The Anxious Uncle of the Fourth Shoplot
A fire was moving from one shop to the next. Three business owners had insurance. The owner of the fourth shop did not.
I have worked in insurance for more than 25 years. In that time, I have seen fires, floods, water damage and all kinds of unexpected incidents affect businesses. But there is one incident in Penang that I still remember very clearly.
At the time, part of my job involved visiting customers after an incident and helping them through the claims process. One day, a fire broke out in a row of shoplots. It started in one shop, then spread to the second, and then the third.
By the time I arrived, there were business owners standing outside watching what was happening to their premises. The damage was serious and naturally, they were worried. But despite everything happening in front of them, some remained relatively calm because they knew they were insured.
The fire was devastating, but they knew they had financial protection and support to help them recover. There would be claims to submit, damage to assess and businesses to rebuild, but they weren't facing all of it alone.
Then I noticed an older gentleman nearby. He was different. He looked increasingly anxious as he watched the fire move along the row, so I went over and asked him what was wrong.
He pointed towards the shops and told me:
“The fourth shop is mine. But I didn't buy insurance.”
Suddenly, I understood. He wasn't watching somebody else's fire. He was watching it get closer to everything he had spent years building, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
The fire stopped at the third shop
Fortunately, the fire brigade managed to bring the blaze under control before it reached his premises. His shop suffered some water damage, but nothing too serious was lost.
He was lucky. And after the incident, he bought insurance.
Perhaps for the first time, insurance was no longer an abstract expense to him. It wasn't simply money paid for a document that he hoped he would never use. He had just stood outside his shop and experienced what that document could mean.
Your neighbour's risk can become yours
Business owners understandably spend a great deal of time managing the things they can control. You maintain your premises, look after your equipment, train your employees and take precautions.
But your business doesn't exist in isolation. You may be extremely careful about fire safety, but you cannot completely control what happens in the shop next door.
A fire originating elsewhere can spread. Smoke and heat can damage your property. Firefighting efforts can result in water damage. An incident you had absolutely no part in causing can suddenly become your problem.
That is something the uncle in the fourth shoplot understood very vividly that day.
A piece of paper, until the day it isn't
Over the years, I've sometimes heard people describe insurance as paying money for a piece of paper. In a sense, I understand why. When nothing happens, that policy sits quietly in a drawer or inbox. You may pay your premium year after year and never make a claim, and ideally, you never will.
But when something serious does happen, that piece of paper represents something very different. It represents financial protection when your business suddenly faces a loss it may not have been prepared to absorb on its own.
It can mean the difference between asking “How do we get the business running again?” and “Can we afford to get the business running again?”
That is why I have always believed insurance should be arranged while everything is going well, not when you can already see the fire coming down the row.
The uncle of the fourth shoplot was fortunate.
Not every business owner gets a fourth shoplot.
Eileen Lee is Regional Head (Northern) at Berjaya Sompo Insurance Berhad and has more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. This story is based on an incident she encountered during her career assisting customers and handling insurance matters.
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