Home > Executive Committee & Advisory Board > Jean Kacou Diagou
Jean Kacou Diagou
Co-Chairman (Africa)
Other appointments include:
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Chairman and CEO, NSIA Group
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Member, Board of Directors, CiCA Re
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Former President, Confédération générale des entreprises de Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI)
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Former President, Fédération des Organisations Patronales d’Afrique de l’ouest (FOPAO)
Jean K. Diagou is the Chairman and CEO of NSIA Group, an African insurance and banking group present today in 12 countries throughout West and Central Africa. Founded in 1995 by Mr Diagou, a 40-year insurance industry veteran, NSIA began its expansion with the acquisition of the Ivorian subsidiary of Assurances Générales de France (AGF), subsequently expanding into Benin, Gabon, Senegal, Congo and Togo. In 2006, it acquired BIAO, the third largest bank in Cote d’Ivoire, permitting it to offer combined bank and insurance “bancassurance” products to its clients, while pursuing its expansion across the CFA zone. Together, NSIA and BIAO employ more than 800 people in the region.
In 2009, NSIA ventured into English speaking Africa with its takeover of Ghana-based CDH Insurance, and later the Nigerian ADIC Insurance.
In 2015, the National Bank of Canada acquired a 21% stake in the capital of NSIA.
Mr. Diagou is a Member of the Board of Directors of CiCA Re, a sub-regional reinsurance company based in Lomé, Togo.
Mr. Diagou, an economist, who studied as a seminarian in his youth, wants to structure financial products that meet the needs of the African masses in a continent where the insurance penetration rate is only 1%. Until he created NSIA, Mr. Diagou was one of the top officials of the French premier Insurance conglomerate UAP (Union des Assurances de Paris) in French-speaking Africa.