Lloyd's Together

Lloyd's Europe's Partnership with JA Europe

Brexit is once again making the headlines and here at Lloyd’s we have been busy working on our plans for Europe.  But it has also been business as usual, and this year we have pioneered a pan-Europe CSR initiative as part of our global CSR programme ‘Lloyd’s Together’.  We partnered with JA Europe, Europe’s largest provider of education programmes for entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy, to offer their young people the opportunity to shadow a business leader for the day.  All nine of the Lloyd’s Europe offices are taking part, giving the young people involved a chance to find out more about the world of work and providing an insight into the insurance sector.  Each Lloyd’s office decides how many young people they host and puts together a day of activities for them.

The Netherlands office hosted the five students who had won JA Europe’s Company Programme (this is JA’s flagship programme that offers 15-18 year olds the chance to run their own mini-company over an academic year).  They got them to take part in a real life business case study where they were responsible for insuring the Rotterdam ‘water taxi’.  Ralph van Helden, Lloyd’s Benelux Regional Manager, acknowledges that “the insurance sector isn’t seen as one of the preferred sectors to start working in when young people are studying.  But the sector has a lot to offer and therefore it is important for young people to learn about the industry”.  Witold Janusz, Lloyd’s Country Manager in Poland, echoes this sentiment: “There is a growing demand for insurance products in Poland.  As a developing country, our awareness regarding insurance is constantly growing. The sector in Poland needs young and motivated employees to grow.”

The students who took part welcomed the chance to find out about Lloyd’s as well as our unique history and market place. Marie-Claire in Germany was inspired by her leader: “She told us about the huge variety of tasks she manages and that every day is different and fascinating in its own way. To me, leadership means not only to have a great responsibility but a great possibility as well.” 

Nicholas, who spent the day in our Paris office, recognised the unique role that insurance and Lloyd’s can play in shaping people’s lives:  “The world of insurance is clearly underestimated because its importance appears only in sinister time.  In fact insurance may offer customers a way to not be overwhelmed by loss.  It also helps to keep the global economy in shape.”

A big thank you to Cait Cameron and Diana Filip at JA Europe for helping to bring an idea to life, and to all the Lloyd’s Europe staff, JA reps and young people involved.  We are already thinking about what we can do to build on the success of the programme in 2018.

Benno Reischel, Lloyd’s Head of Europe, who has been championing the project said: “I am delighted that this European JA project is a great success story. Giving students the opportunity to get an insight into the insurance industry and Lloyd’s helps to create awareness of the importance of insuring risk”.  

Lloyd’s Primary School in China

In 2007, devastating mudslides in the Yunnan Province of China resulted in villagers needing to be re-located and a new community established. As part of the project to get the community back on their feet, Lloyd’s funded the construction of a new primary school in the Laomeng village. The Lloyd’s Primary School officially opened in 2009 and has been supporting 280 students from Laomeng and 13 other villages in the district since.

As the school is in a very rural and mountainous region, and it can take up to three hours to walk to and from school, most of the students board during the week and go home at the weekend. Many of the children were sleeping in the spare classrooms so Lloyd’s and five managing agents - Catlin, Travelers, Starr, ACE, Navigators - contributed an additional £50,000 to build a new dormitory so that more children could go to the school.

In December 2015, Lloyd’s China won the Best Foreign Enterprise with Social Welfare Award at the 2015 Shanghai Insurance Annual Awards in the Best Institutions category. The Deputy General Manager in China, Christina Xu, accepted the award on behalf of the Lloyd’s China team at the ceremony in Shanghai. The awards, in their sixth year, were hosted by MoneyWeekly which is a prestigious finance and business media outlet in China and supported by Shanghai Insurance Association. The judging panel praised Lloyd’s dedication for building and developing the village school over the past seven years. They also recognised the employee sponsorship of the students, saying that they “set a sound example for both foreign and domestic enterprises carrying out charity work in China”.

In April 2017, our CEO Inga Beale visited the school with a delegation from the Lloyd’s China office to see how the school is working and to take lots of books for the new Lloyd’s Book Corner in the school library. There was plenty of fun and laughter during the visit and it was great to see the children so animated and interested in learning. Inga and the China team also delivered some sports equipment and joined the students in a variety of sporting activities including basketball, badminton and table tennis.

Inga Beale said of her experience “I saw upfront how important our CSR initiatives are in changing people’s lives for the better all around the world.  The look of delight and pride on the faces of the hundreds of children was truly inspiring for me and I will always cherish that day I spent with them.”

Lloyd’s Supports United Way Mumbai in India

On 5 April 2017 Lloyd’s officially started operations in India welcoming MS Amlin as the first syndicate to join the branch.  Lloyd’s India acts as a domestic reinsurance branch of Lloyd’s, providing capacity and expertise to support India’s growing economy with a particular focus on infrastructure, agriculture and disaster management. Lloyd’s CSR activity in India compliments these business areas with its support to United Way Mumbai’s Project Ankur.

In India many children under the age of 5 don’t get the nutrition, protection and stimulation they need for optimum development thus limiting their potential as they grow into adulthood and the economic and social development of the society at large.  Ankur is a Hindi word, which means seedling, and is symbolic of the need to nurture and enable children in their formative years.  Project Ankur aims to provide holistic support to children between the ages of 2 to 6 years, improving their health and early learning abilities and ensuring growth and age appropriate development.

Lloyd’s India supports Project Ankur in a Balwadi (these are public nurseries in municipal schools) in F-North Ward, Mumbai.  The funding will support more than 60 children from slum communities.  This will include: providing nutrition supplements, health check-ups and medical referrals for the children for a year; creating a child friendly space by providing equipment and refurbishment of the toilets and kitchen; capacity building for parents and setting up parent committees.

Shankar Garigiparthy, Lloyd’s India’s country manager is delighted with this partnership: “Lloyd’s India is proud to be associated with this worthy cause with United Way Mumbai and look forward to our continued engagement and support to the Anganwadi for children in Sion.”

Lloyd’s Supports Starfish in South Africa

Lloyd’s in South Africa has been working with Starfish, who support children that are orphaned or vulnerable through partnerships with community based organisations, for a number of years.  In 2017, Lloyd’s South Africa is focussing on supporting an early childhood development initiative. 

South Africa is experiencing the largest HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world with a 12.2% national HIV prevalence rate.  Approximately 29.5% of the country’s 18.6 million children are affected by HIV, with over three million left orphaned.  The socio-economic impact of the epidemic has resulted in social degeneration evident in the growing number of children left orphaned or vulnerable, fragmented extended family systems, deepening poverty, and gender inequalities.  Early childhood development is a national priority and it is recognised that investment in this improves performance in formal schooling and opportunities for employment in the long term.

Starfish has a working partnership with Thy Kingdom Care Centre since 2014.  The centre was established in 2012 with a vision of becoming one of the leading centres in South Africa providing quality child care.  The organisation currently supports 600 children by providing psychosocial support, nutritional care, material support, education, health care and vocational training.  Lloyd’s funding will allow the centre to establish an early childhood development programme at the centre and benefit immediately 60 children from 3-6 years old.  John Sibanda, the General Representative of Lloyd’s South Africa is proud to support this project: “Helping the communities where we operate is a business imperative and part of our DNA.”

Lloyd's Chicago Supports Greater Chicago Food Depository and Every Day Early Literacy Initiative Fair

In 2015 the Lloyd’s Chicago office visited the Greater Chicago Food Depository . This non-profit food distribution and training centre is striving to end hunger in Chicago. They distribute more than 46 million pounds of food daily, which averages out to 95,000 pounds meals a day. The Lloyd’s Chicago team joined forces with staff from Ascot, Brit and Beazley, to be part of a volunteer team that averaged packing 448 cans of food per volunteer. Their averages were the highest of the month.

In October the office took part in the US Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s week of giving by lending a hand at the Sesame Workshop Every Day Early Literacy Initiative Fair. They worked with children aged 3-6 from a local children’s home on reading and writing activities. The children also watched Sesame Street music videos, met with local children’s author Janet Nolan and got to meet Elmo!

Lloyd’s America works closely with the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation, an industry-sponsored not-for-profit organisation that brings the collective strength of 50+ brokers and insurers together to provide grants and volunteer services to local communities. Lloyd’s America colleagues participate as board members on the IICF chapters in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York by supporting fundraising efforts, grant development and networking events.