Microinsurer aYo Zambia has launched a new General Illness Cover product, which will provide cover for customers who spend up to three days in hospital because of sickness or disease, as it looks to drive greater insurance penetration in the country.

The new illness cover is an extension of the company’s existing ‘Recharge with Care’ product, which provides hospital cover for customers if they are involved in an accident.

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“To date, more than 3.5 million Zambian consumers have purchased cover to protect themselves against hospitalisation in the event of injury, or loss of life,” said aYo Zambia CEO Andrew Nkolola. “But many of our customers have been asking us: ‘How will we deal with the financial blow of falling ill? We don’t want benefits only when we’re in an accident.’ We realised it was a huge gap in the market and have responded accordingly.”

Nkolola says aYo Zambia is committed to contributing to the growth of insurance in the country. Earlier this year, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane expressed his concern over Zambia’s low insurance penetration levels, which leaves millions of Zambians without cover if a disaster strikes.

When it first launched in Zambia, aYo offered hospital and life cover to individuals through two insurance products, ‘Send with Care’ and ‘Recharge with Care’. A growing market demand for insurance for the whole family prompted the company to create the new Family Cover product last year, which allows policy holders to add up to seven people, including themselves.

Now, the new General Illness Cover adds a further layer of protection that helps ordinary Zambians stay afloat when the unexpected happens. It pays up to K3,250 if a policyholder is hospitalised through illness.

As with aYo’s existing products, General Illness Cover customers must maintain active Mobile Money (MoMo) accounts to pay premiums and claim. Customers can sign up and claim by dialling the USSD code *296# on their mobile phones and following the prompts. They can also claim using ayo4u.com/zm. All Family Cover claims are paid directly to the claimant’s mobile money wallet without any hassles.

aYo Zambia has been voted best microinsurance product of the year for both 2021 and 2022.

AllLife CEO, Steph Bester (Image: Supplied)

AllLife, providing life insurance to South Africans living with dread and chronic diseases, today announced that it is making R50 000 accidental death cover available to South Africans. The announcement is a critical step in the organisation’s core business proposition that everyone deserves the right to life insurance. Fewer than four out of ten South Africans have any form of life cover in place. This places enormous pressure on families and loved ones in an economic climate that requires multiple breadwinners per household.

“Business is about so much more than profits. At AllLife, we have made it our mission to bring access to life cover to marginalised communities over the years. Today’s announcement highlights that we are ready to take the next step on that mission,” says Steph Bester, CEO at AllLife. “By offering accidental death cover to the majority of South Africans, we want to show everyone that they not only deserve life cover but that there are ways for them to get that cover. Our entire team is exceptionally proud of this offering and to be involved with a business that believes in making a difference that’s bigger than ourselves.”

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The R50 000 accidental cover is available to all South Africans between the ages of 18 and 75 with a valid ID number and email address, with no exceptions. As per the working model, AllLife will carry the premium for the policy in their quest to ensure a better tomorrow for those left behind when the unthinkable happens.

The policy is available to all South African earning over R5000 a month, the application process takes ten seconds and is as simple as entering an individual’s name, surname, ID number and email address on an easy-to-navigate webpage. Afterwards, policy documents will immediately be emailed to the new policyholder.

“We are not stopping here. We recently launched an extension to our portfolio with a product that ensures all people in South Africa are covered, regardless of whether they live with dread or chronic conditions such as cancer or heart conditions. In fact, one of the biggest reasons people are being denied access to life cover is for being deemed overweight, a demographic we now also offer cover to. We continue to make it our mission to uncover and offer life cover products that are inclusive to all South Africans, regardless of someone’s health,” adds Bester.

In 2005, AllLife was the first company to offer life cover to people living with HIV, a population segment entirely ignored and even feared by the many big life insurance companies at the time. Next, in 2013, it included life cover for people living with diabetes, yet another segment largely avoided by the mainstream life insurers.

“In a world where real-life challenges mar our every day, it is refreshing to find some hope and good news, knowing someone has your back. Many South Africans have monthly budgets that don’t balance, leaving tough decisions around what to keep and cancel. Knowing that someone in a family unit has cover in place without worrying about the monthly debit order goes a long way,” ends Bester.

Curacel team (Image: Supplied)

Curacel, the leading African insurance infrastructure startup, has launched Curacel Grow. An embedded insurance product that empowers technology companies to seamlessly offer insurance as part of their existing products and services. The startup is also part of the Winter 2022 cohort of Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator accelerator, joining the growing list of successful African startups that have participated in and benefitted from the program.

Curacel is launching Grow to support more effective distribution of insurance to millions of Africans through partners like Barter by Flutterwave, Float, Payhippo and other leading technology companies. The startup will also enable seamless embedding of insurance in customer user journeys. With Curacel Grow, airlines will be able to offer travel insurance to their customers through simple APIs. Automotive dealers will also be able to seamlessly sell insurance to customers as a value-added service. Curacel has built its market leading infrastructure that powers claims and fraud protection for forward thinking insurers like AXA Mansard and Old Mutual. And this expansive network of underwriters enables the distribution of insurance at scale.

Insurance penetration in Africa currently stands at less than 3 percent, with most policies sold offline and manually via brokers and agents. This cumbersome process makes insurance products expensive and out of reach for many price-sensitive Africans. As a result, market penetration of insurance products in Africa is half of the global average and premiums per capita are 11 times lower than the global average. The insurance industry in Africa also represents less than one percent of insured catastrophe losses worldwide. Although it’s home to almost 17 percent of the global population. This suggests that there is significant scope for growth.

With Grow, insurers can accelerate the distribution of their products by taking advantage of Curacel’s technology to easily embed insurance within other digital experiences in a more accessible way. Technology companies can also increase their recurring revenue by offering the protection their consumers need without the hassle of finding integration and negotiating terms with insurers and brokers. The solution is designed to integrate seamlessly with any technology platform and Curacel’s AI-powered infrastructure means claims can be submitted and processed in real time.

Commenting on the new product, Henry Mascot, CEO and co-founder of Curacel, said, “risk protection is a major consideration for Africa’s growing middle class. As it becomes easier to access credit and other financial services to enable new experiences. We want to make it easier to protect these experiences and enjoy them with full confidence. The success of various technology companies over the years has opened the door to many previously underserved people. And we want to take advantage of this to accelerate the penetration of much needed insurance products across the continent.”

Curacel has a presence in 8 countries across Africa, enabling insurers to connect with digital distribution channels and administer their claims cost-effectively.

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