By FREDRICK OBURA
The Co-operative Insurance Company (CIC) has launched new insurance products that target small-scale enterprises and low-income earners.
According to the insurer, the low-end insurance products would address prohibitive premium costs and are designed to increase market penetration of the key economic sectors, notably agriculture and construction. "High administration costs and lack of elaborate distribution and payment mechanisms are often hindrance to insurance penetration...we want to address these handicaps and change the way insurance is priced and packaged to unlock growth," said Nelson Kuria, CIC Insurance Managing Director.
"The three products, Crop and Livestock, Mjengo plus and Jamii Salama are targeted at agriculture, construction and the family unit sub-sectors," he said adding that the products are poised to address risks that have been given a wide berth by traditional insurance schemes.
insuring assets
Kuria said the introduction of crops and livestock insurance is in response to the need to insure assets in the agricultural value chains for the various sub-sectors, such as cereals, horticulture, floriculture and dairy farming. The firm has bought adequate re-insurance capacity to underwrite individual risks, of up to Sh100 million per risk.
The new development comes at a time when benefits of financial services to the poor and micro-sectors have increased dramatically. In the past, the sector, which has the capacity to aid millions of poor people, received little attention.
Kenya is second to South Africa in the provision of micro-insurance in Africa, but even so, overall insurance penetration is wanting.
Source: The Standard | Online Edition
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