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Insurance operators in Anglophone West African countries comprising Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia are taking a further step to boost insurance penetration in the region. They are in agreement that using micro insurance as a vehicle to entrench an insurance culture will help address the high level poverty in the sub region.
Insurers say government’s efforts across the region to provide micro finance opportunities for small and medium businesses need to be complimented with ancillary insurance services for efficient results. 
As far as they are concerned, adequate insurance is needed to protect these credit lines offered by micro finance institutions and banks, otherwise beneficiaries of such facilities could again be impoverished. They believe that owners of small businesses akin to environmental challenges are steadily exposed to vulnerabilities of health, fire, burglary, death and other family responsibilities which are capable of eroding whatever business or assets they acquire over time. 
It is on this basis that the cream of insurance professionals and business leaders within the sub region will converge in Lagos, Nigeria for the West African Insurance Companies Association’s (WAICA) Educational Conference 2008.
Having as its theme, “Micro Insurance: Its Role and Impact in the Economies of Emerging Markets in West Africa,” the conference is scheduled for November 9-12, 2008.
Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel, will deliver a lecture titled: “Micro Insurance as a Vehicle for Deepening Insurance Penetration in West Africa.” The lecture on the second paper titled: “The Implementation of Micro-Insurance, the Role and Perspective of the Supervisory Authority,” will be handled by Josephine Amaoh, Commissioner of Insurance, Ghana.
Another paper will x-ray “The Implementation of Micro-Insurance, the Role and Position of the Industry Players (i.e. Underwriters and Intermediaries), to be taken by Anja Smith, deputy director, Cenfri, a South Africa-based consultancy outfit. 
Director-General of West Africa Insurance Institute, Gambia, Mike Ikupolati, will take his turn to speak on the fourth and last topic: “The Practice of Micro-Insurance in West Africa: The Journey so far.” 
Some other notable scholars who will also discuss on different topics during the four-day conference include: Adeyemo Adejumo, president, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), and managing director, Continental Reinsurance plc; as well as Mohammed Kari, managing director, UnityKapital Assurance plc, among others. 
Ezekiel O. Chiejina, chairman, Conference Organising Committee, said that the event will attract delegates from other West African countries. He assured delegates that Nigeria would host a befitting conference to further attest to her leadership position in West Africa. 
“Let me assure the delegates from other countries that the conference will afford them the opportunity to learn new things about Nigeria and experience the hospitality of the Nigerian people the way they have never had before,” he declared.