Specialty MGA Africa & Middle East, part of the MNK Group and affiliated with Specialty MGA UK, has appointed two new senior underwriters as it builds out its Casablanca-based team to support operations across the Africa and Middle East regions.
Laila El Bahtouri joins the firm as treaty senior underwriter. With nearly two decades of experience, she is a fellow of the French Institute of Actuaries and has spent 14 years in the reinsurance sector. El Bahtouri previously held senior roles at Société Centrale de Réassurance (SCR), where she led domestic and African property and casualty (P&C) treaties, and at SCOR in Paris, where she served in several pricing and underwriting positions, including a focus on Middle Eastern markets.
In her new role, El Bahtouri will focus on managing treaty portfolios and aligning reinsurance solutions with client requirements in the P&C segment.
She said that insurance markets across Africa are increasingly open to firms offering new approaches, and said the company’s operational model enables it to respond quickly to client needs.
“The team is building an agile MGA that can respond rapidly to clients’ needs, and I’m excited to help them create new products and grow market share,” said El Bahtouri.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Bader Bouanani, appointed as senior underwriter for specialty lines, will oversee underwriting in specialty sectors and support regional market engagement.
He holds an MBA from Texas Tech University and brings more than 15 years of reinsurance experience. Bouanani most recently served as head of specialty lines at SCR and has held multiple leadership roles in underwriting throughout his career.
Bouanani said the company is building a team that can address coverage gaps in emerging insurance markets and that Africa and the Middle East continue to present opportunities due to their evolving insurance demands.
“As markets, Africa and the Middle East are increasingly dynamic and fast growing, meaning that there is plenty of opportunity for those that can transcend traditional boundaries," he said.
Specialty MGA Africa & Middle East was launched in September 2024 under the leadership of CEO Youssef Fassi Fihri.
Headquartered in London, the company serves as a link between local insurers in Africa and the Middle East and the London Market, providing region-specific underwriting services.
Fihri said the two new appointments will support the MGA’s operational capacity in Casablanca and bring experience from both local and regional insurance environments.
MNK Group chairman Manoj Kumar described the group as a network of businesses that integrates international scale with local market knowledge.
"MNK Group’s strength is that we are a diverse set of businesses that combine both international reach and regional expertise," said Kumar.
What are your views on the evolving talent strategies in emerging insurance markets? Are MGAs like this one positioned to meet new demands? Share your insights in the comments.
