Ashraf Bseisu, Group Chief Executive, Solidarity Group Holding

Solidarity Group was set up back in 2003-2004 as an Islamic insurance company in Bahrain. Initially, it transacted business under a single name, Solidarity Company. In line with the Islamic finance and insurance trend of the 2000s, it expanded into markets including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia, and Egypt.

In 2008, following the financial crisis, the board took a step back because the group was expanding entirely under one umbrella, which created issues with capital allocation and accountability, since one company was involved in all these entities. So in 2008, post-crisis, the decision was made to restructure the group. We set up a holding company, now Solidarity Group, as the parent company, and each entity was established as a separately capitalized, regulated subsidiary. That model was much better for capital efficiency, allocation, and accountability, compared to before, when everything was jumbled together. That restructuring took place around 2009-2010.

At that time, we had companies including Solidarity General Takaful, Solidarity Family Takaful, our joint venture in Kuala Lumpur, a company in Egypt, and companies in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. So we had the group, and under it, all these companies.

In 2012, as part of our strategic direction, we decided to move into inorganic growth. Actually, let me step back: as part of our revised strategy, in 2009-2010 we began working on a three-year rolling strategy. Our first strategy meeting was actually in Kuala Lumpur in 2009, and we’ve operated on a three-year rolling strategy cycle ever since, renewed each cycle. This year is actually our new three-year strategy cycle, which we’ll be presenting to the board by year-end.

The decision was that, as an insurance operator, for investments where we did not hold the majority or control, we should either take a majority stake and run the company, or exit. So from 2012 onward, we exited some investments. For example, we had a 16% stake in a company in Oman; we tried to acquire more, but the other shareholders declined, so they acquired us instead. We exited a number of investments, including, in 2015, our joint venture with a Malaysian group in which we held 25%. Zurich Group acquired our stake in that Malaysian company in 2015, at a very attractive multiple, almost five times, because Zurich International wanted to enter the Takaful market at that time.

Our first inorganic expansion came in 2016, when our Jordanian subsidiary acquired a company called Yarmouk Insurance Company. The reasoning was multifold: that company held a life license and had a strong book of business, and it was grandfathered in, meaning it predated Jordan’s new insurance law, which required separate companies for general and life insurance. Because Yarmouk was established before the law took effect, it could hold both licenses, so we acquired it for that reason as well as the life license itself. That was our first acquisition.

In 2017-2018, we completed our first M&A in Bahrain, acquiring Al Ahlia Insurance Company, one of the older companies in Bahrain, which we merged in through a public offering.

In 2019-2020, we acquired a company called T’azur Insurance, a Takaful company in Bahrain.

In 2020-2021, our Saudi operation, Solidarity Saudi, was merged with another company under pressure from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority regulator. This was during COVID, when SAMA (now the central bank) wanted to consolidate the market and approached a number of companies to merge. We merged with a company called Al Jazira Takaful, predominantly owned by Al Jazira Bank; that merger took place in 2021.

In 2023, we acquired Al Hilal Life and Al Hilal Takaful from Ahli United Bank Bahrain. Kuwait Finance House had acquired AUB, and as part of that deal, KFH did not want AUB’s two insurance subsidiaries, even though they had good books of business. So we acquired those two companies from the bank, and agreed to a business continuity arrangement so the bank’s related business would continue for a specified period.

In 2024-2025, we completed our largest transaction to date: the acquisition of Bahrain National Insurance and Bahrain National Life. Unlike previous transactions, which involved smaller companies, this company was almost our size. The deal structure was also more complex, since it was the first time we needed to use leverage and raise financing; previous acquisitions had been internally financed. We raised Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital, among other things, to complete it.

I’m happy to say that this year, between April and June, we completed the full merger and integration process, and we are now one company. Before this transaction, we were already the number one player by market share in Bahrain, but this deal was a quantum leap: we’re now at around 35% of the market, with our next closest competitors at roughly 17-19%. We’ve also crossed the 100 million BD mark in premium generation.

At the same time, in October 2024, we acquired a 29% stake in a Dubai-listed company on the DFM, Alliance Insurance. We’re now in the process of increasing that stake, and we hope to reach 49% by the end of this year, the maximum allowable percentage for non-Emirati shareholders in a listed UAE company. That would let us consolidate the company and operate it with much greater influence and control, which is our model: we’re an insurance holding group, not a financial group, so we operate the companies we invest in rather than holding smaller shares purely as financial investments.

Since 2012, the group, and Bahrain specifically, has grown roughly 12x in revenue and net profit. Back in 2011-2012, we barely crossed $1 million in net profit; last year, Bahrain alone came close to $25 million in net profit.

In 2018, we adopted a strategy built around disruption, innovation, and differentiation, and embarked on an ambitious digital transformation program, completely overhauling our core systems. We recognized that IT and digital transformation would be key drivers going forward, so when COVID hit in 2020, we were ready. We were the only company in the region offering video insurance, allowing customers to transact entirely through video. Since then, digital transformation has evolved from a strategic imperative into an operational pillar; it’s part of our DNA now. We’ve been named best digital insurer in Bahrain a couple of times.

Now we’re working to build on that through AI. We already have AI tools in place, and some of our products, like motor insurance, are fully digital, supported by AI-powered vehicle inspection technology, with more planned. We’ve also significantly expanded our online insurance portal, allowing customers to conveniently purchase a wide range of products quickly and securely. We also have a strong bancassurance model with our parent company, Al Salam Bank. We plan to roll these capabilities out across our other operations, including Jordan and the UAE, and future markets, since we’ve developed strong in-house AI competency and expertise that we can leverage.

As I explained, there’s the group and there are the underlying operating companies. As a group, we’re relatively small and lean; we’re an insurance and investment management company. We manage strategic investments, which are our subsidiaries, as well as financial investments in equities, fixed income, and so on. We channel expertise across the group in areas like risk management, internal audit, financial reporting, and actuarial functions.

We’re not an operating company ourselves as a holding company; we provide ownership, oversight, and support to our underlying entities and subsidiaries. Our aim is to build a franchise over time, with consistent standards and procedures across the group and its subsidiaries, so the name becomes more of a regional brand rather than just a local one, at least for now. We’re currently undertaking a rebranding exercise for Bahrain as part of the broader merger integration process, which will likely be rolled out to the group once the Bahrain rebrand is complete.

As I mentioned, we’ve completed over 10 successful M&As through this inorganic expansion, going back to around 2012; that count includes the sale of some entities, like MAA, alongside acquisitions.

This has taken us on a very different trajectory. We recognized that in certain markets, due to market dynamics, competition, and market size, organic growth can only take you so far, and to make a real leap forward, it has to come through inorganic expansion. It’s taken us in bounds and leaps: when we set up our company in Jordan back in 2008, it was ranked 20th in the market; today it’s ranked second. Similarly, Solidarity Bahrain was a relatively small operator back in 2000-2010, maybe fifth or seventh in the market, and now we’re number one, by a wide margin.

This has repositioned us significantly in terms of market status, growth, balance sheet size, profitability, and shareholder value. As I mentioned, we’ve grown roughly 12x since starting this exercise, so it’s played out very positively. We’ve been fortunate, but it’s also been a very deliberate and methodical process, because we’ve built a strong internal M&A capability. Not all M&As go well, and over time we’ve developed what I’d call a unique competency in this area; I don’t see other insurance groups, at least, that have developed the same level of internal capability and expertise.

This inorganic expansion has taken us from one market position to a completely different one. We’re now leaders in our markets, in technology, product offering, and customer journey and service. Solidarity today is not the Solidarity of 10 years ago, and in another 10 years it will look very different again, hopefully much bigger, since we have ambitious plans.

That’s a good question. M&A opportunities are quite rare. First, we focus on the markets we already operate in, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, because in those markets we understand the regulatory regime and the market dynamics well. Rather than entering a new market, we’ve focused initially on markets we know, and that’s proven to be a successful model.

In terms of what we look for in a target company: synergy with our existing business and book of business, the company’s ability to integrate with us, its overall profile, and its track record. Most importantly, we don’t look at the target as it stands today; we look at the potential of the combined entity once merged with us. The goal is that one plus one shouldn’t equal two, it should equal three, four, or five, and that’s really the key differentiator: the ability to integrate, add value, bring two cultures together, and create a new entity that drives higher growth and profitability.

These targets aren’t always readily available, so at times we’ve sourced deals by approaching companies that hadn’t necessarily considered a merger or acquisition, and after presenting the opportunity in the right context, they’ve changed their minds.

Again, it starts with the market. We study the market as it stands and its future potential. We always look forward rather than at the present, because you shouldn’t build strategy around today’s conditions but around what could happen in the future. We look at market dynamics, changing patterns, and the regulatory outlook, and from there determine how much organic growth is realistically achievable in a given country.

We’re driven by strong KPIs: growth, return on equity, return on investment. So even if a company is performing reasonably well, or better than the market, we may still have growth and return targets that organic growth alone can’t reach. That’s where the inorganic play comes in, particularly in smaller, fragmented markets where organic growth has a ceiling, and the leap to the next level has to come through inorganic expansion.

Expansion is a key pillar for us. Our primary focus remains our current markets, but in Bahrain, for example, we’ve reached a point where we expect future growth to be mostly organic; we’ve completed four M&As there, and I don’t think there’s much more room. In other markets, there’s still opportunity.

Geographically, we look closely at regional markets. We see significant opportunity in markets like the UAE, and we already have a branch in Kuwait, for example. We favor markets where dynamics can evolve into a win-win proposition over time. We’re opportunistic, but we stay focused on the region, since we understand it well; it’s effectively our backyard. We’re not here to compete with the major global players; we have a niche, and we believe we can grow that niche in markets with the right landscape.

I think what differentiates us is a very disciplined, scientific approach to setting strategy, which we’ve refined over time. Our agility is part of that; over the last four to five years, part of our strategy has been building an agile work environment for our staff, and I’d say our people are definitely a key differentiator.

Even our department here, across the group, isn’t called Human Resources; it’s Human Capital. We believe our people are our most important asset and investment, and we identified that years ago. We invest in our people and try to provide the best possible environment, because at the end of the day, it’s our people who do the work; we can provide the tools, but it’s our people who make it happen. That focus is also reflected in our workforce: our Bahrainization rate is 93%, and women represent 37% of our total workforce, with 33% of them holding leadership positions.

I also think we differentiate ourselves through innovation; we look to differentiate and to disrupt, and we’ve maintained that focus over time. We don’t simply compare ourselves to peers in the market; we try to excel and push the group to the next level. That’s what drives us: ambition, our people, our strategy, and our ability to differentiate.

Market dynamics are a key challenge: how geopolitical and economic conditions evolve. Consumer behavior is also extremely important, since insurance is a retail-focused business. The regulatory regime is another factor, since regulations are always changing. And I think the broader operating model matters too. You’ve seen this play out in banking already, where traditional banks no longer operate the way they used to, and I expect insurance will follow a similar path over the coming years, driven by technology and AI.

The generational gap is another challenge. Gen Z and Gen Alpha have very different customer experience expectations and knowledge profiles, and they don’t transact the way earlier generations did. You have to cater to that shift, whether you like it or not, because it’s happening.

It’s a real challenge, and it’s multifaceted: market, consumer base, regulation, and the economy all interact. We try to stay ahead of the curve, understand what’s coming in each of the countries we operate in, and build economic factors into our strategy, growth, diversification, and so on. We build business plans with multiple scenarios so we’re better prepared, and we rely on organizational agility, since unexpected events do happen, as we saw earlier this year. You put things in place to mitigate, because not everything goes according to plan.

First, you need to build a strong foundation of leadership, and I say leadership, not management, because a leader is not the same as a manager. That’s a real differentiator: a leader can manage their team, mentor them, and take a function to the next level.

Second is the quality of our people; again, our human element is central. It’s about giving people the tools and environment to work and produce effectively, and letting them excel rather than boxing them into narrow roles. We’ve tried to do that, and we have strong examples of people who started in one role and worked their way up because we gave them that opportunity, the idea that the sky’s the limit. A relatively small share of people tends to drive the majority of results, and it’s important to identify and support them so they can grow.

A solid strategy is also key to building an organization, but ultimately it comes down to leadership, people, and a genuine culture of continuous innovation, because you can never stop. Especially now, change is exponential: where we were two or three years ago versus today, particularly around AI, is a massive shift, and that’s happened in a very short period of time. So you have to keep pushing to keep up with the curve; that’s part of running a successful business.