Neil Mehta

I could talk to every single one of our founders in half a day and still have tons of time.

I could talk to every single one of our founders in half a day and still have tons of time.

Yes, we have. In fact, Reno started with the idea of an alternative capital structure. What was it? It was a holding company that owned insurance businesses, frontier and emerging market insurance companies.

Yes, we have. In fact, Reno started with the idea of an alternative capital structure. What was it? It was a holding company that owned insurance businesses, frontier and emerging market insurance companies.

Benny and I had spent a lot of time at DSHA studying insurance businesses in places like Ping An in China, Donggu in Korea, Qualitas in Mexico, Solinko in SCB in Thailand, Solinko in Sri Lanka, businesses like this. And actually, the cool thing was... If you study these P&C businesses, they all follow the same kind of curve. You could draw an XY axis. You could put GDP per capita on the X axis.

Benny and I had spent a lot of time at DSHA studying insurance businesses in places like Ping An in China, Donggu in Korea, Qualitas in Mexico, Solinko in SCB in Thailand, Solinko in Sri Lanka, businesses like this. And actually, the cool thing was... If you study these P&C businesses, they all follow the same kind of curve. You could draw an XY axis. You could put GDP per capita on the X axis.

And then on the Y axis, you could put insurance penetration as a percentage of GDP. And it follows this S curve. And the S curve is basically rich country has 10% insurance penetration. The exception to this, by the way, is the Middle East countries. They get really rich on oil and then don't have insurance penetration. And then the really poor countries are at the bottom.

And then on the Y axis, you could put insurance penetration as a percentage of GDP. And it follows this S curve. And the S curve is basically rich country has 10% insurance penetration. The exception to this, by the way, is the Middle East countries. They get really rich on oil and then don't have insurance penetration. And then the really poor countries are at the bottom.

They have very low GDP per capita and they have low insurance penetration. And our view was, if you believe in a country's GDP per capita growth, a levered investment is to buy the best oil. insurance company, the PNC consumer insurance company. Interesting. So we did this and it was a phenomenal investment for Dongbu and Qualitas and SCB. They were really good investments.

They have very low GDP per capita and they have low insurance penetration. And our view was, if you believe in a country's GDP per capita growth, a levered investment is to buy the best oil. insurance company, the PNC consumer insurance company. Interesting. So we did this and it was a phenomenal investment for Dongbu and Qualitas and SCB. They were really good investments.

So our idea at Green Oaks when we started, we had a traditional fund structure. Our idea was let's start a holding company where we buy anywhere between 51% and 100% of these insurance companies. We suck up those premiums, and we can invest them in a wide variety of different assets. It's a phenomenal idea on paper. In fact, we did it right when we started Green Oak.

So our idea at Green Oaks when we started, we had a traditional fund structure. Our idea was let's start a holding company where we buy anywhere between 51% and 100% of these insurance companies. We suck up those premiums, and we can invest them in a wide variety of different assets. It's a phenomenal idea on paper. In fact, we did it right when we started Green Oak.

So we went around and raised $150 million of capital from some great investors, many of our longtime investors, and we started a holding company. Now- I don't think one person asked us, have we been to Africa or Pakistan or any of these places? But we did it. And then we took a small team from McKinsey Insurance Practice, which was known for helping some of these insurance companies.

So we went around and raised $150 million of capital from some great investors, many of our longtime investors, and we started a holding company. Now- I don't think one person asked us, have we been to Africa or Pakistan or any of these places? But we did it. And then we took a small team from McKinsey Insurance Practice, which was known for helping some of these insurance companies.

And our idea was, you can't buy Ping An in China. It's too big. But you can buy... the frontier and emerging market insurers in places like Pakistan or Rwanda or Nigeria, places like this. So the first thing we did was just get on a plane and go to these places. So we went to Nigeria. I have so many fun stories about this. I love this. Man, it was the craziest.

And our idea was, you can't buy Ping An in China. It's too big. But you can buy... the frontier and emerging market insurers in places like Pakistan or Rwanda or Nigeria, places like this. So the first thing we did was just get on a plane and go to these places. So we went to Nigeria. I have so many fun stories about this. I love this. Man, it was the craziest.

So we decided we started a holding company. It's called GGH. By the way, the punchline here is it went terrible. It's the single biggest mistake we've made at Green Oaks, I think. It's a funny story. So we took a team out of Zurich, Switzerland. That was our operating team. We had about 12 people. They were working with local teams. The first trip we made was to Nigeria. Actually, before...

So we decided we started a holding company. It's called GGH. By the way, the punchline here is it went terrible. It's the single biggest mistake we've made at Green Oaks, I think. It's a funny story. So we took a team out of Zurich, Switzerland. That was our operating team. We had about 12 people. They were working with local teams. The first trip we made was to Nigeria. Actually, before...

I got on the plane to Nigeria. I was in London. There's this late night flight. And we had assembled a list of businesses that we might potentially want to buy. The list was probably six companies, seven companies. We had a banker that was on the ground that we were working with that was like only an insurance banker. We had known him for a little while.

I got on the plane to Nigeria. I was in London. There's this late night flight. And we had assembled a list of businesses that we might potentially want to buy. The list was probably six companies, seven companies. We had a banker that was on the ground that we were working with that was like only an insurance banker. We had known him for a little while.