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It was somewhat
common in Hawaii to have a
carrier operate their own agency
for the distribution of their
products. Mr. Akamine worked as
an employee agent for his first
three years and became an
independent exclusive agent in
1983. Because of his competitive
spirit and the fact that at age
23 he was the youngest agent in
the marketing division, he
realized the only way to compete
with the others (who had age and
years of service ahead of him),
was through knowledge, so he
took as many educational courses
as possible. He obtained his
Accredited Advisor in Insurance
(AAI) designation in 1983 and
the Certified Insurance
Counselor (CIC) designation in
1985. He continues to take
continuing education courses to
keep himself competitive. In
addition to learning insurance,
he was able to get first hand
view of what the small business
owner goes through by running
two businesses of his own.
Closing one that started from
scratch and successfully buying
and selling the other.
On
September 11, 1992, hurricane
Iniki hit Hawaii and changed the
way First Insurance Company
marketed their products and
services by using only
independent agents. A disbanding
of the exclusive agency occurred
and all the producers needed to
find new General Agents to work
for. On February 1, 1993, Mr.
Akamine became an independent
producer with the John H.
Connors Agency and spent the
next 16 years with the Connors
Agency.
Mr. Akamine and his partners
started
ACW
Group, LLC on
April 1, 2009.
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