And remember, he did not exactly eat with golden spoons when a child. A genius? A visionary? A never-say-die man! Well, you may have guessed it right. It's a combination of all of this. Mohammed Thaha is not an ordinary entrepreneur.
Owner of Sun Insurance Brokers, an award winning international insurance enterprise spread across several countries, Thaha is also the Chairman & Managing Trustee of P.A Aziz College of Engineering & institutionTechnology, an advanced technology institution with state-of-the-art facilities in Trivandrum, Kerala, India's most literate state; and dreams of spreading his service in myriad forms to the humanity, flying on the wings of imagination.
Apart from their profile as insurance and re-insurance brokers, the Sun Group of Companies has also embarked into diverse fields of financial and healthcare services: SUNRE Insurance for reinsurance intermediation, Avita Healthcare & Global Assistance FZC LLC. (a Dubai Healthcare City Company) and PM Care Commercial Brokers and the activities span from medical third party administration, clinical accreditation, training, medical support services and claim administration on behalf of insurance companies.
Sun Group is also involved in the travel and tourism industry. In this industry, the Company’s focus will be on tour packages, specially developed for both outbound tours and inbound tours. The Company’s goal is to set up travel offices in all major destinations around the world.
Thaha has made forays into other diverse business fields too, namely, Al Wahda General Trading Company for general trading, iSun Technologies for software development, and Sun Consultants FZC for international acquisitions. It's a truly diverse portfolio that Thaha's enterprise has.
Early phase–Sweating it out the hard way
After graduation in commerce from the University of Kerala, Thaha stepped out of Kerala and came to the UAE in the year 1979, with the dream of making it big one day. But it was not easy. He started his career as an underwriting assistant with the British insurance company 'Trafalgar Insurance'. As it turned out, it was an experience that would prove invaluable to him in the years to come.
The job not only provided him stability, but also introduced him to the fundamentals of insurance business, which is centred on taking risk on behalf of customers. Playing with risk is what entrepreneurship is all about; so the insurance career helped Thaha learn the ropes and lay solid foundation for a robust future.
One and a half decades of dedicated service to insurance profession and his earnestness and competence helped him to evolve into a professional underwriter. Also, his earnings at this stage were sufficient not only to keep the pot boiling but also to keep the savings bag reasonably filled.
But deep down the heart, the entrepreneur within was lurking to leap out, to the challenging world of risk and rewards. It was after two decades of hard-earned experience, that Thaha decided to launch his insurance broking firm, with the staunch support of his better half. This was a bold step made by an ordinary man into what would turn out to be an extra ordinary journey of trysts and triumphs.
The initial challenge – Setting up an International Insurance Broking Firm
The company was formed -in 1994- as an Insurance Consultancy firm, and was later converted into a 'Broker Establishment' in 1996. The challenges were to gain acceptance from the insurance companies, establish credibility amongst the clients, and offer a rewarding career to the employees working for him.
The task was tough, the challenge, to lead, motivate and face complex operational issues that could be very cumbersome. Thaha opted for cost reductions at this stage with an eye on gaining experienced staff that could be daunting for the ordinary men. Thaha was however made of sterner stuff. He focussed on providing quality service to valued customers, professional handling of risks, including cost effective solutions for risk transfer by way of well designed insurance products. "Our core strength is to conduct business in an open and transparent manner whether for insurance companies, clients or our staff members," Thaha points out.
Relationships with clients, both corporate and personal, were focused on a personal touch, without compromising on quality service. This customer centred approach meant providing the clients with the best solutions and timely support.
Crossing the Boundaries
In the year 2002, Thaha decided to take the company to greater heights and decided to build a team of professionals. He also did a re-branding of the company, and thereby, enhanced relationship with insurance companies and customers.
New marketing techniques were unleashed and the focus was to extend unhindered support to customers. New staff members were provided adequate training while laying stress on empowerment, which was visualized as a key to career development. Staff members were encouraged to take decisions that were compatible and consistent with the values of the organization.
With the growth of the organization, crucial changes were incorporated to boost efficiency and push cost-effectiveness. The increased market share of the company provided the perfect impetus, making the company one of the premier broking institutions in the region, with vibrant and innovative solutions for insurance.
Ambitions of Thaha however could not be contained by obtaining a leading position within the UAE market, the Sun was not to be confined to one territory. Thus he took on the next challenge: taking the company on to the international market. Presently, offices have been opened in Colombo, Sri Lanka and India. Then, there are plans to open offices in all Gulf countries, Africa (in particular in Sudan, Kenya and Zambia), the UK, and Russia. Representative offices are also mulled in Mauritius, Seychelles and Madagascar.
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