Insurance in Kenya and Africa at large remains a marginal product, with levels of penetration across the continent half the world average as a percentage of GDP, and premiums per capita 11-fold lower than the world average. But economic growth and the rapid expansion of digital and mobile services are set to change all that: the smallest market then looks like the biggest growth opportunity. That spells an opening for inexperienced players. Safaricom, the Kenyan telco that runs the groundbreaking and market-dominant M-Pesa mobile payment platform, has been working on a new insurance product against property damage, theft, and loss of life provisionally called Bima. Yet to be launched, when (and if) it does roll out, it will enter the market alongside a small but growing number of companies entering the field taking more innovative approaches with products that address the needs as well as the limitations of consumers in the region.
Startups like Bima, also named like Safaricom’s product, offer other services like telemedicine that complement their core insurance businesses. The mobile-first platform which provides life and health insurance policies, along with telemedicine to support the latter, raised $30 million last year to build micro-insurance and healthcare services targeting the emerging markets. The startup was founded in Europe but is active primarily across seven countries in Asia and in Ghana, Tanzania, and Senegal in Africa. It targets people earning less than $10 a day, and targets to have at least 75% of its clients as first-time policyholders. Insurtech opportunities in sectors such as agriculture are also developing, with startups such as Oko, which operates in Mali and Uganda, providing automated insurance products based on satellite data and mobile payments. The startup, which raised $1.2 million earlier this year, derisks farmers affected by extreme weather events like drought and floods.