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2024: A year of customer-focused innovation

As it stands, 2024 is set to be the warmest year on record. Many parts of the world are seeing extreme heat events while others face severe floods. Brazil has experienced the worst drought on record with 59% of the country affected, flash flooding took more than 1000 lives in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Typhoon Yagi killed over 800 people across China and Southeast Asia, to name just three of the natural disasters that have claimed lives and disrupted communities over the last 12 months.

The majority of those affected are the most vulnerable in the world: rural and agricultural communities whose livelihoods are destroyed by increasingly frequent extreme weather events; women and children whose needs and situations are often ignored when it comes to providing financial support; and medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) that are finding it increasingly difficult to operate due to the impacts of climate change. 

All this presents an opportunity for the inclusive insurance sector. In 2024, we’ve seen providers rise to the occasion, including many MiN members. As more look to offer innovative solutions to the new challenges we’re facing, data is becoming increasingly important and the May newsletter highlights this reality.

The insurance industry needs to understand customers better and develop new products to meet their needs to ensure long-term, sustainable growth. As Lorenzo Chan, Chair of MiN, and President and CEO of Pioneer Inc., explained during the launch of the annual MiN Landscape study, “I do not believe there is a scarcity of insurers – there is, rather, a shortage of those who are willing to look beyond the traditional business case by learning more about the micro market.” 

We’re incredibly encouraged to see so many of our members tackle this challenge and we want to celebrate some of the initiatives launched this year in different regions across the world.

Closing the gender protection gap

Each year, our Landscape survey highlights the lack of gender-disaggregated data collected by our industry. This makes it harder to develop products targeted to women’s and, by extension, children's and families’ needs. The sector needs to improve this; however, several providers already support women.

  • Río Uruguay Seguros (Argentina). 2024 saw the first full year of the Superadoras campaign in action, a collaborative public-private initiative involving the CNP, La Segunda, RUS, Sancor Seguros, San Cristóbal Seguros, and Triunfo Seguros. The programme provides a combination of affordable insurance products designed specifically for women, particularly entrepreneurs. As they explain, “We not only cover risks.... we create security so that they can continue building their reality."
  • APA (Kenya) has also developed a platform for women. APA SHEild offers insurance products tailored to women’s needs, female-centric expertise, and a supportive community that connects women and financial empowerment through education opportunities. 

Tackling increasing climate change risk

As extreme weather events become increasingly common, the risk to the livelihoods of so many increases. The frequency of these events makes starting again unfeasible as the loss becomes too great to overcome each time. This is especially true in agriculture. Inclusive insurance products can help by transferring the risk and building resilience over time, and we’ve seen several of our members introduce innovative products to support these communities in 2024. 

  • Britam (Kenya) with Swiss RE and Oxfam signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tana River County Government to expand their parametric flood insurance access to 20,000 families from 300. These 300 households already received Sh15m in compensation for flood-related losses in Upper Tana, which played a pivotal role in helping them recover from the immediate impacts of flooding. It also promoted long-term economic and social stability in the region.
  • Seguros Bolívar (Colombia) As of November 2024, the company has implemented three distinct parametric insurance schemes tailored to different agricultural sectors in Colombia: Café Seguro for coffee producers, Cacao Seguro for cacao producers, and Tranquilidad Rural for multi-crop growers. These products provide sustainable coverage against both excess rainfall and drought during critical stages of crop development, helping to increase the resilience of small-scale producers to the impacts of climate change. Together, these insurance solutions have protected more than 53,000 Ha and insured more than 40,000 coffee producers, of whom almost 12,000 (30%) are women, reflecting a significant contribution to gender inclusion. 
  • Aseguradora Rural (Guatemala) launched parametric insurance to cover loss or damage and to guarantee business continuity during drought, excessive rainfall, or earthquakes. This insurance was specifically designed for smallholder farmers and MSMEs and to date has covered 63,266 people, of whom 55.5% work in agriculture.

Keeping MSMEs in business

Beyond smallholder farmers, MSMEs are crucial to a country’s economy. They account for 90% of businesses, are a source of more than 50% of employment worldwide and in emerging markets, contribute up to 40% of the national income. Yet, they often struggle to access financial products such as insurance. Several MiN members have introduced innovative products and services to support these small yet vital operations.

  • Varese Brokers (Argentina) in partnership with Estacubierto.com and RUS, has developed an insurance product specifically for small shopkeepers. This includes health, life, and loss of income, and protection for agricultural and small business risks. To better understand the needs of these microentrepreneurs, they conducted focus groups and in-depth surveys, the responses of which fed into their product development.
  • DDFinance (Kenya) announced their partnership with BIMAS Kenya and Caritas MicroFinance Bank to offer affordable digital insurance solutions, making it easier for underserved communities, including MSMEs, to access insurance. Digitising and streamlining the claims process reduces costs, making it more affordable for the end-users. They also launched an e-learning platform to train trainers on onboarding and selling microinsurance to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

Recognising success in inclusive insurance

Beyond the success of introducing new and innovative products into these various markets, several of our members have been formally recognised by their peers for their work. 

EFU Life (Pakistan) was awarded the ‘Best Life & Health Insurance Company’ at the 18th Consumers Choice Awards 2024. They have protected over 7.5 million lives and forged over 33 strategic partnerships across 12+ ecosystems, including fintech, retail, telecom and banking, ensuring deeper and broader market penetration. EFU Life supported families in need by disbursing over USD 2 million in claims, achieving a remarkable 99.32% claims settlement ratio, a testament to the company’s reliability and customer-centric approach. They also developed the first micro saving/pension product.

Technology-led distribution and consulting company, MicroNsure (India), is a National Award-Winning Start-Up by Govt. of India, in Best Fintech Category, also won multiple awards like the Pride of Telangana Awards, organised by Round Table India. They were established in June 2020 and have successfully covered 9.3 million consumers and partnered with 1400 institutions across 22 states in India, enabling them to bring insurance to underserved communities across the country. As a Stanford Seed Company, they have also launched several programmes to support microinsurance professionals in developing better products for their customers. 

And UAE-based insurance distribution platform Democrance was awarded Best Insurance Distribution Platform UAE 2024 and Leading Insurance SaaS for Emerging Markets UAE 2024 at the World Business Outlook Awards. They were also finalists in four categories in the MENAIR Awards 2025.

Finally, Pioneer Insurance celebrated 70 years of operating in the insurance sector. During this time, the company has shown its dedication to people and the planet through several initiatives, from eco-friendly office buildings to creating scholarship programmes and building a community to support families in need. As part of its milestones, Pioneer Insurance, in partnership with CARD Pioneer Microinsurance (CPMI), launched the book “Covering Nanay: The Philippine Microinsurance Journey” in 2024, authored by Dr. Aristotle Alip, CARD MRI founder and Lorenzo Chan, Jr., President and CEO of Pioneer Inc., together with Pia Yupangco. This inspiring work highlights the transformative collaboration between CARD MRI, Pioneer Insurance, and the Nanay (Filipino for “mother”) agents. The book illustrates how CPMI, with the Nanays at its heart, revolutionised the Philippine microinsurance sector, establishing it as a global standard for financial inclusion.

The recognition of inclusive insurance players on the world stage highlights the innovation happening in our sector and its benefits to customers. It also shows other industries that we are being proactive in finding solutions to the growing challenge of climate change vulnerability.

Innovation drives our industry forward

Overall, 2024 has been a successful year for the inclusive insurance sector. Whilst there is still work to be done to increase market penetration and overcome protection gaps among the most vulnerable, it’s clear that we are moving in the right direction. This is largely due to companies moving away from the traditional ways of developing insurance products and instead using data and new technology to innovate. 

Increased collaboration across the industry is making innovation easier. This not only benefits the end-users who can access financial products that work for them, making them more resilient to the shocks they will face over the coming years, but it also ensures healthy, long-term growth for our sector too. We’re looking forward to seeing the new initiatives and partnerships that 2025 will bring.