Digital First Mobile Insurance a Winner in Africa

Standard Bank rolls out Continent-wide Digital Insurance Solutions

For many years, Africa has been considered a difficult market for insurers. Low awareness of the insurance value, perceptions of insurance as an unaffordable luxury item and the inadequate distribution channels available on a facilities-challenged continent have often been blamed for the industry’s woes.

Facundo D’hers, CIO, Insurance and Asset Management for Africa Regions at the Standard Bank Group (SBG), has an alternative perspective. He points out to Business Tech Africa, the recent success of an award-winning alliance between Mobilife, the mobile-first insurance and financial services solutions provider, SBG, and underwriter Liberty as an indicator of innovations that are changing the insurance landscape in Africa for the better.

Simplicity, Speed and Ease of Use is Key

“The award-winning project broke new ground on the continent as it combined teams well-versed in insurance products and capable of deploying innovative, technical solutions. This strengthened the development of the funeral insurance solution, providing users with the required simple interface for intuitive navigation and personalisation of content and accessibility.”

“A key consideration when measuring the success of the move into Africa was the development speed. From inception to completion, it took only six weeks for the solution’s rollout in Botswana. We aim to introduce the solution in four additional markets before the end of 2024.”  

“We believe that the pace at which solutions are being introduced and tweaked for individual markets is unique. However, quality will never be compromised by the speed of introduction. Our objective is to ensure that the value of our solutions reaches customers as soon as is feasibly possible”, states D’hers

Our commitment to breaking through the traditional beliefs regarding insurance across Africa is unwavering. We plan to offer the solution in all markets where Standard Bank Insurance operates, reaffirming our dedication to the African market and its integral role in our future, says D’hers.

Facundo comments that the product development and improvement progress has been steady, with potential stumbling blocks, including different regulatory environments, dealt with as they arose. “We have been proactive in addressing these challenges”, he says.

Scalability Critical for success

Scalability, the prime requirement for a successful continent-wide rollout, has been achieved through cloud integration and using cloud-based solutions for data storage and processing to improve the solution’s performance and reliability.

Apart from establishing that Africans wanted insurance solutions if they met personal requirements and could be customised to meet specific needs-including premiums that could be adapted to fit in with changes in household budgets, other surprises were in store for the development team.

Africa Owns Mobile Technical Sophistication

Some had expected that the technical infrastructure required for the introduction of cutting-edge digital solutions would be found wanting in Africa, but this was firmly debunked. In fact, says Dhers, the continent was found to be slightly ahead of sophisticated, developed markets in many instances.

The primary reasons for this were the legacy-driven nature of facilities in developed countries where massive investments in tech had incurred over the years and needed to be relooked.

“By contrast, in Africa, the unavailability of fixed-line telephony structures and phones has led to the rapid adoption of mobile technology. This has enabled African countries to leapfrog older technologies and led to the mobile boom for which the continent is justifiably renowned.”

“This, in turn, has enabled the effective rollout of our insurance stack across Africa,” says Dhers, identifying the second advantage as Africa’s young population. 

“As the continent with the globe’s youngest and steadily growing populations, the appetite for digital innovation and its adoption is massive and led to the creation of markets where people are more digitally savvy than many other places worldwide”, he says.

Further growth Anticipated

Already available in fives countries and with Ghana, Malawi, and Eswatini now the focus of attention, the ultimate winners have been the thousands of Africans using their mobile devices to access affordable and flexible insurance solutions.

“The traditional restraints of a lack of infrastructure, people living in remote localities, and stressed logistics have been defeated by digital technology.”

“We are helping African to drive innovation and directly cultivate the benefits of its own success. There is no doubt that the pace of digitally led change will continue and that further value, including access to financial services, will continue to play their part in Africa’s growth,” says Dhers.