Female, single, young, looking for... purpose: This is Mirela Dimofte.
Just like in the movie: Female, single, young, looking for… Mirela Dimofte, who comes from Romania, is also on the lookout. Not for a roommate, but for purpose. After 25 years in the insurance and management sector, she knows exactly what she wants. In her opinion, there is a lack of insurance products in addressing humans in a holistic manner.
thebroker talks to Mirela Dimofte.
Mirela Dimofte, you have lived in Zurich for five years and worked for Swiss Re until January of this year. Before that, and always as a manager, you worked at Allianz for many years. What are you doing now?
First, I wanted to take a short break and reflect on my purpose in life. I worked for great companies, but what is it that I want to change in the world?
In the last few years, I became particularly fascinated by longevity and holistic health. On the other hand, I cannot simply forget my 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. I am intrigued by the role of insurance in changing the lives and health of people.
The last 18 months have been difficult for you because your husband died. Would you like to tell us about it?
The fact that I completely changed my life in the last 18 months has been massively influenced by the loss of my former husband. He struggled for years with addiction, depression, and anxiety. Although we were separated, we are the parents of a beautiful daughter and we were still close friends.
Despite his suffering, the loss hit us unexpectedly. He was only 47 years old and had plans for a holiday with our daughter.
I spoke with him the day before and helped him reach a hospital. I could not imagine that the next day I would get the dreaded phone call that he passed away.
I went through a lot of ups and downs after his death, wondering how our separation has influenced his mental health.
I finally bounced back, like I always do, but I am committed to telling his story and fighting the stigma surrounding mental health.
10 years ago, I thought that addiction was a choice. Now I know that it is a terrible disease that destroys families and lives.
Your motto is „A start is more important than a five-year plan“. What do you mean by that?
Everyone loves a proper strategy discussion, but I believe the beauty of a strategy is in its execution. Planning is ok until it isn’t. Most big projects I have seen failed to be executed in the time assumed initially.
The world is so complex that you cannot model it five years in advance. I love action and adapting when circumstances change; it is the only realistic way to drive a business successfully.
The most important part is starting to do something. Sometimes, this is the best way to understand the problem further.
On top of that, I am a big fan of co-creating solutions with customers. You listen to their problem, then create a small prototype, test it and adjust it. This is how the most successful products are created.
According to your LinkedIn profile, you call yourself a „fearless explorer who experiments with new business models and unconventional organizations“. What do you mean by that?
I love exploring new areas of life and business. I am constantly moving. I learn about new technologies, and then I go outside on a long walk and think, how could I use that new technology to solve a problem?
For example, the last few months I learned a lot about blockchain and web3 in financial services, social media marketing, copywriting and search engine optimization. Quite different than what I used to do as a job. You bet, I have so many new ideas and started testing some of them.
In terms of business model. I believe that traditional hierarchies are not functioning anymore. Sure, everyone likes to have a nice job title, but the world is changing so fast that the structures become obsolete, and you have to change them again. It is a reality.
I experimented with several flat models (like Holacracy and TEAL organizations), as well as with Helix model.
I prefer agile organizations, where people are able to change direction and accommodate changes fast.
In terms of new business models, technology is opening up new ways of doing business. Who would have thought 20 years ago that a little ring could monitor my sleep and AI could give me advice on healthy habits?
Speaking of mental health, one of the topics I am very passionate about – AI could help someone suffering bridge the gap between two therapy sessions. Like offering some support to someone who is feeling unwell.
Let me give you a simple example: I was a bit down one evening and I felt like I needed a mood boost. I shared with my ChatGPT what I felt, and the machine answered me better than a human. No judgement, no bias, just simple advice and a couple of examples of people who have succeeded against all odds.
To summarize, the world as we know it will change dramatically: more speed, more innovation, more technology. You can rather run away from the tsunami, or surf that wave!
On a personal note, I do explore Swiss Alps. It is a newly acquired hobby. Some years ago, I could not take a flight of stairs, and I was afraid of heights. 3 years later I climbed 14 peaks over 4000 m. Life is about exploring and going beyond your limits.
You believe there is a lack of services and insurance products for medical needs in geriatric medicine. What exactly are you thinking of?
I actually believe we lack holistic, integrated services that have the human wellness at the core. Be it for geriatric care or teenagers.
My parents are in Romania in their 70`s and I am wondering how can I help them. Do we want to live alone when we get older, or do we need communities? If we look at populations in the “Blue-Zones” (areas on Earth with highest number of centenarians), they are active all their life. They move, they care for their diet, they have their communities and meet people.
And even more important, they have a purpose. They still do something, learning new things, enjoying life.
I believe insurance has an important role to play here, by creating holistic solutions to care for our seniors. Sure, we need to start contributing early on, but we can create modern, vibrant care centers focused on the holistic health of our parents.
Another category of people we should look at is teenagers. I am personally invested in this topic, as I have a teenager at home. We need to educate the parents to understand how fragile they are, and how to support them. We need to publish campaigns on the mental health of teenagers, where both them and their parents are informed.
For example, I do not understand why my daughter starts school 3 times a week at 7:20 when it has been scientifically proven that early morning sleep is so beneficial for the development of teenagers’ brains. Plus, parents would be happier – everyone knows how a teenager’s mood is in the morning.
How should such a special product be integrated into health insurance?
It is about education, prevention, and health awareness. I know that many insurers “do not see the business case” when investing in prevention. This is a short-sided view. The more we invest in prevention, the less we pay for treatment. Plus, I strongly believe it is a more moral way to do business. We simply help people get better and live healthier lives. If we insist on economic benefits, healthier people mean a healthier workforce, more productivity, and more prosperous societies.
Overall, I think we should think long-term instead of always focusing on short-term gains. In this way, we would do a big service to humanity and the planet.
You are also concerned about another issue: the menopause. What are you thinking about here?
Most women who reach this phase are lost and lack proper information. Many of them do not understand what to do, how to improve their health, or even how to recognize the menopause symptoms. There is so much scientific literature on the effects of menopause and what treatments work. Still, the information does not reach the ones who need it the most.
Women need complex, holistic care – specialist doctors, psychologists, nutritionists and sleep experts. Plus, we should not forget that resistance training is proven to increase bone density which is dramatically important at this stage.
Sadly, most of the women I know are not informed and not benefiting from all this knowledge. They think it is normal to be sad or have hot flashes when, actually, one can treat many of these issues easily.
Metabolic syndrome, which includes obesity, high blood pressure and sugar and fat metabolism disorders caused by inactivity, stress, is another issue that concerns you. Why these three topics in particular?
I know many people are affected by metabolic syndrome or, even worse, suffering from diabetes or cardiovascular issues. Some things require medical treatments, but in a whole lot of cases, it is about zero-cost interventions to get better: sleep, exercise, nutrition.
There is much research showing that many “chronic” diseases can be improved dramatically by diet and sleep, for example. I know I sound like a boring mother, but this is the reality – we cannot expect a pill to cure diabetes while we eat sugar by the spoon, right?
Insurance can play a role in bringing the information and low-cost prevention closer to the customer. It is a simple add-on to the normal products.
Ironically, most of the insurance products are there, what we miss is the way we package and deliver them to the customers to help them be healthier.
The three examples are all about prevention. Do you think there is a lack of offers in this area?
They are about information, prevention and treatment at an early stage. For example, I did not believe that a simple routine like getting outside to see sunlight for 10 – 20 minutes in the morning would improve my sleep. It was too simple and “free” to work, right?
Well, since I discovered that I do my best to take a walk every morning, it made a huge change in my sleep and my concentration at work.
Another promising field is gut microbiome health. My mom used to run away after me with all these horrible green vegetables, but she might have been right…
And you might ask: why insurance? Well, I see so many start-ups trying to disrupt the area and doing the prevention. So the disruption is coming.
The beauty of a perfect model is when insurance integrates the education and prevention in the standard offers. However, we should take a step in the direction of personalization. No matter how good a product is, if it does not talk to me, I will not notice it.
Why not promote packages for women in menopause, for parents concerned with their teenagers` mental and emotional health, instead of one-size-fits-all?
You still only have ideas, when do you think you will have founded your first company?
I am already testing some ideas, and I will not stop here. When someone is driven by passion, the sky is the limit.
Mirela Dimofte started her career in the insurance industry in 1998 in Romania. She has worked for big companies – Allianz (17 years) and Swiss Re (5 years), holding several positions in Life and Health, as well as in Property and Casualty. She has a broad international experience, working across several countries in Eastern Europe, Germany and Switzerland and leading projects in Asia, Australia and Western Europe.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economic Cybernetics and Informatics and a Master’s Degree in Quantitative Economy, both from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. Mirela enrolled in a Board Certificate Program with the University of St. Gallen to become a professional Board member.
Innovative and curious, she is continuously looking for new ways to do things and to challenge the existing. She has a passion for holistic health and leadership focused on human wellness. Mirela lives in Zürich with her teenage daughter and loves mountaineering and long walks in nature.
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