Kenya’s insurance companies have resorted to mobile phones to reach more uninsured Kenyans through the sale of insurance premiums, using enabled cash transfers to boost product penetration. Analysts said telecassurance, an initiative of the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI), will increasingly become a driver in the growth of retail insurance penetration. “It is quite a revolutionary service. This will enable customers to pay for premiums in installments but at regular intervals. They could even convert their loyalty points if they are adequate to pay for the insurance premiums,” AKI chairman Mark Obuya said on Monday. Obuya said through telecassurance, customers will pay for premiums using mobile phone money transfers. Kenya has about 30 million mobile phone users. An extensive network across the east African nation provides an excellent platform for insurance companies to reach a wider network of potential customers. Obuya said the shift towards mobile-phone enabled cash transfers will boost other existing products such as bancassurance services, where banks sell insurance products to customers taking various loans. He said insurance companies plan to diversify from relying exclusively on agents, to other technology-enabled platforms to reach more customers. While meeting in Nairobi recently, Insurance industry stakeholders resolved to not only focus on the traditional markets of middle- income groups, but also to tailor products that could appeal to the lower income cadres with premiums of between US$15 and US$5 per month. We need consumers to start considering buying insurance products as an investment, not as a protection service,” said Bruce Sahd, the Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Case Johnson Group, a South African marketing firm currently assisting Kenyan firms to improve the reach of insurance. Agencies
