Micro-insurance providers across emerging markets, including Zimbabwe, are increasingly focusing on product customisation, distribution partnerships and climate-related risks to tap into underserved customer segments.
Ms Karimu Nthiga, regional coordinator for Micro-insurance Network, in a presentation at the Southern Africa Insurance Indaba, which ended today in Victoria Falls on Friday, estimated that 70 percent of potential customers remain unreached, but unlocking that market requires granular segmentation and co-creation with communities.
Micro-insurance Network is a non-profit association of organisations and individuals who are committed to building a world where people of all income levels are more resilient and less vulnerable to daily and catastrophic risks through improved access to effective risk management tools, including insurance services.
“Rural farmers need products such as crop insurance, while young urban residents are more likely to prioritise health cover,” she said, adding that insurers must design solutions that “fit clients’ way of life” rather than developing products in isolation.
In Zimbabwe, the micro-insurance industry serves low-income individuals and the informal sectors by offering affordable products like health, life, and agricultural insurance, with a regulatory framework to support its growth.
Driven by mobile technology and community-based models, the sector uses fintech to reach previously excluded communities and has recently seen regulatory updates, including a new capital requirement of US$100 000 for micro-insurance businesses.
Across Africa, data shows that 62,5 percent of micro-insurance purchases occur through agents and brokers, underscoring the continued importance of face-to-face engagement in low-income markets. She added that micro-finance institutions (MFIs), financial institutions and community-based networks follow closely as key distribution channels.
“Digital platforms help aggregate customers, but the people have the convincing power,” making human intermediaries central to uptake. Even so, MFIs and brokers increasingly rely on digital tools to streamline processes and manage scale,” she said.
Ms Nthiga stressed that insurers must adapt products to variable income patterns, particularly for farmers.
She said premiums could be aligned with harvest seasons when households have cash or structured around credit cycles that allow cover to begin before payment is due.
“Claims processing must also reflect customers’ financial vulnerability; when low-income clients file a claim, they are depending on that payment to offset loss of income, making fast settlement essential,” she said.
She highlighted that ecosystem partnerships, whether with telcos, MFIs, aggregators, or agribusiness value chains, are now fundamental to the sector’s growth model.
“Telcos in particular offer large customer bases and rich datasets that enable segmentation, while regulatory sandboxes across Africa are helping insurers test new models,” said Ms Nthiga.
In Zimbabwe, the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) introduced regulatory sandboxes, which allow industry players to pilot their products before full implementation, as it seeks to ensure products meet the needs of the market.
The regulatory sandboxes also provide a controlled testing environment.
She added, “No micro-insurer is operating alone; partnerships help lower costs, spread risk and boost customer acquisition.”
Ms Nthiga noted that climate change will be the single largest driver of new micro-insurance demand, pushing insurers to design products beyond agriculture to include health, productivity and livestock risks.
She said product development is also shifting decisively toward community co-creation. “The industry response during COVID-19, when disability- and death-related products were rapidly developed, showed the value of agile, inclusive design.
“Technology will accelerate that shift, and artificial intelligence (AI) will be bigger than we can imagine right now, predicting faster claims processing, improved risk modelling and more personalised products,” she said.
However, she cautioned that the impact of both technology and new products depends on strong regulatory frameworks and sustained ecosystem collaboration.-herald
