On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Emmanuel Djengue, a dynamic professional whose passion for technology and user-focused innovation has shaped his remarkable career path. From leading tech initiatives to connecting diverse people and ideas, Emmanuel exemplifies the very spirit of relentless curiosity and strategic thinking that we celebrate on this show.

We’ll be delving into his personal journey, uncovering how he transforms ambition into concrete impact, and discussing the role collaboration and how talent can play a crucial role in fostering exponential growth as the world goes through a workforce transformation requiring reskilling and upskilling, while finding the talent for the right role across markets.

KEY TAKEAWAYS         

• Insurance is a product that no one wakes up in the morning wanting to buy, but it’s super essential to society and people, especially life insurance. We need to be able to help people understand the importance of insurance as well as ensuring that everything we offer to the customer has to be simple, attractive and on the right timing.
• Health insurance is also very important, how do we help people with this? I’ve studied how people think to figure out how to motivate them to do things. If you bring this element into the innovation of the industry, we’d be able to improve the way people interact with insurance as well as the way they care about insurance and take care of themselves.
• There are 3 types of InsurTech players: Integrators – the ones that identify and have solutions and want to integrate them into what an insurance company is doing. Disruptors – They want to change everything that doesn’t work well so that it does, these need financial capability to do that, so there are not a lot of startups that can be disruptors. Collaborators – who want to touch base with insurers to try to improve what’s going on
• The difference between a great and a bad insurer is not so much in the product, efficiency, etc. It’s on the people making the company great. If I need to do more innovation, change things, and bring something different, why not help people to solve this issue? The number on business problem for anyone is unsuccessful hiring.

BEST MOMENTS

‘South Africa has one of the most innovative markets in life and health insurance, there are a lot of startups doing great things there.’
‘Too many startups turn up to the market to play disruptor roles, but only 1 or 2 players can do this and win.’
‘In insurance David is not going to win against Goliath.’
‘Both sides need to need the partnership and want the partnership to happen.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

From the moment he first tinkered with a computer at a young age, Emmanuel Djengue has been captivated by the power of creativity and innovation to transform lives. His journey—marked by curiosity, resilience, and collaboration—has taken him from passion projects in his hometown to spearheading tech initiatives on a global stage.

Along the way, Emmanuel developed a talent for weaving user-focused storytelling into every project, bridging technology and humanity in impactful ways. Fueled by an enduring love of problem-solving, he thrives on connecting diverse people and ideas to craft solutions that don’t just work, but inspire.

Whether rallying a team around a new software concept or mentoring future innovators, Emmanuel’s drive to make a positive impact is as unyielding as his imaginative spirit, promising that every new chapter of his story will be just as vibrant and compelling as the last.

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ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers, accelerated over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.

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