Arun Acharya of Citizen Life pursuing teaching and insurance consulting profession simultaneously

Either fate or God knows what turn a person’s life takes at some point this is what happened in the life of Arun Acharya, Senior Agency Manager of Citizen Life. After coming to Kathmandu from Ramechhap, I had many dreams, while studying science, I was thinking about what I would become. However, time led him to the life insurance profession and now he has become a skilled insurance consultant is serving the people from door to door.

Arun Acharya, who was born in Sunarpani of Ramechhap district is just turning 28 years old. Acharya, who has passed his master’s degree in chemistry from Tribhuvan University Central Campus with a science subject, spends his mornings in college teaching and insurance consulting throughout the day.

Apart from his teaching profession, Acharya, who has been engaged in insurance services since 2075, has become an insurance agent and is working for the insured by reaching the homes of poor people. Presented here is an edited part of the conversation between the same skilled insurance consultant and senior agency manager of Citizen Life, Arun Acharya, by insurance postman Rina Khatri:

Where did you get the inspiration to become an insurance agent ?

When I was studying Master, there was a sir called Bhesharaj Bhattarai. He is more than my college benchmate. And after he got a proposal from the senior agency manager of Citizen Life that he should become an insurance agent, he joined the company. After that, as his campaign he proposed that even those of us who have master’s degree, acting profession is also a career. And by accepting that myself, I am involved in it. I am a person who thinks that a person who studied science should become a scientist.

At that time, he felt that it was better to dabble in the market than to become a broker. But after he repeatedly made proposals and participated in the company’s occasional trainings he learned a lot.I entered this profession after realizing that insurance agent profession is a very good profession and it can have a lot of positive impact on the society. Even today there is a trend of not looking favorably on the market. But I am very happy to see that insurance agent is a very beautiful profession to protect people’s lives.

What is the difference between the teaching profession and the acting profession ?

Teaching profession is a very service profession. The teacher plays the role of a mediator for the student to move up from the bottom. Even in the teaching profession. I have been working as an agent in one way or another. While I was teaching the students there the students were earning something and I was also improving myself financially because of that. That also feels like an agent’s profession. Because someone wrote the book. The people who study are also different, giving jobs to full-time students is also different.

I only presented what I wrote in the book to the students. Meaning it is also an agent. Because the company and agent also belong to someone else. There are also others who buy insurance. The insured is also different. I am such a facilitator. While explaining the rules of the company and explaining how your risk flows, I am also getting something from here. That is also the reason why I think this is the same profession.

When you, who is studying science, quit working in the science-related field and joined the profession of an actor, did you feel some pressure from your family or not?

I myself felt bad when I joined this profession in the beginning. When I realized that this is a broker’s profession, I also felt nervous. I understood the term agent as broker. When he joined it, everything made sense. Chemistry will become a scientist, will become a pimp, the family members directly boycotted this proposal and said that a person who studied science also becomes a pimp.

As I started working on it and explained its good side to everyone at home and my father saw my feedback then A..! Really hokey what! Actor profession is really a good profession! said Although it was difficult in the beginning, after 5-6 months it became very easy for me to work on it. What I have come to understand is that while working in any field. More than the work itself, the attitude we hold towards that work has a great impact. Now everyone in the family is saying good things.

When you joined the actor, did you think that this profession is long-term or short ?

You take it as the eighth wonder of the world. You must have heard the seventh wonder. Remember that in insurance. Someone is the insured, someone is the company. Someone is the country and someone is the agent.When the agent tells the insured to insure, there is no loss to the insured. No loss to the company, and no loss to the nation and the agent who does it also goes to profit.

A person who has insurance protects him from poverty if something happens to him. And because of this, we all reach a win-win situation. If you want to analyze it. it is a very good profession. There is a problem in Nepali society, there is a problem in thinking. Why did my father get insurance and before? : My grandfather got insurance and before? Remember, 20 years ago, parents were afraid to go to the bank and deposit money.

Everyone had lost faith in the bank. Because the knowledge of the bank had not reached the village. Remember this is more insurance. It’s childhood. A total of 35 years of history. Insurance started in the private sector in Nepal. 35 years in history when my house was not insured. I understood that there is no knowledge of insurance here because there is no lesson related to insurance in any course. That is why we have a problem. But now the society has changed.

You have understood the things that should be insured in the village. Here is an example: When I was going to a village in Ramechhap a little while ago, there was a father who was grazing goats on the bank of the Kheri river.

While chatting with him I asked dad do you understand insurance ?

He said what kind of insurance but when I was talking later I saw that his goat had an insurance tag attached to its ear. After insuring my father, I knew that if something happened to my goat or buffalo, the insurance company would bear the loss, but I did not know that the company would bear the loss if I insured myself in this way. It means that if you don’t know about life insurance, you know that the insurance will incur losses.

Is the general public’s interest in insurance really increasing or is it only limited to statistics ? What do you think ?

Finally, I heard in the news that the number of people taking life insurance had reached 25 percent. After that, if we add the outside also, we can add 2 percent and say 27 percent. If other non-life insurances are added, more than 40 percent have been insured. Now, when someone is insured in the society, if something happens to him, the society is watching that his family gets the claim payment. When someone gets a major illness the society is looking at how insurance helps to treat it. In addition, the society has also seen that insurance companies have given various facilities and discounts. It was very rare to see such an example yesterday. Even people who do not have insurance in Nepal understand that insurance is indispensable after going abroad.

Now it can be seen that a lot of claims have been received, it also raises insurance awareness. And people are attracted towards insurance. The government has also set a target of connecting 50 percent of citizens to insurance within the next five years.

What kind of policies are more interested in the insured ?It makes a difference what kind of agent the insured collides with while insuring it. Every person’s desire is affected by it. The age of the person we are talking to can also make a difference. But on an average, it seems that people are looking for a cheap and more coverage type of insurance that can get a little more money in the middle of the investment type.

When filling the insurance policy without explaining everything to the insured, It is heard that when the agent fills all the policies himself it has created some tension between the insured and the company. What is your opinion on this ?The agent must be held guilty of this. We are the Facilitator mentioned in Section 72 of the Nepal Gazette. Which should bring all things in the company to the insured. Everything should be clearly stated. It should be explained that such a disease should be claimed in this way.

Earlier, the actors were not so educated. But now, six teachers have also come to the agency seeing the future. It cannot be said that all the agents are right but some of them have even sold the policy by cheating, because of such agents. The insured have avoided insurance. The insured is our God. We should not cheat with the insured for our momentary interests.

How and from whom did you initially get insurance?

In the beginning, while paying the insurance, Kheri was the sister of a mawli. Started by him. Staying beam after increasing the relationship. At first we may not know everything. And there is also a difference in the style of explaining to the insured. I also started insurance due to my sister’s relationship. That was the beginning. That also made me very comfortable.

Approximately how many policies did you sell during these five years ? And how many claims ?It should be remembered that it is a game of luck that till date no insured that I have insured has had to take a claim. But we are eager and ready to claim. If something happens to the insured. We are ready to file the claim immediately. But what I wish to God is that nothing ever happens to my insured.

Now, the authority has introduced the rule that an exam should be taken to become an agent, how do you see it ?Like yesterday, the license does not come to the house anymore. I get the insurance, give me a license, now the license does not come. From what I understand, this is okay. Because to pass the exam the agent must have studied insurance and taken training. This is a very good topic. After getting the insurance, the agent should stay in touch with the insured until maturity.

The examination system is very good. This means that only skilled and competent agents will come to the market in the future. It helps to break the negative perception towards insurance. What is your opinion on the fact that the agent was not included in the new act of insurance?Insurance agent is the pillar of insurance. Without a pillar. The house is not stuck. What the authority has to understand is that without an insurance agent there is no insurance policy sale in Nepal. This is a guarantee.

Therefore, when the authority makes any law, rule and regulation, if the agent is making the law in a manner that benefits only himself and the company it will bring an earthquake tomorrow. Listen to the opinion of insurance agents, don’t run away. We also have an agent association. We are ready to discuss with the authority what should be added or removed.  I have heard that now the insurance regulation has reached its final stage, after that regulation comes, there may be no other way except to protest. Therefore, make a law only after discussing with the agent, it will be good for both the country and the insurance.

If the insurance regulations designate the agent as an agent rather than a facilitator. Will it have any negative impact on the identity or not ?It will definitely have a negative impact on identity. But I am a positive thinking person. What makes a difference is what we see our profession as. In this, the general insured has paid money on a piece of paper. This is not a special profession. Its meaning should be understood.

What is the impact of the economic recession on the insurance sector ?

There is an economic crisis in Nepal. We all suffer from this. The state is also suffering. First, after giving a little reminder to the insured, they were ready to provide insurance. But when the economic recession has not reached enough to even bring food. They should not easily accept that we should save for insurance. But the benefit of this is that the insured gets to understand a lot.  But the economic recession has a great impact on every sector including insurance in Nepal.

How will it affect the insurance as the migration is increasing due to the lack of employment in the country ?The problem of exodus in Nepal cannot be denied. This will lead to a shortage of skilled agents in the insurance sector by pushing the skilled manpower in Nepal abroad. Some have even left the profession of actors and fled. But it should not panic. If it is to be continued, if there is a problem today, change will be seen tomorrow.

What do you think would be easier for the agent to be done by regulatory bodies and companies?I see that if companies and authorities can develop a sense among common people that insurance is indispensable for everyone and that it is not a savings bank but a personal risk-bearing activity, it will be much easier for the agents.

 Agent is a part time profession. There is a kind of opinion that it is not enough. What do you call it ?

I look at everything from the ‘Three C’s’. It means choice, chance and change. It is your responsibility to choose each field. There are many chances in every field. It depends on how you can change it. How will I change if I walk like yesterday ? You should think that. So you don’t have to run away to find a career, you have to make it yourself.

What should be the relationship between the insured and the agent ?

It must be the meat-and-nails relationship we’ve been hearing about for a long time. It is difficult for an agent to survive without insurance. Without an agent, it is very difficult to facilitate if something happens to the insured.

An agent is a religion in which there is an assumption that when the insured can be helped. If something happens to us insured, we are eager to help. We are very generous with this. Even if the insured had understood this, it would have been much easier for us.

An agent is a religion in which there is an assumption that when the insured can be helped. If something happens to us insured we are eager to help. We are very generous with this. Even if the insured had understood this, it would have been much easier for us.