George Otoo is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner of over 30 years experience in the insurance industry. He entered the insurance industry in 1981 when he was appointed as Technical Trainee at Enterprise Insurance Co. Ltd. He held various positions in the company until he was appointed General Manager in charge of Operations in 1998. A year later, the board appointed him Managing Director whereupon he assumed full control of the management of the Company.
Upon assumption, George Otoo re-engineered the Company by computerising and networking all operations across the country. He introduced a highly successful novel workflow process known as Workgroup Concept, whereby workflow processes were based on the type of client rather than the type of product sold to the client.
He spearheaded the founding of Enterprise Life Assurance Company (ELAC) in 2001 in partnership with African Life Assurance of South Africa (later bought by Sanlam) and the IFC of the World Bank. ELAC today is the biggest life assurance company in Ghana by both premium and assets.
In 2010, he created a holding company structure at Enterprise with the aim of identifying and creating subsidiaries to provide services across the spectrum i.e. from cradle to grave. Enterprise Group was listed in 2010 to replace Enterprise Insurance on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Enterprise Group to date has the following subsidiaries:
1. Enterprise Insurance (General Insurance)
2. Enterprise Life (Life Insurance)
3. Enterprise Properties (Real Estate)
4. Enterprise Trustees (Pension Administration)
5. Transitions (Funeral Services)
He became the Group’s first CEO in 2010.
George Otoo retired from Enterprise in 2014 after 33 years service to the company with market capitalisation of US $130 million from US $1.5 million when he took over at Enterprise Insurance.
He Chartered in 1989 as an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of U.K. Prior to that he obtained a Diploma in Insurance with Distinction from the West African Insurance Institute (WAII) then based in Liberia.
George Otoo also holds an MBA in Insurance Management from the University of Nottingham Business School, U.K.
Directorships he has held to date are as follows:
1. Mainstream Re – 1999 to 2017 (Resigned)
2. TIGO Ghana Advisory Board – 2013 to 2015
3. Databank EPACK Investment – 1999 to date
4. Enterprise Group – 2010 to date
5. Enterprise Properties – 2011 to date
Mr. George Y. Mensah started his professional career in 1993 with Merrill Lynch Asset Management (MLAM) as a Financial Accountant in Princeton, NJ USA. He later joined Prudential Financial in Newark, NJ as Senior Analyst within the Investment Management Research team where he was responsible for ensuring that the firm’s portfolio managers have the ability to achieve superior returns in both up or down markets.
Mr. Mensah is a product of New York University (Stern Business School) where he earned an MBA in Finance. He also holds a BSc in Accounting and a minor in French from Montclair State University in New Jersey.
In 2002, he relocated to Ghana to join SIC Insurance Company as the Head of Investments and became the Executive Director of SIC Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance company in 2006.
Mr. George Yaw Mensah joined African Reinsurance Corporation on April 1, 2010 as the Assistant Director in charge of Treasury and Investment, a position he held until his appointment as Managing Director of Ghana Re on September 1, 2017
Mr. Mensah has served on several Boards including Ghana Stock Exchange as a Council Member. Other Board representations include: - NTHC Financial Services, Afram Publications Limited and Starwin Products Limited, a pharmaceutical company in Ghana.
Dr. Francis Sapara-Grant is an economist with over twenty-two years’ experience in pension scheme administration. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of GLICO Pensions Trustee Company – one of the leading corporate trustees that has been licensed to administer pension schemes in Ghana. He is also a trustee and Technical Consultant for the Cocoa Abrabopa Pension Scheme, which is a pension scheme designed purposely for an association of over 20,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana. He was appointed a director of Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited in August 2017.
Prior to his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of GLICO Pensions, Dr. Sapara-Grant was the Managing Director of SSNIT Informal Sector Fund (SISF), a subsidiary company of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and was responsible for establishing the first national pension scheme for workers in the informal sector of Ghana.
Dr. Sapara-Grant holds a Masters’ degree in Economics/Statistics from the Odessa Institute of National Economy, Odessa, Ukraine and a PhD in Economics from the St. Petersburg State Engineering Economic University in Russia. He is also a product of Accra Academy where he obtained his secondary education.
Among his other experiences, Dr. Sapara-Grant was a Supervising Board Member of Procredit Savings and Loans (Ghana) Limited– a member of the Procredit Group, which is an international banking group with presence in 21 countries. He was a member of the implementation Sub-Committee on the Informal Sector of the Presidential Commission on Pensions that designed the three-tier pension scheme for Ghana. He is currently a member of the Informal Sector Working Group which has the responsibility for advising the National Pensions Regulatory Authority of Ghana on the extension of pension coverage to the workforce in the Informal Sector of the economy.
Mrs. Jennifer Owusu is a lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in legal practice. Jennifer has broad experience in corporate and commercial law, mining and energy, property and regulatory compliance. She is currently the Managing Consultant at Lexcel Consulting Ltd.
Jennifer obtained an LL.B Degree in 1993 from the University of Ghana where she was adjudged the best student in the final LL.B examination and was the proud recipient of two academic awards from the Ghana School of Law when she was called to the Ghana Bar in 1995. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) 2010.
Upon her call to the Bar, she joined the offices of Sey and Bossman where she garnered a wealth of experience in privatisation, regulation drafting and in the area of mining and energy, after which she worked with JEO Lawconsult, a legal consulting firm.
In 2010, Jennifer acted as Counsel/Researcher to the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) of Ghana, and worked with a team that successfully organised fifty- eight National Mini Consultations for the CRC.
In 2011, driven by her passion to promote research and to make a difference in the lives of the vulnerable, Jennifer founded the Centre for Legal Advocacy Research Education and Training (CLARiT) an NGO which promotes, among other things, cutting – edge research, awareness training and law and policy- development.
Jennifer is a member of the Ghana Bar Association, member of the International Bar Association and is also a member of the Board of JCS Investments Ltd.
Mr. Franklin Hayford was appointed as a Director in August 2017. His areas of expertise include Financial Strategy Development, and he has extensive professional experience and significant executive leadership accomplishments in business.
Franklin is a member of the Board of Directors of a number of high profile organizations including Trust Bank Ltd., The Gambia, Bayba Financial Services Ltd., The Gambia, Insurance Company of Africa (Liberia), and the International Bank of Liberia Ltd. He has over the years displayed clearly his unique brand of executive boardroom relationships which is indispensable in influencing key decision-makers at the highest levels within the organisations where he is a member of the Board.
He is currently the Executive Director of Databank Financial Services Ltd. in charge of the coordinating day operations of the Databank Group, with responsibilities for its strategic business units.
He holds a BSc degree in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester, UK and has over 25 years’ rich experience in the field of Manufacturing and Financial Services
Lynda Odro has recently retired as the Chief Executive Officer of Hollard Insurance Ghana. Until her appointment in 2015 she was the Chief Operations Officer, a position she held for 10 years. She has over 2 decades experience in the Insurance Industry.
She holds an MBA from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA); BA (Hons) Economics with Statistics, University of Ghana, Legon and a Diploma in Insurance from the West African Insurance Institute, Gambia. A Certificate in Advance Course; Non –Life Insurance from Swiss Insurance Training Center, Switzerland. She is an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, UK.
She has attended several courses in insurance in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Nigeria and South Africa. She also attended courses in Human Resource Development; Staff Appraisal & Performance Planning organized by GIMPA and PWC respectively.
She served on several industry Boards and Committees including The Ghana Oil and Gas Insurance Pool; Member of General Insurance Council of the Ghana Insurers Association; Harmonisation of Regional Convention regulating administration of motor accidents within Ecowas; Executive Committee, West African Insurance Companies Association(WAICA); Chairman of the Marine & Aviation Technical Committee of Ghana Insurers Association.
Lynda was a lecturer at the West African Insurance Institute, Gambia for 7 years. She also lectured at the Ghana Insurance College. She has recently been named one of the top 50 corporate leaders in Ghana by Women Rising and The African Network of Entrepreneurs.
Lynda has been blessed with two sons.
Mrs. Stella Williams is currently the Director for Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Finance. She graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana in 1986 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Planning, and also obtained a Master’s Degree in Local and Regional Development from the Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, the Netherlands in 1998.
She started her career at the Ministry of Finance in 1989 and has gained extensive experience in Economic Policy Management. She has held positions in various Divisions in the Ministry and was a key player in the development of Ghana’s first Public Investment Programme, the development of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and reforms in Public Financial Management. She was also at one-point Coordinator for the Government’s Financial Sector Reform Programme and also played an active role in promoting the Aid Effectiveness Agenda in Ghana.
Before taking up her current position as the Director for Monitoring and Evaluation, she was seconded to the African Development for three years as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director representing, Ghana, Gambia Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
Mrs. Williams also currently serves as a board member of the Public Procurement Authority and is a Council Member of the Ghana Immigration Service.
She is married with two children.
