NICO Group launches One NICO Lived Experience

* A company-wide cultural transformation initiative designed to unify its subsidiaries under a single identity, shared values and consistent standards of service across all its companies and customer touch points

* Today, we realise that although we are many, we are One Group; One Standard; One Lived Experience—Group Managing Director Vizenge Kumwenda

By Duncan Mlanjira

NICO Group has launched a company-wide cultural transformation initiative, dubbed the One NICO Lived Experience, which is designed to unify its subsidiaries under a single identity, shared values and consistent standards of service across all its companies and customer touch points.

The initiative was simultaneously unveiled at townhall meetings held in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu, with all staff across the Group attending, led by Group Managing Director Vizenge Kumwenda.

The employees were drawn across all NICO Group subsidiaries, which includes NBS Bank, NICO General, NICO Life, NICO Pension, NICO Asset Managers, NICO Technologies, NICO Capital, NICO Holdings, ERIS and ICON Properties, Blantyre Hotels and across the borders, NICO Zambia.

The staff received the initiative with great enthusiasm with Group Managing Director Vizenge Kumwenda, saying the launch marked a turning point for the organisation: “Today, we realise that although we are many, we are One Group; One Standard; One Lived Experience.

“Wherever someone encounters this Group, they will experience the same spirit, the same professionalism, the same integrity and the same commitment to excellence,” said Kumwenda, who also stressed that the initiative was not simply a corporate slogan.

“One NICO is not just a slogan — it is a commitment. We want our customers to have a great experience of the One NICO,” Kumwenda said, adding that values must be experienced in how people treat each other, how leaders behave, how customers are served and how decisions are made.

On his part, Group Chief Operating Officer, Kwanele Ngwenya said the initiative marked the end of siloed operations within the Group: “That era ends today. The One NICO Lived Experience is the story of a Group that has decided to stop acting like a crowd and start moving as a single, powerful ecosystem,” Ngwenya emphasised.

A dedicated logo and the hashtag #ThePowerOfUs have been created to represent the initiative across all subsidiaries and NICO Life’s Chief Executive Officer, Wise Chigudu said every employee has a personal responsibility to drive the initiative forward.

“It begins with me — it begins now,” Chigudu said, adding that the Group would hold a One NICO Lived Experience Awards, where top contributors to the initiative would be recognised and rewarded.

Engaging several NICO employees, they echoed the power of One NICO, and their readiness to drive the agenda of the NICO Group — one of Malawi’s largest financial services conglomerate, with interests in insurance, banking, pensions, asset management, technology, property and hospitality.