Africa Insurance: Groupe ACTIVA calls for structured mobilization of long-term savings to finance infrastructure and businesses

Jean-Philippe Lowe, Deputy CEO of Groupe ACTIVA, calls for a more structured mobilization of long-term insurance savings to finance infrastructure, businesses, and the continent's economic transformation, in an interview published on August 10, 2026, by Financial Afrik. He explains that his career "was forged at the crossroads of three disciplines: finance, risk management, and insurance," and advocates for this sector, long confined to policyholder protection, to become a major reservoir of domestic financing. Founded in 1996 in Douala by Richard Lowe, Groupe ACTIVA currently operates in several Central and West African countries, including Cameroon, Congo, and Gabon. The amount of assets managed by the group was not specified in the interview. For governments, better mobilized insurance savings would reduce dependence on external financing for major projects. For insurers and policyholders, this requires strengthened governance, a condition Jean-Philippe Lowe presents as non-negotiable. The African insurance sector exhibits one of the lowest penetration rates in the world, within a region governed notably by the Conférence Interafricaine des Marchés d'Assurances (CIMA), which covers fourteen countries. This structural weakness, combined with the contraction of international concessional financing and the rise in the cost of sovereign debt, strengthens the case for mobilization.