Scouting for Growth Sabine VdL

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Steve Abel, Partner at Oliver Wyman. In this episode, they dive into the challenges & solutions related to legacy debt & system modernization for incumbent insurers.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


A few decades ago there weren’t the number or complexities of systems in the insurance landscape. Generally, there was 1 or several admin systems which did everything. The cost & complexity of IT was relatively low compared to now. The proliferation of systems that solve business problems, the complexity of those systems has increased exponentially in part because of the sheer number of systems but also because the landscape has evolved to accept that implementing a claims/administration/finance system should take years or months.
A lot of carriers have made successful bets in the past; they’ve bought a system, customised it & to a large extent, historically, they have fulfilled their promise to the business. Perhaps they were a little expensive or hard to implement, but at the end of the day the stakeholders got what they wanted. 
Take a hard look at your technology. A lot of these programme fail – between 30-60% depending on who you ask. Ask yourself: Is it worth the investment for my business? If you have a generic business maybe the cost of customisation is very low, but if your business customises a lot & when you’re done you have a lot of spreadsheets, maybe that’s not a great idea.

BEST MOMENTS

‘There’s an emerging opportunity for insurance carriers to leverage a new ecosystem of tooling & providers that isn’t as monolithic & doesn’t require so many months & so much costs to implement.’

‘In modern (mostly) cloud-based technology, it’s possible to think of data as an enterprise/ecosystem asset, so you can keep that data in a structure that works for multiple business processes/calculations.’

‘Speed is now more important than ever in thinking about technology in an ecosyetem. It used to be that you could pace your development choices in years, now technology is moving so much faster – years and months instead of decades.’

 

ABOUT THE GUEST

As a partner at Oliver Wyman, Steven helps clients solve complex problems & lead teams to deliver insights that you can trust. Steve acquired over 25 years of experience in consulting & executive roles, delivering value to organizations via smart technological deployment.

Steve’s specialties include program management, operations, shared services, enabling technologies, business process reengineering, finance leading practices, insurance products & data, actuarial platforms, machine learning, AI, cloud solutions, business & technical architecture. 

Steve is passionate about helping clients achieve their strategic goals & optimize their performance, while fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, & excellence.

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Oliver Wyman

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner. 

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On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL introduces the a series of podcasts featuring Steve Abel, Partner at Oliver Wyman, Brian McDermott, Chief Technology Officer at Victor Insurance and Esther Becker, Partner and Captive Actuarial Leader at Oliver Wyman.

The objectives of the following four episodes are to:


create an all rounded viewpoint of what is happening in insurance 
demonstrate how an insurance managing general agent has grown its business to over 3 billion dollars in Direct Written Premiums (DWP)
and how the world of captive insurance is evolving when emerging risks are so present in our day to day lives.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Legacy system optimization is crucial for insurance companies to not only reduce costs but also to enhance the value of existing investments. By addressing the historical oversights and implementing effective strategies, insurance companies and carriers around the globe can extract comprehensive value from your legacy systems.
Insurers out there… You've made substantial investments in your core systems, but it's possible that some decisions that we made were not aligned with the best long-term outcomes of your business or enterprise. Revisit past decisions critically to assess whether they still serve your company's current and future needs. Look for signs as to whether you've been locked into proprietary solutions which may hinder adaptability or interoperability long term. I have talked about those with many insurers and this is certainly an area of concern today.
Implement APIs that allow more flexible interaction with your core systems and introduce modular upgrades that can provide new capabilities without a complete system overhaul. These targeted improvements can significantly increase value and extend the lifespan of your core systems, helping you stay competitive in a rapidly evolving insurance market.
Finally, I wanted to dive into the world of captives and self-insurance programs offer a strategic approach to managing emergent non-insurable risks. A captive’s ability to navigate complex technological challenges and optimize technology choices is crucial in reinforcing the relevance and efficiency of the captive’s operations.

BEST MOMENTS

‘To unlock the value from your core systems, adopt a three-pronged approach: Simplify. Innovate. Collaborate.’

‘When you invest in technology startups, scaleup and growth ventures… recognizing the common missteps is going to be essential to avoid them.’

‘In leveraging commoditized technology, your goal should be to build more relevant applications. Utilizing established technologies allows you to focus on innovation without reinventing the wheel.’

‘By proactively shaping your approach to these areas of advancement, you're preparing to meet the demands of 2030 and propel the insurance and insurtech sectors forward.’

 

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner. 

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On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Romaney O’Malley, Group CTO at bolttech, an InsurTech unicorn that is quite literally electrifying the InsurTech space now spearheading solutions in 35 markets across three continents.

In today’s episode, we explore a multitude of topics, including: The Journey to the Top: What were the critical turning points in Romaney's impressive career? Master Strategist: How does Romany approach challenging strategic decisions at bolttech? Industry Titans: What's the inner fabric of companies like Bolltech also traditional companies such as AIG, Swiss Re, and GE Insurance?

KEY TAKEAWAYS


I made a decision together with my husband in 2008 that we would move to Johannesburg for him to take an opportunity with a bank in South Africa. That was a big deal to move away from London & a great job with SwissRe, but this was a really unique opportunity that ended up being one of the best decisions we’ve made for both of our careers. It exposed me to very different markets across Africa which was invaluable to the rest of my career. Taking risks is important.
One of the fascinating things about emerging markets is that they can leapfrog the steps that  have shaped mature industries in the past. The use of mobile technology & telcos in banking in many parts of Africa is far more advanced that we see in developed countries because they have skipped a number of the evolutional steps that some of the older economies have taken. Those markets & consumers are at the sharp end of innovation.
You can’t approach things as 1 decision. Your leadership team/board is never going to make 1 series of linear decision, the complexity comes with multiple decisions & how those interact with each other. You should approach these problems as multi-dimensional & you’re always going to be balancing different things. Strategic decisions are about trade-offs & maximising the point at which you make sure you’re delivering a number of different things to different stakeholders without getting out of balance.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Moving to London from Sydney on secondment gave me the opportunity to see the scale & the size of the opportunity in the rest of the world.’

‘I always knew the future of insurance was technology-based.’

‘Play to your strengths but surround yourself with a team of people that are really good at the things that you’re not so good at.’

‘The stronger we can build and ecosystem across the opportunity in InsurTech the more effective insurance industry we’re going to have.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Romaney O’Malley Group CFO at bolttech, an international insurtech company that is revolutionizing the way we think about insurance and technology. Her unique blend of leadership skills and financial acumen is drawn from a 25+ year-career at the apex of the insurance industry.

Romaney's depth of experience is not limited to the insurance field alone; she has ventured into other sectors like reinsurance, finance, and consulting.

When the numbers are crunched and the strategies laid down, Romaney finds her escape in the great outdoors. Whether planning her next exciting travel adventure or unwinding through the meditative art of yoga, she's a perpetual explorer—of landscapes, of limits, and of life.

bolttech

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner. 

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On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Anika Jackson who wears many hats with enviable finesse. Currently, Anika is professor, a VP of operations for Full Capacity Marketing, a full-service agency dedicated to uplifting workforce development and educational institutions.

Today, Anika will share with us her insights about growth, drawing from her multi-faceted experiences and achievements.

KEY TAKEAWAYS         


Everything changes every day with digital. AI has been around for 20 years, but only last year its popularity rose for everyone to understand what the technology is & start utilising it for marketing or efficiencies in our systems & processes. We have to keep on top of everything. My students range from 20s-60s & they want to learn how to manage everything that’s happening.
Podcasting is the only omni-channel marketing that we have nowadays; you have video content, audio content, you can create blog posts, thought-leadership pieces, hundreds of pieces of content for social media. There are so many ways to utilise each episode. Not only that, it’s business development, every time I’m on a podcast or have a guest on my podcast not only do I learn something new from them but that’s another person I can now call on in my network.
I’ve leaned into learning more about a lot of different things so I can better advise people on how to make the best use of their dollars. Especially for small businesses, it’s not easy to get financing unless you have someone already backing you – most small businesses don’t. We at the Intuit Small Business Council are going to speak to Congress in a couple of weeks about AI & small businesses & making sure they have access to tools – digital equity.
A lot of people don’t want to use their own voice, but in this day & time everybody wants to know who are you? I’m buying into you as a person & a founder. Yes, you have the product that’s going to solve something, but I want to know about the person, the authenticity factor. You have to believe in the person & that their solution is really going to solve your problem. Don’t think about it as ‘you’, think about it as you’ve got something people need to hear because what you have to offer & the solution you’re providing is going to help revolutionise things, help with access to something, or change somebody’s life that’s really important to them at this time. Take the ego out of it.

 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Who are you & what are you doing here? That needs to infuse everything that you do. It helps people decide if they take a job, can work with you, if you’re aligned with them. ’‘I’m learning as much as I’m teaching.’‘This is a world where you have to think omni-channel, you have to be integrated, & you can’t be siloed, you have to work together, that’s the world we live in.’‘Reserve all of the names across the socials but don’t scatter your attention, really be focussed and niche down.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Anika is a mother, community volunteer, philanthropist, marketing and communications professional, podcast host, and graduate adjunct professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. As a marketer, she has done it all including experiential marketing/ event production, launch marketing, public relations, digital, and influencer throughout her multiple decade career.

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ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influe

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Nektarios Liolios, a true FinTech trailblazer, a passionate entrepreneur, and a dedicated mental health advocate.

In this episode, we'll dive into Nektarios' wealth of experience and insights on the evolution of FinTech, building thriving startup communities, investing in early-stage ventures, and fostering a more inclusive and mentally healthy entrepreneurial landscape.

KEY TAKEAWAYS         


When I started the accelerators we were riding the first wave of glorified entrepreneurship in 2011-13. Startups were cool, & we created artificial pressure around building things faster than in the wild. There were glimpses of people struggling, but I really didn’t take them too seriously. The real understanding of how bad people's mental health was affected in the early stages of building a business wasn’t something I was fully aware of. But It became clearer to me as we progressed with building these programmes.
In 2018 I lost my Dad the day after I finished work at the accelerator, I had to deal with the mess that comes with leaving behind a big chunk of my identity. I thought, perhaps there’s room to do something about this & I joined a woman I knew who had started Founder Anonymous within the VC fund she worked with to give founders the space to talk about how hard it actually is.
There’s a bag of things: Identity, loneliness, imposter syndrome, co-founder conflict, there are so many things that naturally happen in life that are concentrated within the world of building a startup & these people are completely left to their own devices & deal with these challenges. I got into entrepreneurship in my mid-40s, so I already feel I was a little more prepared for these things than younger entrepreneurs who haven’t had a lot of life experience. But, I wasn’t expecting my identity to be so messed up.
The challenges between someone who works in the corporate world compared to someone who works in the entrepreneurial world are different, especially for founders. You don’t have the same support system. In the corporate world, you can take some time off, and talk to HR, there may even be support initiatives. But founders are very specific kinds of animals, it takes a particular type of makeup to become one in the first place. Research shows that entrepreneurs are more likely to have anxiety, depression, and neurodiversity manifestations (ADHD, bipolar) in their family history.

 

BEST MOMENTS

‘The outside picture is that startups are cool & the hustle is cool & you need to ruin yourself because the potential returns of a successful startup isn’t comparable to corporate life, I want to demystify that.’‘We were part of the problem; we cared about the business, we didn’t care about the people behind the business.’‘We want to build a business where we don’t want to kill ourselves. That doesn’t mean we’re not working hard, it means being allowed to say I’m struggling. Authenticity is important.’‘There’s a link between wanting to be your own boss & experiencing certain mental health issues.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Nektarios Liolios is a visionary FinTech entrepreneur, investor, ecosystem builder, and mental health advocate with a passion for driving positive change.

His work has taken him around the globe, closely collaborating with hundreds of entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses in London, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Amsterdam, and Melbourne. His dedication to entrepreneurship, collaboration, and improving lives has earned him recognition as a FinTech veteran and a spot on the Pride in FinTech Powerlist 2023.

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Innovate Finance

The Future Farm

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insura

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Nicky Billou who shares his expertise on how startup CEOs can leverage thought leadership to accelerate business growth, stand out in competitive markets, & create lasting impact in their industries.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


My parents took us from a legacy of tyranny, in Iran, to a legacy of freedom in Canada. This is a very profound & important thing for an entrepreneur to understand: Entrepreneurship is only possible where you have free enterprise, free enterprise is only possible where you have free expression, free expression is only possible where you have freedom. The bedrock foundation for the success of any entrepreneurs in an environment that allows for freedom.
We are living in an era where for you to really make an impact, for you to have your brand/organisation to be known, you can’t do things the way they’ve always been done. People are smart now, they can see when you’re being disingenuous. What all people crave, everywhere, is authenticity, being real, being honest, coming from the heart. As a founder/CEO you need to understand that & it must be first & foremost in your mind.
Elon Musk is somebody who has taken the time to create for himself a persona, a brand. Everyone knows Elon Musk. Why? Because Elon Musk stands for something more than “I want to sell more cars.” He got into Tesla because he wanted to change the world. DO you want to be the unknown CEO of your company or the Elon Musk of your industry?
Being a guest on a podcast is like doing a TED Talk; you’ve got 18 minutes, you can’t waste 1 word, & you need to know what you are & aren’t going to say. Podcast guesting is an important tool in thought leadership. You also need a team to put out your content in the form of videos, written quotes & longer-form posts. CEOs should also have their own podcast but it shouldn’t be about your business, it should be about you so you raise your profile. Finally, you need to write a book (you could hire someone to co-author it with you).

BEST MOMENTS

‘It takes an immigrant to show people the value of freedom. There are a lot of people in the West that don’t appreciate how precious & wonderful freedom is & how it doesn’t exist everywhere.’

‘Life is about people, even business is about people, not money. The purpose of business is to solve problem for people for a profit.’

‘My superpower is I’m a professional believer, I believe in people, I pour into people, I Love people.’

‘If you want to sell more, have the best employees working for you, have access to investment funds to grow & scale, thought leadership is the accelerator that will get you there faster than anything else.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Nicky Billou is an author, thought leadership expert, & host of the Thought Leader Revolution podcast. Over the past decade, Nicky has established himself as a leading authority on personal branding & business growth strategies.

As the founder of eCircle Academy, Nicky runs a year-long mastermind & educational program, working with entrepreneurs from various industries to position them as authorities in their niches. 

His insights have helped numerous entrepreneurs add 7-9 figures to their businesses & build powerful personal brands. With a passion for helping startup founders & CEOs become thought leaders in their industries, Nicky draws inspiration from visionary leaders like Elon Musk. He believes that by developing a solid personal brand, entrepreneurs can attract more investors, customers, & top talent to their ventures.

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ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over