Cameroon · Finance · Insurance
Founder & CEO, Activa Group · Cameroon
He left a comfortable position at a French multinational to prove that an African could build an insurance group to international standards. Twenty-five years later, Activa operates in more than seven countries and its Globus network covers nearly the entire continent.
Who is he?
Richard Lowé Nzonlie holds a degree from ESSEC Paris. He began his career at the Cameroonian subsidiary of the French group AGF, where he spent 17 years mastering every aspect of the business. In 1998, at an age when many settle into comfort, he resigned to create his own company: Activa, launched with capital of 400 million CFA francs in an initial partnership with Ivorian entrepreneur Jean Kacou Diagou (NSIA).
His founding conviction: Africans must be able to operate in insurance to international standards, with no inferiority complex. After the amicable separation from NSIA in 2006–2008, Lowe had free rein for his great pan-African vision. Today, the Activa Group operates in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the DRC and even Europe — with reference partners including IFC (World Bank) and Proparco. In 2018, he was named African CEO of the Year by the African Organisation for Insurance.
His core principles
His engine since 1998: proving that an African company can compete with global giants on their own turf, with their own standards.
Lowe did not improvise. He spent 17 years at AGF mastering every aspect of the business before creating his company. Rigorous preparation as the foundation of self-confidence.
His constant concern, according to those close to him: management discipline. A balanced temperament, skill at resolving conflict, and a strategy held firm over 25 years.
For Lowe, transparency is indispensable for building trust with partners and preventing internal conflicts. In a sector built on trust, this is existential.
Rather than enduring the smallness of national markets, he created Globus in 2007 — the first pan-African insurance network, now present in around 50 countries, with its reinsurer Globus Re.
With products like Activa Makala (tailored to low incomes), agricultural insurance and the Activ'Lady programme for women entrepreneurs, he brings insurance closer to the populations previously excluded from it.
Memorable quote
"Insurance promotes savings by reducing long-term expenses, enables effective risk management, and is an excellent channel for development."Richard Lowe
Key timeline
The next generation
The question of succession is at the heart of every African family business — and Activa is preparing its own. Jean-Philippe Lowe, Deputy Managing Director of the Activa Group, embodies this new generation of Cameroonian leaders trained to international standards and committed to thinking about the role of African finance.
In his public statements, Jean-Philippe Lowe argues a strong thesis: insurance is the missing link in African finance, and the continent's development could be funded by its own insurance premiums rather than by external dependency. A vision that extends his father's: African financial autonomy through the construction of solid institutions.
The Lowe succession is a case study to follow for all African entrepreneurs: how to move from a success built on one person to an institution that outlives its founder?
Actionable lessons
Master the trade before launching. 17 years at AGF before Activa. Employed experience is not wasted time — it is your training, paid for by someone else.
Partner to get started, know how to separate cleanly. The NSIA partnership launched Activa; the amicable separation freed its growth. Good alliances have a beginning AND a well-managed end.
If the network doesn't exist, create it. Globus was born because no pan-African network existed. What missing link in your sector could you build?
Align with credible partners. IFC, Proparco: these partners bring capital AND international credibility. Seek partners who validate your seriousness.
Serve those the market ignores. Micro-insurance, women entrepreneurs, the agricultural world — today's "non-profitable" segments are tomorrow's mass markets.
Prepare your succession early. Handover is every builder's final test. A company that does not outlive its founder was a career, not an institution.
Resources
How he made it
Rooted in his Cameroonian origins, which he cites as the bedrock of his values of rigour and responsibility — the "return to one's roots" remains his guiding thread.
ESSEC in Paris, one of Europe's top business schools. He acquires the international standards he will later prove possible in Africa.
Junior manager at AGF Cameroon (French group). He will spend 17 years there — the complete mastery of a trade before flying on his own wings.
Activa's first years against the giants: COLINA, NSIA, AGF, AXA occupy the ground with far more powerful networks. Many predict the newcomer's failure.
The conviction that Africans can operate in insurance to international standards "with no inferiority complex." In 1998, he resigns and founds Activa.
Rigour through management: transparency with partners, meticulous preparation of every file, methodical resolution of conflicts.
Decades of consistency: development subsidiary by subsidiary, country by country. No showmanship — a methodical construction over 25 years.
The standards of the trade: he built his legitimacy on technical mastery of insurance and finance, nurtured by 46 years of practising the sector.
Self-confidence must be underpinned by solid competencies and rigorous preparation. Transparency prevents conflicts before they arise.
"African excellence is not a utopia — it is a palpable reality."
The great interviews
The grand portrait of the builder: 27 years of leadership recounted by his peers and partners. Continental media consecration.
Watch on YouTube →He lays out his vision of African insurance, micro-insurance and the continent's future — without dodging the hard questions.
Watch on YouTube →His speech in Accra before the African Organisation for Insurance — a career's worth of recognition from his peers across the continent.
Watch on YouTube →