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  As an entrepreneur, you want your business to run smoothly, avoid accidents, and keep losses at a minimum. Unfortunately, there’s always a chance that something will go wrong at some point—even if you try your hardest to prevent negative incidents. It may be a worker getting seriously injured while on the job, your vehicle is wrecked in a collision, or losing your inventory to a fire. Whatever form it takes, it could cost you a lot of money to manage.
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The good news is that you can protect your business from the financial burden that incidents like the ones we just mentioned, even before they happen. A business insurance package that’s built for your unique needs will suffice. Here, we’ll have a look at the steps you can take to secure insurance for your enterprise. But first, let’s run through what business insurance is, and some types of insurance in this category that you may consider obtaining.

What is Business Insurance?

Business insurance is a financial contract that helps you cover unforeseen losses related to running a business. Such costs include accidents, natural disasters, and lawsuits. When you take out and maintain an insurance policy against these risks, you’re able to significantly reduce the impact that they could have on your business’s finances if they do eventually materialize.

Various Types of Business Insurance

Here are some examples of business insurance common in Nigeria:
  • General Liability Insurance: Protects your business against third-party harm to persons or damages to property caused by you or your employees.
  • Professional Liability Insurance: This covers costs that may arise from losses that a client alleges they have incurred due to the service you rendered.
  • Property Insurance: This shields you from the costs of damages to your property caused by fire, theft, or natural disasters.
  • Workers’ Compensation Insurance: This covers the costs of benefits you’ll have to pay out to workers who get injured or disabled as a result of their job.
  • Business Interruption Insurance: This keeps your business from folding up in the aftermath of a catastrophic event that disrupts its operations.

Steps to Getting Business Insurance in Nigeria

Here are the steps you can take to get your business insured in Nigeria:
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Evaluate Your Business Risks

The first thing you’ll want to do is make a list of risks that your business faces—that is, all the things that could go wrong and would cost you a decent amount of money to deal with. Treat this list as a collection of items you should get insurance for. If it’s comprehensive, it’ll give your business a chance to achieve total protection against unfortunate events.

Have a Look at Your Options

There are many insurance companies in Nigeria, so you have many options to choose from. Just make sure to compare what’s available across various providers. If you’re unsure of the reputation of these firms, you can always ask for the opinion of persons who are better informed about the insurance scene in Nigeria. Their input could enable you to whittle down the alternatives to a small number and pick one from amongst them that suits you the most.

Go Through the Terms of the Insurance Policy

Before taking out an insurance policy, make sure to read its terms so you understand what it entails. Look for details like the risks covered (and limits of the coverage), conditions, and exclusions. Don’t hesitate to ask the insurer to clarify items you don’t understand. And if you’re lost in all the jargon or aren’t sure what features you ought to seek out in an insurance company’s offerings, you should request the help of someone well-versed in such matters.

Have Necessary Documents in Place

You also need to keep all of your business’s important documents within easy reach. We are referring to your financial statements, contracts, or any other paperwork that could come in handy for making an insurance claim. This lets you quickly and conveniently retrieve them for use whenever the occasion calls for it.
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Re-evaluate Your Policy Regularly

As your business grows and changes, the nature and scale of the risks it faces will evolve. That’s why you need to re-evaluate your policy regularly—ideally on an annual basis. When your business expands, acquires new property, or changes location, you’ll want to go over your existing policy with your insurer to determine if and where changes are required.

Final Words

Whether you run a shop or a large-sized company, you should have it insured against the risks that it faces. With this sorted out, you’ll be far less likely to incur massive losses or even see your business fail if it’s hit by a major accident, natural disaster, or hefty lawsuit. Featured Image Source: Trish Net
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This article was first published on 13th July 2023

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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