Africa continues to show an increasing appetite for microinsurance and other financial services products despitea challenging economic environment – and ongoing mobile expansion and new alliances will drive even greater uptake in the next five years.
Marius Botha, Group CEO of African insurtechaYo Holdings, says a flood of new market entrants, newly minted partnerships and increasingly diverse and sophisticated products are driving the continent’s financial inclusion to record levels.
aYo’s parent company, telecommunications giant MTN, recently announced a strategic alliance with Africa’s largest insurer, Sanlam, which has seen Sanlam take a 50% stake in aYo as the business looks to boost its ability to market and distribute insurance and investment products across the continent.
aYo launched in Uganda in January 2017, and has since started operations in Ghana, Zambia, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire. It is also readying itself to officially launch in several major markets where MTN and Sanlam have a footprint as it evolves into a key player in the African microinsurance market, using a ‘pay as you go’ insurance model that gives policyholders the flexibility to have the cover they need at any given time.
“Our vision isto grow into the largest financial services technology platform in Africa by enabling the distribution of a range of affordable and accessible financial services products, especially to irregular income earners.As we continue to roll out our brand in key markets, we’re establishing a growing sense of financial ubuntu in local communitieswith authentic stakeholderrelationships,” said Botha.
The company is preparing to unveil a wider portfolio of products to its customers, with a suite of mobile money (MoMo) based offerings that include savings products, device insurance, merchant insurance cover, household contents and motor insurance in selected markets. It also plans to offer customers a greater range of payment options over and above the existing mobile moneyand airtime payment methods.
“To enable this, we’ve made substantial progress in transforming our technology backbone into one of the most modern insurance stacks in the world. As our customers transition to a world where financial services are easily accessible via mobile phone and transacted via apps and other channels, we are evolving our platform business model to allow us to scale rapidly and cost-effectively which is critical given some of the economic pressures our customers are under in all our key markets,” said Botha.
