Richard LOWE is one of the founding figures of the African insurance industry. A graduate of ESSEC Paris (Class of 1980), he led the Cameroonian operations of a major French insurance group for 17 years before turning to entrepreneurship. In 1998, convinced that Africa deserved world-class insurance institutions built on its own soil, he founded ACTIVA Group in Douala, Cameroon.

What began as a single operation is today one of the most significant insurance groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, operating through 10 insurance companies across seven countries, alongside a reinsurance company, a technology subsidiary, a financial holding, and a European office in Paris. IFC (World Bank Group) and PROPARCO (Agence Française de Développement) count among its strategic shareholders.

His ambition has always reached beyond his own Group. In 2007, he founded GLOBUS, the first pan-African insurance intermediation network, present in 49 countries. He also served as President of FANAF from 1996 to 2002. His work has earned him CEO of the Year (OAA, 2018) and Insurer of the Year (Financial Afrik, 2021).

Richard LOWE’s legacy is architectural: nearly three decades spent building the institutions, networks, and partnerships that underpin African insurance today.