Our EVP Richard Leftley features on the InsurTech Business Series podcast, examining the obstacles encountered by MIC, the potential that persists through innovation and technology, and the experimentation with different models, identifying which ones have proven effective. (50m 23s).
Visit Insurtech Business Series for more information.
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At MIC Global, we believe in a workplace where people don’t have to water down who they are. The diversity of our team is what gives us the capacity to challenge the norm and push past the boundaries of groupthink. Diversity to us is the differences of individuals – different races, genders, ages, backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities.
We provide a space where the women and men who work at MIC are encouraged to share both their masculine and feminine sides. We believe both vulnerability and assertiveness are important qualities in the workplace. We dispel the stereotypes that women being aggressive are bossy or that men showing emotion are weak. It takes strength and courage for a person of any gender to speak up and show emotion.
We know that success requires the Yin and Yang – a combination of both the right and left-brained… the creatives and the number crunchers… the introverts and the extroverts. It’s a delicate balance – but always tilted towards resolution and moving forward.
The reason we’re able to create great insurance products for people living in Accra, Ghana is the same reason we’re able to create effective insurance products for gig workers living in New York City – because we have members of our team who live in both places. We have people from MIC who are physically on the ground in 5 continents, immersed in the everyday life of the regions. They understand people’s needs and the risks they face.
We share our values with you in hopes that you can understand a little bit more about who we are and what we stand for. We are working hard to build a global safety net so that we can expand our whole-hearted belief in inclusion for everyone. Diversity is magic.
TANZANIA (March 1, 2021) – MicroEnsure, part of the MIC Global (MIC) – the world’s first end-to-end digital insurance platform, appoints TanManagement Insurance Brokers Limited as their representative in Tanzania for the growth of digital and microinsurance products. At MIC, our mission is to provide a simple safety net, so when the unexpected happens, people can bounce back swiftly. We do this by delivering relevant insurance through our digital channels and partners allowing us to access the more than 4 billion people and 100 million businesses that make up our community across the globe.
MIC has been working diligently to partner with like-minded businesses and organizations in order to grow the distribution of microinsurance globally. The appointment of TanManagement, as MicroEnsure’s representative in Tanzania, is part of this process. Under this arrangement, we will develop new and innovative insurance products and deliver them to millions of individuals and businesses. These insurance products will be distributed through technologically enabled seamless digital processes, leveraging license and outreach provided by TanManagement.
‘‘This partnership is a significant step towards fast growth of insurance penetration in Tanzania which otherwise has one of the lowest insurance penetration rates in the region. Both MicroEnsure and TanManagement are leveraging each other’s strengths and building a strong foundation of providing most relevant insurance products to millions of customers of FinTechs, mobile network operators, digital wallets, microfinance institutions and digital platforms.’’ –
Rehan Butt VP Sales Operations of MIC
“This partnership is the most logical next step for our Group as it will create substantial value for Customers throughout the Country. It will benefit Customers through new services and expand the current service capabilities. It is also very much in line with the Governments’ vision of ensuring 50% of Tanzanians are Insured by 2028. We look forward to playing our part with this vision and look forward to the future of Insurance in Tanzania.”
Mohammed Jaffer, Group CEO of TanManagement Insurance Brokers Limited
“I have known TanManagement for several years and I am very pleased that we have been able to form this exciting partnership to widen our mission to deliver a simple safety net to the businesses and peoples of Tanzania.”
Harry Croydon, COO and President MIC Global
MicroEnsure is a part of MIC Global (MIC). MIC was formed through the merger of Micro Insurance Company and MicroEnsure. MIC is the global insurance platform delivering technology, underwriting, policy management and distribution. MIC provides insurance to platforms, businesses, millions of micro & small businesses, and to the 4 billion people on the planet that are currently unserved.
Whereas most Insurtechs seek to improve existing monoline products and markets, we follow the concept of straight through processing. We do this in order to create highly relevant insurance products that we can offer via our platform globally at very low cost so that we can support people in their local communities. MIC is the world’s first global end-to-end digital micro insurance platform that has combined reinsurance capacity, in-country insurance licenses, world class distribution, and market leading AI functionality. More details – www.micglobal.com
TanManagement Insurance Brokers Limited is a private Limited Liability company registered in Tanzania under the Companies ordinance Cap 212 and issued with a Certificate of Incorporation No. 35174. In the past 10 years, the company has grown from a small office in Moshi to being one of the top 10 Brokerage Firms in Tanzania. For more details, log on to www.tm.co.tz
PAKISTAN (Feb. 23, 2021) – Marie Stopes Society Pakistan has entered into a strategic collaboration with MicroEnsure (part of MIC Global) to introduce a new health care initiative under the Delivering Accelerated Family Planning in Pakistan (DAFPAK) programme funded by UK – Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Pakistan with the name of “Sehatyab Programme” for the women and their families living in low and middle-income communities of Karachi. Through this programme, services like general out-patient, family planning & maternal and child health services can be availed at a considerably low amount in addition to free health insurance for women and their families. The Development Director to the British High Commission in Pakistan Annabel Gerry said;
“The UK is committed to support Pakistan in increasing access to family planning services and healthcare facilities especially for the most vulnerable women. We’re proud to invest in the Sehatyab microinsurance programme which will directly improve the lives of 5000 families including women, children and men in Karachi, Sindh through the provision of quality maternal and child care health facilities.”
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Asma Balal Country Director, Marie Stopes Society Pakistan stated that:
“In Pakistan, maternal complications such as post-partum infection and hemorrhage account for over 50% of maternal mortalities. Additionally, financial barriers and lack of social security systems make poor women most vulnerable in terms of being able to access essential reproductive health services. The Sehatyab programme will improve the economic well-being of women and their families by reducing out-of-pocket health expenditures, as well as result in reduced maternal and neonatal mortality rates through increased provision of mother and child health and family planning services for improved treatment outcomes.”
Appreciating the partnership as another step towards the goal of reaching out to the tens of millions of uninsured and under-insured Pakistanis, Mr. Rehan Butt Vice President of MIC added that:
“We are very excited to work with Marie Stopes Society on this project. We have a track record of developing simplified insurance products and processes which help build faith for common men and women in insurance as an important risk management tool. Marie Stopes Society and MicroEnsure have a mission of serving the underserved communities in Pakistan and have a natural strategic fit for collaboration. We are confident that this partnership will go a long way in extending affordable financial protection to those who need it the most.”
Marie Stopes Society (MSS) is a Pakistan based local organization, registered under the Societies Act, 1860 since 1990. MSS Pakistan is one of the leading private sectors services providing organization with a focus on sexual and reproductive health services, especially family planning with a network of 26 Behtar Zindagi Centres, 03 maternal and child health clinics, 400+ social franchises network, 6 Meri Pharmacies, and 15 Roshni mobile units for outreach activities spanning over 30 districts in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces reaching out to the most strategic and rural districts in Pakistan. More information is available at www.mariestopespk.org and 0800-22333.
MicroEnsure Pakistan (Private) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of MicroEnsure Holdings, UK – part of the STP Group Holdings. The company is a licensed insurance broker by the SECP and a specialist provider of innovative mass market insurance solutions. The STP Group aims to provide insurance safety net to millions of micro & small businesses and to the 4 billion people on the planet that are currently un/under served. Insurance is a highly fragmented market fixated on complex products, cumbersome customer journeys and stymied systems that prevents the swift payment of claims. The STP Group has created the world’s first global end-to-end digital microinsurance solution that will combine reinsurance capacity, in-country insurance licenses, world class distribution and market leading AI functionality. For more information visit www.micglobal.com
ACCRA, GHANA (Nov. 25, 2020) – MIC Global (MIC) is proud to announce that we have secured a grant from UNCDF after a competitive process of request for application. The grant will enable us to provide free insurance to thousands of MSMEs in Ghana. Our objective is to minimize the social and economic impact COVID-19 has wrecked on poor communities. This includes small to medium sized businesses such as farmers, grocery vendors, and porridge sellers.
We have created an 8-in-1 bundled income protection insurance in order to stimulate a faster economic recovery. We are utilizing our ongoing partnerships with Vodafone, Opportunity International and Advans Ghana Savings and Loans, Danone as well as MTN Mobile Money in order to distribute the insurance product to affected MSMEs. While our main goal is to mitigate the havoc caused by Covid-19, we have also worked hard to create a user-friendly experience. By doing so, our hope is to change the overall perception around insurance into a positive one, thus, encouraging MSMEs to purchase paid insurance for their businesses in the future after their period of free cover expires.
Christiana Abdullai who sells porridge (local breakfast made from millet) and has banked with Opportunity International for over 10 years has been rewarded with 12 months free protection cover. We look forward to seeing how this improves her economic situation and her general perception of Insurance.
“At the heart of MIC’s work lies a great need to bring relief and restore confidence in livelihoods. We are surrounded by risks everyday, which do not necessarily go away if we ignore them. This project helps us to show MSME owners that their lives can be better and their businesses can be safeguarded. Cheers to a year of free insurance protection for MSMEs in Ghana.”
Leona Abban, Ghana Country Manager for MIC Global
Triple threat: A person, especially a performer or athlete, who is proficient in three important skills within their particular field. This generally makes them highly successful.
Within cricket for example, there are 14 batsmen with international hundreds in all three formats from Ireland, West Indian, two New Zealanders, three Indians, a couple of Sri Lankans, a pair of Aussies, a Bangladeshi, a South African, a Pakistani… and no Englishmen. Kevin O’Brien (Ireland); Chris Gayle (West Indies) ; Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) ; KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, and Rohit Sharma (India) ; Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka) ; Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell (Australia) ; Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh) ; Faf du Plessis (South Africa) ; Ahmed Shehzad (Pakistan) .
Triple threat for movie field would be a person who is a writer, producer and director. For example you can look to James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Peter Jackson and George Lucas and they have all delivered movies on a global scale with huge box office results.
How can this be considered in business too. What is a triple threat insurance company? What are the three factors you need to make a highly successful insurance company? Technology – Capacity – Distribution
When you look at the new insurtech players like Lemonade or BIMA or ByMiles or Bought by Many we see one or two of the three elements in their armoury but not 3.
Lemonade and ByMiles have the tech and but rely on their partners for Capacity plus they are fighting in the distribution arena ny going direct. BIMA may have distribution, but again capacity is via a partner. All these are weak in 1 or 2 areas. They are relying on partners for capacity and what if this changes? They need money for marketing and what if this starts to become harder to get? They have tech but can they sustain its growth as they scale?
I am not saying we have all the answers however we believe we are a triple threat in insurance to our competition and this gives us the edge.
Technology – we have our own tech team. This is being built in the markets where we develop and sell our products. This means the tech is both for our customers and managed with them in mind. We have a depth of talents, traditional insurtech together with AI and Machine Learning capabilities.
Capacity – we are a licenses P&C and Life carrier. This means we can write a wide range of products from property through to life covers. This means we can put a customer at the centre and support their needs. Life. Property. Work. What ever they want we can support them. We don’t have to rely on other companies to moderate our ambition.
Distribution – this is where the insurance industry normally hands over to aggregators or brokers. We don’t. We have built up partners that allow us to embed our products in to systems that are direct to customers. The sales friction is reduced and the customer journey is greatly improved.
We match our key capabilities with our people. Our people are experts in insurance and sales. Our triple threat capabilities empower our people to deliver the best products and service that we can. Our people have these three core capabilities at their fingertips and this powers our company forward.
What is the saying? “To have a finger in every pie”. Someone who has a finger in every pie is involved in a lot of different activities or knows about a lot of different things. This idiom can be used positively, to show that someone is energetic and has varied skills and interests. However, in a different context, it can be used in a more critical way, to say that someone is too involved in activities that should not concern them.
As a start-up – well we are a mature start up in that we have recently merged several companies with pedigree going back over 16 years – we are always being pushed to focus by industry specialists and gurus and we do indeed focus. However, when I look around successful insurance companies and insurance agencies always see diversity in their business, indeed spreading risk across a multitude of areas is all part of insurance success. I see companies with fingers in many pies.
Having a diverse and spread book of business is an essential part of our success and strength.
I have been accused of having fingers in many pies and when I have presented alongside other start-ups we are the only company that has a diverse book of business. Lemonade has only just added a second line of business in pets, by miles is only about cars, and we see this single focus all the time. And yet the successful insurance companies – many that back these insurtechs – have a very wide cross section of business and so they should – it spreads the risk. Successful insurance players know that you need a wide portfolio to have long term success.
We are a digital insurance company. Our goal is to server the unserved globally, these are individuals and businesses, all people who cannot readily find a relevant insurance product to serve their needs. By definition, this is a diverse and large cross section of risks. We are committed to serving our community and building services and products to reduce the risks for them and be the safety net when things happen.
When people look at our company we will not fit in the normal insurtech box and we more accurately fit into the digital insurance company box. This is a box with very few companies in it.
Incumbents are on the edge of this box in that they have digital initiatives and goals and we see them moving slowly into the circle.
Insurtechs are also on the periphery and many are digital but again few are taking the risk, they are effectively part of the MunichRe train or other insurance investors in this space.
So the upshot of the accusation of fingers in pies is that we will continue to grow our business and focus on building a diverse book of business to protect our community. Without a strong company, you cannot do all the things that you want to do. If you want to help the unserved, as we do, then you need a strong and wide platform to leap from.
What is it? A significant, positive change that addresses a pressing social challenge.
Can we do it? Creating social impact is the result of a deliberate set of activities with a goal matching definition above.
The point about the social part of the phrase is that the impact has to be focused on creating change and supporting what we can all agree on to benefit human on the planet. By definition it’s an impact on something we care about.
Today many people want to work for companies create social impact. I get that. On our web site we have (had) a page on social impact and when I put this page up I believed that part of what we did was good things and I wanted to shout about them. Show we had a heart and wasn’t like other insurance companies.
However over the last few months I have been reviewing our efforts about social impact and I got to thinking….
We are an insurance company. Surely everything we do as an industry has a social impact? A conscious insurance company fully focus on its social impact and responsibility, is this the definition of social impact? Isn’t insurance the ultimate social impact service?
Is this true today? Much of the ‘western’ focused insurance effort is fully focused on addressing companies and people that MUST buy insurance to fulfil a contract obligation or to spread risk from their balance sheet or to mitigate risk in buying something. Their audience focus is top earning people or companies. Globally this represents the top 3%, companies in the top 30,000 out of the 100 million or so companies and top 200,000,000 people out of the general population of over 7 billion. This audience represents where a majority of insurance is sold globally by value. If there is social impact it is totally focused on the few not the masses. It’s where the top brokers and insurers are focused. Therefore, they is very little social impact generated by the general insurance industry.
What about the rest of the planet’s people and businesses? They are looking for social impact but they buy very little insurance, this I believe is the opportunity. The opportunity to discover why they don’t buy and then to deliver service and products to them to make insurance relevant and easy for them to participate in and to release the benefits of insurance to them and their community.
This is why I have taken our ‘social impact’ page down. We are social impact. Our message is that our services and products help you and your community in your time of need. We help the community recover quickly when things happen. This is our social impact. Providing a safety net to allow people to recover quickly is our way of providing social impact. Delivering social impact is through the core of our business and buried in our DNA.
MIC Global provides its social impact most visibly through the payment of claims; however, the purchase of the policy is equally important as this is where the community is built. When people take out a policy, they are supporting themselves and the community in equal measure. The act of buying a policy enables the customer to do things with the risk covered for themselves, their business and their family. This could be going on a long trip or taking a loan out to grow or protecting their property. The policy covers the risk and allows progress of the person, business, family and their community. The act of buying the policy builds up a premium pot in MIC, this allows us to pay claims when unfortunate things happen to our customers.
The payment of claims is especially important to us and we try to pay claims very quickly. The way we do this is to make it clear what is needed when the policy is taken out and then we track claims activity every day. On some our programs we even contact customers to make sure they are making claims if we think they should be. Creating social impact is what drives our company – the bigger the impact we make the more successful our products are. The result is positive economic activity and protection of that activity when things happen. The result is that a community grows in wealth and security over time.
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES (July 8, 2020) – Creation of the world’s first global end to end digital platform to bring micro transactional insurance to the unserved.
Effective 1st July 2020, STP Group merged with MicroEnsure and TonkaBI to create “The Micro Insurance Company” (later rebranding as the global insurtech “MIC Global”) which aims to provide insurance to internet platforms, millions of micro & small businesses and to the 4 billion people on the planet that are currently unserved
Insurers have been operating for decades and yet billions of people and millions of businesses still have no access to the safety net that insurance provides. Insurance is a highly fragmented market fixated on complex products, cumbersome customer journeys and stymied systems that prevents the swift payment of claims. The forming of “The Micro Insurance Company” will be the first global end-to-end digital micro insurance solution that will combine reinsurance capacity, in-country insurance licenses, world class distribution and market leading AI functionality.
Harry Croydon, CEO, STP Group, said
“Today’s announcement marks one of the most significant milestones in the history of the micro insurance industry. After years of market development, it is only now that the necessary technology has been developed so that we can offer complete micro insurance products to the unserved. We provide people with a simple safety net, so when the unexpected happens they can bounce back swiftly.”
MIC is formed through the merger of TonkaBI, STP Insurance Services, and MicroEnsure which brings together resources, expertise and skills in underwriting, technology and distribution. Whereas most Insurtechs seek to improve existing monoline products and markets, we follow the concept of straight through processing to create highly relevant insurance products and to offer them globally and very low cost so that we can support people in their local communities.
Richard Leftley, founder of MicroEnsure, said
“Today marks a new chapter for MicroEnsure, as the first dedicated micro insurance pioneer we needed to take on the role of underwriting; we have found the right partners to create, sell and service our own products globally and at a massive scale. We look forward with great excitement to working together to enhance lives of people globally.”
About Us
Micro Insurance Company (MIC Global)
The insurance industry has historically encouraged and protected socio-economic progress, but people and businesses are still desperately seeking workable solutions to their problems and many are left unserved. Global insurtech MIC Global was formed to address this large market globally and focuses on the unserved population and businesses of the world by providing an insurance platform that is capable of assuming various types of micro transactional insurance risk covering GIG Workers, IoT, Sharing Economy, Micro/Small Businesses and Weather, all managed through technology and delivered at low cost by using the principles of straight through processing. www.micglobal.com
TonkaBI
TonkaBI specialises in transforming the way you look at data by applying a data driven business intelligence approach. Our focus is to work with businesses who want to be data driven in this new area of insurance and technology. At our heart, TonkaBI is software development company that specialises in strategic development with a strong focus on AI, Computer Vision and RPA. TonkaBI enjoys helping our partners transform their businesses into digital platforms and solving their problems for better performance and higher growth. www.tonkabi.com
MicroEnsure
MicroEnsure is a pioneer in providing insurance to emerging consumers starting in 2002 within the microfinance community it rapidly grew to be the industry’s leading innovator being first to market with weather index insurance, using mobile networks to distribute insurance and creating over 200 products aimed at low income families. It has served over 65 million people by partnering with a range of MFIs, Banks, mobile networks and ride hailing companies across Africa and Asia.
MEDIA CONTACTS
EST time zone – Harry Croydon CEO harry.croydon@microinsurance.com
GMT time zone – Richard Leftley EVP International richard.leftley@microensure.com
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest.
The play is full of contradiction as the characters say one thing and then instantly reverse their stance to say the opposite thing.
This quote seems to sum up the play. Perhaps it sums up many businesses? Say one thing but do another.
Here at MIC Global we endeavour to say and act in the same. We are on a path to affect and look after the lives of many people through insurance.
This may seem an odd path to tread and the Oscar Wilde quote could sit quite nicely on top on the insurance industry – sell a policy and fight the claim. Style and Sincerity.
Integrity in important to us. We know we are the safety net. Our customers are not buying a policy because they expect to use it immediately, they are buying it to support them when the unexpected happens. We need to be there when this happens. We need to deliver in their time of need.
We are simplifying the insurance process though user friendly technology, simplified policies and quick claims processes. A digital insurance company that is connected start to finish.
What is microinsurance? Traditionally this is insurance for the developing world and generally term life, linked to a Micro Loan or a form of Accidental Death. We at MIC Global are extending this vision of microinsurance.
Our vision is insurance for the globe, across a range of products including term life and property and casualty for micro and small businesses and for people and families who have an annual income of less than $30,000 a year.
Micro and Small Businesses range from 1 person up to 50 people. These businesses could be an Uber driver, a small stall holder, a farm and up through to a start-up tech company and on to an established small manufacturing company. Community businesses, family businesses, your business.
Globally our target income bracket for customers will vary country by country. The aim is to always have products that are affordable and relevant to the person or business in that community.
