Dr. Corneille Karekezi is, since July 2011, the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re[1]), the leading reinsurance company in Africa and the Middle East, with Financial Ratings of A (Stable) by A.M. Best and A – (Stable) by S&P and Shareholders’ Funds of above US$ 1.7 Billion at end of 2021.
He rose to the current position after a two-year transitional period as Deputy Managing Director / Chief Operating Officer of Africa Re, a company he also served as a Board Director for the period between 2002 and 2005.
Dr. Karekezi has a great wealth of experience in insurance, reinsurance, finance, marketing, management and strategy at top management and leadership levels spanning over 29 years.
Before joining the reinsurance industry in 2009, Dr. Karekezi spent 17 years in the insurance industry with two leading insurance companies, in Burundi (SOCABU s.m.: 3 years) and Rwanda (SONARWA s.a.: 14 years), where he occupied various senior accounting, reinsurance, financial, marketing, technical operations (Life & Non-Life) and strategic positions, the last position being the Chief Executive Officer of SONARWA s.a.
Dr. Karekezi is an Economics Graduate (Burundi) and holds a Master’s Degree in Management & Economics (Burundi), two Postgraduate Diplomas in Business Administration (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Business School, and University of Liverpool, UK). He has been awarded a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) in Business Administration by the Commonwealth University (UK) and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the Paris School of Business (France) and the Galilee International Management Institute (Israel).
Dr. Karekezi’s significant contribution to the development of the insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa has been recognized by various industry awards and institutions. Over the years, he has participated in various national, regional and continental initiatives and projects (insurance associations, pools, supervisory boards, etc.) and presented many papers in industry forums and conferences across the world.
He has sit on several boards of regional and continental companies and institutions as Former Chairman and Board Member of Shelter Afrique (leading Pan-African housing finance company) and Currently as Executive Committee Member of the AIO (African Insurance Organization), Chairman of Africa Re South Africa Ltd. (a subsidiary of Africa Re) and Vice Chairman of Africa Retakaful Company Ltd (a subsidiary of Africa Re which is the No. 1 Islamic reinsurer in Africa, based in Egypt).
[1] Africa Re Group is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and was created in 1976 by 36 African Member states of the African Union and the African Development Bank. Africa Re is ranked 37th in the Top 40 Global Reinsurance Groups by Standard & Poor’s in 2019. It has the largest reinsurance commercial network in Africa with eight offices across Africa. Its shareholding comprises of 42 Africa States (34%), the African Development Bank (8%), 117 African insurance and reinsurance companies (35%) and three Non-African Shareholders (23%) who are all global leading insurance and reinsurance groups: AXA, FAIRFAX & ALLIANZ. In addition to its core African reinsurance business, Africa Re writes also businesses from selected markets in Middle East, Asia and Brazil.