom and
continued guidance to move the insurance industry to higher heights,” he said.
Pa
Alieu Sillah, commissioner of insurance at the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG),
said no good thing is achieved too easily and Mr. Jawo has attained a lot of
good things for the IAG secretariat and the Gambia insurance industry as a
whole.
“His
contribution has made the relation with the CBG and the [insurance] industry rosy
because he had involved us in all the activities of the secretariat – big or
small,” Sillah said.
When
he took his turn, Mr. Henry M. Jawo described his coming into the insurance industry
as “an accident”.
He
said: “I had no plans whatsoever to work in the insurance industry; I was a
trained teacher and I taught for 15 years.
“I
got frustrated at one particular stage in my teaching career and that was when
I wanted to improve my professional competence but I was not given the chance
for various reasons. The frustration led
to my resignation though I had no plans to resign at the time.
“I
owe gratitude to all the people that I have worked with in the insurance
industry, without them I would not have achieved what I achieved.”
He
announced that he will offer his services to the IAG secretariat “until when I
am unable”.
Saihou
Samba, the successor of Mr. Jawo as the head of the National Bureau of Brown
Card Scheme, said throughout Mr. Jawo’s work with the IAG and the national
bureau, there was no single project or initiative that the secretariat failed
in executing.
“He
always says ‘I do not have the word failure in my dictionary’,” Mr Samba said,
adding, “There is no way that his replacement will match his level of
experience”.
Ms.
Jallow, who read the citation on Jawo, concluded that “one cannot narrate all
the positive things about Mr. Jawo but it will suffice to say that he has
worked tirelessly and pursued goals that serve the interest of the entire
insurance fraternity in The Gambia and the sub region.”
Written by Modou S. Joof
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- This story appeared on The Voice newspaper on June 10, 2016.
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