Paul the Insurer 14: How a Tragedy Helped Reinvent an Entire Industry

Sometimes a single moment changes everything. This was the case for Claude, a French film producer, who was on vacation with his family in Sardinia when a forest fire broke out. The fire cut them off from the beach. Claude, his wife and their five daughters had to flee into the sea to survive. They lost everything they had with them.

When they finally found help hours later and Claude tried to organize medical care and the return journey to Paris, he realized how ill-prepared people were for such emergencies. It was the moment that would make him the founder of a new industry.

From disaster to innovation

Claude had heard of so-called assistance companies, i.e. companies that help drivers in the event of breakdowns. But what if there was also such support for travelers who got into trouble abroad? This simple, yet revolutionary idea never left him.

He decided to set up his own assistance company to provide medical and logistical support for travelers, especially expatriates from large companies. Instead of targeting the mass market of individual tourists, he focused on those who have responsibilities abroad: managers, engineers, families who live far from home.

A jet, a doctor and a phone full of coins

Paul the Insurer, the host of the podcast, remembers the early days well. Claude likes to talk about his first evacuation: an employee stood in a phone booth in Madrid, threw coins into the phone and organized a doctor and an ambulance jet to bring a seriously ill manager back from Lagos.

It was a logistical tour de force, but also a turning point. The idea worked. Within a few years and despite setbacks, bureaucratic hurdles and financial risks, Claude expanded worldwide.

From vision to global institution

Together with partners, including in China, Claude opened clinics for expatriates in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Around 25 years after the Sardinia tragedy, he sold his company to a competitor. Today, the company is the global market leader in medical assistance.

A story that shows: Great ideas often arise from personal experience, sometimes even from a nightmare. Claude, the film producer, thus became one of the silent architects of a new industry.

“Insurance is more than a profession”

Finally, Paul, the narrator, addresses his young listeners:
“The lesson is clear: Pursue your ideas with passion as a founder or within an organization. The insurance world offers countless opportunities to be creative and bring about real change.”

Binci Heeb

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Read also: Paul the Insurer 13: When insurance meets faith – A Jesuit who is speechless