With information booths pitched along the roadway and its banner fluttering against the wind, Axia Jamaica Insurance Agency Limited declared its arrival in the fast-growing town of Kellits, Clarendon, on December 11.
It is offering life, business, home, auto and health insurance coverage to residents who otherwise would have to travel several miles away to access an insurance company.
Axia, headquartered in Kingston, now operates an administrative desk at RCA Enterprise FastPrint, which is located on Kings Plaza near Kellits High School.
It sells insurance for BCIC, Key Insurance, as well as General Accident and Auto Smart.
“Kellits is one of the fastest-growing towns in Jamaica, and so we are very proud and happy to provide the services through these four companies… In the future, of course, we will extend to write for more companies,” said Hugh Meredith, a Clarendon native who also is founder and chief executive officer of Axia.
Elaborating on the company’s administrative desk in Kellits, he said: “Right now [at the time of our launch] I can tell you that they (residents) are without any form of insurance office [in Kellits]. And so we have an administrative desk here that will feed us information and our insurance practitioners in Kingston will liaise with them (clients) directly and provide the necessary services and information that they want.”
Axia, founded in 2014, is expanding at a time when many companies are either going out of business or are downsizing in light of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We have been doing well. COVID of course would have slowed our progress like many other companies, but we have found ways to develop and push ourselves forward,” Meredith told The Beacon. “We are looking forward to very good things here in Clarendon. I know that Clarendon people are very independent and progressive, and so we want to share with them and provide them with the best insurance services.”
The hallmark of Axia’s operation is integrity, Meredith asserted.
“We will have our competition – and competition is good. What it does is keep us on our toes and ensure that whatever we do we must do it to the best of our abilities and also in keeping with the authorities that govern us,” he further said.
He continued: “We are a small company, but we provide great service. We have exciting staff – staff that are willing to go the extra mile… We are a people with great integrity and we want to ensure that is maintained as long as we are here in Kellits.”
Based on interactions up to the time of its launch, Axia has been left feeling welcomed in the relatively small town, surrounded by several farming communities. “The reception that we have gotten here is tremendous,” the chief executive officer said.
In starting up in Kellits, Axia has forged partnership with one of the town’s most innovative and respected young businessmen, Novardo Roberts, better known as Frank, who is also the proprietor of FastPrint.
Roberts said he has brought many “firsts” in terms of business into his hometown, adding that Axia is the first insurance agency to operate there.
“It is a whole lot of things we bring to the town as a first, and I feel good to know I am setting my own trend,” he told The Beacon. He is pleased with the response Axia has been receiving so far, he said.
In the meantime, Meredith stated that Axia is pleased to have found a partner in Roberts.
“To find the right person is not easy… For a young man (Roberts) to really accommodate us with his vision, it speaks a lot about his own innovation and so we are very thankful to Fast Print for allowing us to share space and to ensure that this venture will continue and we will go much further,” the Axia boss further said.
To contact Axia’s administrative desk in Kellits, call 876-978-5906 or WhatsApp 876-833-0948, or email customerservice@axiaja.com.
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