Businesses urged to move beyond insurance policies to build operational resilience

RBA's Peter Mugambi, Liaison Group's Dennis Karanja, and IRA'S  Kalai Musee during Liaison Group’s Corporate Risk Management Forum in Nairobi on 22 October 2026. [James Wanzala, Standard]

Businesses must look beyond purchasing insurance and take a more proactive approach to identifying, assessing and managing risks.

This emerged from the discussions during the Liaison Group Corporate Risk Management Forum held in Nairobi last week. As operating environments evolve, organisations were urged to regularly review their risk exposures and ensure their protection keeps pace with changes that could affect their assets, operations and financial stability.

While insurance remains an important mechanism for managing financial exposure, resilience also depends on what organisations do before a loss occurs.

Identifying vulnerabilities, understanding the potential consequences of disruption, and reviewing existing cover can help businesses make informed decisions about the risks they retain and those they transfer.

For businesses, this means reassessing risk exposures as operations change, ensuring insurance cover reflects current assets and liabilities, and integrating risk considerations into business decisions.

It also means working with insurance partners who understand their operations and can advise on appropriate protection. Speaking at the forum, General Manager – Risk and Insurance at Liaison Group Brian Rop said the growth of Kenya’s insurance industry must translate into meaningful protection for the people and businesses it serves. “The more important question is this: what does that growth mean for the people and businesses we serve?,” he said.

The ability of insurance to deliver on this promise also depends on public confidence in the industry and the regulatory environment in which it operates. This is according to the Director of Supervision at the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) Kalai Musee, who addressed the regulatory priorities shaping Kenya’s insurance sector.

“A strong and trusted insurance industry depends on effective regulation, responsible market conduct and the confidence of policyholders that their interests are protected. As the sector evolves, continued collaboration among regulators and industry players remains essential to ensuring that insurance delivers meaningful value to individuals and businesses,” he said.

From a business perspective, translating protection into resilience requires organisations to anticipate emerging risks rather than respond only after losses have occurred. Cybercrime, climate-related damage, supply-chain disruption, fraud and liability exposures can affect a company’s assets and its ability to maintain operations and meet its obligations.

General Manager – Regional Business at Liaison Group Dennis Karanja said proactive risk management ensures insurance programmes remain aligned with changing business needs.

The forum also examined risk management in the retirement benefits sector, including the application of the Pension Risk Management Framework.