Jane Francis
AFTER wrestling her way to the top of the Chartered Insurance Institute in the United Kingdom, Jane Francis is looking for a new challenge. The insurance expert was recently elected general manager of Marathon Insurance Brokers in Jamaica and had already begun working towards the transformation of the industry.
“As far as Jamaica is concerned, what I’m very keen on is focussing on training and development. I think there is a real skills shortage within the insurance industry and I’m really hoping to address that balance so we can get people professional chartered qualifications and also help them to develop personally,” she told All Woman.
Marathon Insurance Brokers has been around for less than a decade but has developed a reputation of being one of Jamaica’s leading insurance brokerages. Francis admits to All Woman that she is searing with anticipation about the prospects of the organisation.
After her maiden trip to Jamaica in November, Francis encountered little difficulty in convincing her project engineer husband Lee, to make the move to Jamaica with her.
“I was very excited about the company, there is an awful lot of potential here. It’s fantastic to be involved in a company that’s growing. Aside from Marathon and working in Jamaica, the island itself is a beautiful place. The people are extremely warm and friendly. I’ve had nothing but positive experiences,” she gushed.
The couple then moved from the bleaky climes of the UK to embrace the tropical island. Francis confessed that she has been enraptured by the beauty of the island.
“As far as vegetation is concerned it’s a really beautiful place. Kingston also has a lot to offer but it is quite different from going out into the countryside. “I’m really looking forward to exploring the entire island,” Francis beamed.
Francis’ engaging speech and effervescent personality are traits that make her well-suited for the people-oriented insurance industry, but she admits that she encountered several challenges on her journey to success in the UK.
“I think one of the challenges is that sometimes particularly in the industry that I’m in and particularly in the UK, sometimes it’s a little difficult being a woman. I had to work very hard to overcome that. When I was president of the Chartered Insurance Institute last year it was quite unusual for them to have a young woman in that position,” she said with her voice moving its regular mellow strains to acquiring a note of gravity.
Francis refused to allow gender discrimination to dictate her position in life. She told All Woman that women sometimes have to work twice as hard for their efforts to be recognised. This was no deterrent for her.
She drew on her experience to offer a word of advice to readers.
“Always follow your dreams and don’t let anyone put you off or hold you back. It is quite easy sometimes for women to be overlooked for posts, we do have to fight that a little harder. But I think it is really important if you really want something, you go for it.”
Francis also believes in the power of humanitarian efforts. In 2007, while employed at the Davis Group in the UK, Francis and two of her colleagues spent a month in African orphanages helping children who suffer from or have lost parents to AIDS, abandonment or abuse. She said this trip changed her perception of life in many ways.
“I think when you’re doing something like that it really makes you understand what you’re capable of and what you can achieve. I would actually say it was a life changing experience for me. It was something that I did completely independent, on my own. My husband didn’t come with me. I decided that I wanted to do this project by myself. I particularly wanted to be involved in looking after disadvantaged children,” she added.
While at the Ghanaian orphanage, Francis was directly responsible for the daily welfare of the children. “I was getting the children out of bed, helping them to get their breakfast sorted out, washing them, getting them dressed, taking the older ones to school and then taking care of them in the evening… I also spent some time teaching in the local school,” she recounted with a smile planted on her face.
The children were not the only ones to benefit from the encounter.
“I learnt a lot of things from that experience. It made me realise that I’ve had a very privileged life and not to take anything for granted. It also made me realise that the people who I met in Ghana, although they have very little materialistically, they are extremely happy people. “
She related that the trip awoke her sense of survival, “It made me realise what I was capable of and that I could live in very basic conditions and look after quite a number of children. I don’t have any children myself, so that was quite a new experience in itself.”
Francis related that her humanitarian side was primarily influenced by her mother who is a teacher and librarian in a UK prison. Her father, another lifelong influence, continues to motivate her to succeed. She told All Woman that he is still a very successful engineer and his business feats continue to inspire her.
As a child, Francis envisioned herself onstage, in the glamorous role of ballerina. Insurance was the furthest thing from her mind.
“I think insurance is one of those industries that you fall in almost by accident sometimes. When I was younger I was looking to something more glamorous, I was really into my ballet, so I thought I could be a ballerina. .. When I got older I was going to be a teacher and I had a place at university to do teaching. I took a year out and insurance intrigued me.”
Francis described her first job as one that gave her an overview of the insurance industry. She then shelved her university plans and threw her efforts into gaining the relevant insurance qualifications.
Those efforts have paid off and Francis is known throughout the UK as a competent manager. She intends to bring the skills gained in the UK to lead the transformation of Marathon Insurance Brokers.
latoyal@jamaicaobserver.com
