Bolt from the Blue Building Blue Zebra has been like a three-year sprint. But Colin Fagen’s race is far from run By John Deex
W
e believe we have a business that over the next five to 10 years can exceed half a billion dollars in premium,” Blue Zebra founder and Managing Director Colin Fagen says. He concedes that may sound arrogant, but insists it’s not. It’s more about starting a project with the target in mind, so that decisions taken in the early days reflect where you’re aiming to be. Blue Zebra began in September 2017 and was launched to the market in February 2018, led by former QBE executives Mr Fagen and Blair Nicholls, and backed by Zurich. Three years on, chief executive Nicholls has left the business, while Zurich ended its agreement to provide security in March this year, stating that the underwriting agency’s performance was “not aligned” with its expectations. But Mr Fagen is as confident as ever about achieving his ambitions, after signing a long-term deal with South African-owned insurer Youi that he says brings stability and opportunity. And he’s proud of what has been achieved so far. “The biggest thing is that we have put together a very strong and capable team of 17 staff,” he says. “At June the rolling annual premium was a touch over $100 million. We’ve built a business very quickly to have good critical mass, and we’ve built a
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market-leading and broker-friendly policy administration system. “We’re dealing with more than 350 broker firms around the country, we’ve got good relationships around the market and we’ve been able to improve our system on feedback from the brokers. “We’re very nimble and adaptable compared to organisations that are stuck with their legacy systems – that’s the culture of our organisation and the tools that we’ve built. “Anything that’s repetitive and continual – and big chunks of insurance are – we’ve been able to build systems to do that work so we can continue to develop, evolve and create critical mass and scalability.” Blue Zebra’s initial aim was to bring personal lines back to brokers. While many small business owners use a broker to arrange their business insurances, they have often become accustomed to accessing direct insurers for personal lines cover. Mr Fagen says Blue Zebra has helped change that. “In growing our business we monitor who the previous underwriters were, and a material amount of business that we’ve been able to write with brokers was previously with direct players.” Blue Zebra “believes in the advice model”, he says, which helps in getting the right cover in place and
