{"id":132314,"date":"2023-06-22T12:57:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T09:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/?p=132314"},"modified":"2023-06-22T12:58:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T09:58:14","slug":"kuwait-a-country-that-challenged-and-mesmerized-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/kuwait-a-country-that-challenged-and-mesmerized-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuwait, a country that challenged and mesmerized me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kuwait may be a small country in the desert but it is a very vibrant and lively place with an even larger heart – Devesh Kumar<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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THE TIMES KUWAIT REPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In a recent exclusive interview with The Times Kuwait, Devesh Kumar, an Indian insurance professional who is leaving the country at the end of his tenure here, spoke at length about the eight years that he lived and worked in Kuwait as Resident Manager of LIC-International \u2014 the foreign subsidiary of the Indian insurance megalith, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).<\/p>\n

Arriving in Kuwait in mid-January 2015, Mr. Kumar was surprised that, contrary to his expectations of scorching heat, the temperature outside was freezingly cold. This was the first of many preconceptions about Kuwait that would change over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cEight years ago, I landed in Kuwait with thousands of expectations and many more preconceptions about this country. Before arriving here, my conceptions about Kuwait were formed from talking to friends and acquaintances who had aired a lot of negative comments, on the weather, the people, the intolerance and discrimination in this country, so much so that I had begun to doubt my decision to move to Kuwait.<\/p>\n

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But having arrived here, every passing day washed away many of these prejudices and were replaced by diametrically opposite views. \u201cOn the work front, I realized early on that there was a lot of scope for expansion in the life insurance field, because most of the insurance companies operating in Kuwait were focused on general insurance. LIC International, and no other company had the variety of insurance options or product basket as LIC.<\/p>\n

\u201cLIC International, which is the foreign subsidiary of LIC, is registered as an insurance company in Bahrain. The company was established in 1989 to provide life insurance coverage to the Indian diaspora in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states of the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. Over the years the company received the license to provide life insurance products to residents of many nationalities in a few countries, including Kuwait.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBeing a part of LIC International was a turning point in my career, because in LIC only very few people get the opportunity to work abroad. I took my posting to Kuwait as an opportunity and a challenge to prove myself, and it would not be wrong to say that during my time here, and with limited resources, the Kuwait unit was able to increase business penetration exponentially.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier, our product range was available only to the Indian community here. But in 2016 we were allowed to expand our base among other nationalities and for the first time we were able to reach and offer our products to Kuwaitis, Americans, British, Pakistanis, and Europeans among others. During my time here, I have worked with many stalwarts in the field of insurance, and I consider myself lucky that I have learned a lot from them. I do not hesitate to say that I was able to redefine several gray myths of life insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my stay in Kuwait, I also worked on a new insurance scheme for laborers, on a no profit basis, to provide compensation insurance to the workers. I have sent it to the competent authorities for review and approval, but for some reason or other it could not be implemented so far. My hope is that someday this will be realized to the advantage of the many workers in this country.<\/p>\n\r\n