A Kenyan insurance technology company has launched a revolutionary life insurance product as it seeks to increase insurance penetration to the largely uninsured and underinsured population.
Through a mobile application platform known as WazInsure, GrassRoots Bima hopes to reach Kenyans who have largely been ignored as “uninsurable” because of their status as low-income earners.
GrassRoots Bima will initially roll out Maisha Cover on the WazInsure platform, a last-expense cover underwritten by Capex Life, a local insurance company. Kenyans will pay as low as Ksh600 annually to receive Ksh25,000 in case of a death in their families. Other rates are Ksh1,250 and Ksh2,400 for a loss of up to Ksh50,000 and Ksh100,000 respectively.
WazInsure, translated as ‘Transparent Insurance’, manages the entire insurance value chain from underwriting to claims payments. It simplifies the distribution, purchase and administration burden whilst simultaneously improving customer satisfaction, according to CEO and founder of GrassRoots Bima, Winnie Badiah.
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“One of the many situations that makes insurance unexciting and unaffordable is lack of transparency particularly when it comes to payment of claims. Technology affords satisfaction to both the insurer and claimant especially where fraud is rife in the country,” says Ms Badiah
The claims process, which includes notification of loss, uploading of relevant documents and claims payment will be done through the smartphone, unless further investigation is needed.
“The emergence of insurance technology firms such as GrassRoots Bima has opened a direct path to ample and open interaction between the consumers and underwriters. Through their more active and sophisticated use of data, they can help us underwrite products that are better tailored to an individual’s circumstances,” says Peter Ogunniran, CEO, Capex Assurance Limited
Already, GrassRoots Bima has partnered with various aggregators that will be key to acceleration of insurance product disbursement to Kenyans. They include Bodaboda Safety Association of Kenya, Umande Trust and Chama Insurance Agency.
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Managing Trustee Umande Trust Aidah Binale-Ebrahim says that insurance is perceived to be designed only for the high and middle class in Kenya, a misconception that should be broken. Umande Trust is a water, environment and sanitation organization based in Kibera.
“Together with Grassroots Bima and Capex, we have come together to demystify this assumption and reach out to insure the very poor of the poor on fires, death and medical. These are the issues that pertinent and affect communities every day.”
GrassRoots Bima is in talks with other insurers in the country to underwrite tailor-made products targeting millions of uninsured in a move that is expected to boost insurance uptake.
Insurance penetration in Kenya is at 3% to country’s GDP compared to Africa’s 3.5% which is still low and out of reach for many consumers.
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It works quite well for me