Inside a 50-Year-Old Insurance co running Like a Startup: Conversation with CEO, Ahmed Nasef

FS Brew is the first podcast dedicated to insurance and insurtech in the UAE and the wider Middle East. In this episode, hosts Renjit Philip and Vidya sit down with Ahmed Nasef, CEO of Fidelity United Insurance, to unpack how one of the region's oldest insurance licenses is being rebuilt for a digital, data-driven market.About the guestAhmed Nasef became CEO of Fidelity United Insurance in June 2024, bringing over 20 years of MENA insurance experience. He holds an MBA from Warwick University and is a Chartered Insurance Institute Associate. His prior roles include Group Chief Commercial Lines and Reinsurance Officer at Liva Group, Deputy CEO at RSA Middle East, CEO at AXA Egypt, and senior positions at ACE Group, now Chubb.What this episode coversRunning a 50-year-old insurance license (Fidelity United traces back to 1976 as United Insurance, rebranded in 2018) inside a young, digital-first brandThe AED 107 million capital injection secured in August 2025 and where the return has shown up most: retail, commercial, or infrastructureTwo very different retail bets: the MyBuddy pet insurance brand and a new partnership with Shory and EVS to underwrite Chinese EVs, including BYD, Zeekr, and CheryThe May 2026 partnership with SlashData on the Mulem platform, and what real-time pooled vehicle, driver, and accident data has changed in motor underwritingEighteen months into the Central Bank's Insurance Brokers' Regulation: whether the broker market has actually consolidatedOpen finance in insurance, and whether it exposes insurers to disintermediation or hands them a new distribution channelGCC consolidation trends, including Solidarity Bahrain's acquisition of Bahrain National Insurance and MedGulf's acquisition of Buruj, and where Fidelity United wants to sit if the UAE market consolidates furtherThe lasting impact of the April 2024 floods on property and catastrophe pricing, and the rise of parametric insuranceHow geopolitical risk, including pulled war-risk cover in Gulf shipping and reinsurer scrutiny on terrorism accumulation, is shaping the businessBuilding innovation in-house versus partnering with insurtechsA rapid-fire round covering leadership style, career lessons, and the most exciting tech innovation in insurance todayAbout FS BrewHosted by Renjit Philip, Managing Partner at a boutique consulting firm working on M&A, fundraising, and go-to-market support for startups and tech companies, and Vidya, Founder of FWD, a startup building go-to-market digital propositions for insurance companies.Subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping insurance and insurtech across the Middle East.Renjit Philip:work: https://www.futureu.coNewsletter: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.onemorethinginai.com⁠⁠⁠Socials:Twitter / X: @renjitphilipLinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/renjit-philip⁠⁠⁠Vidya Veerapandian:⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidya-veerapandian/⁠ #FSBrew #Insurtech #UAEInsurance #FidelityUnited #MiddleEastInsurance