Kenya’s CIC Insurance Group has attributed its ability to harness innovative technology and alternative distribution channels to its success in micro-insurance.
The company, which has a capital base of KSh2.1 billion (US$24 million) and 1.3 million clients, identifies its ability to be a leading micro-insurance provider in Kenya through its product innovations, particularly mobile money.
The company introduced a mobile phone platform, M-Bima, that allows clients to pay premiums through Safaricom’s M-Pesa
M-Bima allows CIC clients with a national ID card or passport to deposit, withdraw or transfer money easily with a mobile device.
While speaking on a New York panel discussion on Microinsurance, Nelson Kuria, CIC Insurance Group chief executive officer (CEO), said the company is looking into diversifying its channels of distribution and said they are not considering using the traditional channels, because they are too expensive and they are not suited for doing their kind of business.
“We are looking at the mobile phone technology where we have pioneered in terms of innovation, riding on the so-called M-Pesa, the mobile money transfer that is well known in Kenya,” said Kuria.
“We are now having an equivalent of that platform that we call M-Bima. M-Bima means mobile insurance. We are using this to reach out to even more people because it’s a cheap way of receiving premium payment and paying small claims. It brings efficiency in terms of data management, real time operations that are very critical for the credibility of the microinsurance operation.”
The company has recorded a compounded annual growth rate of 62 per cent in the last five years and has won the Annual Insurance Claims Settlement Award 2012 for consistently keeping the promise to pay claims on time.
