Online Portal Launched to Boost Insurance Uptake

Pension fund administrator Zamara Group has unveiled an online portal that will allow customers to buy insurance policies and investment plans.

Dubbed e-Zamara, the portal will allow clients to buy policies such as motor insurance, retirement plans, domestic packages, travel insurance, and last rites from the comfort of their homes and offices.

Others are loss of job insurance, credit life insurance, and golfer's insurance.

The platform will enable customers to make insurance calculations, compare prices and choose policies and investment plans from a wide array of insurance firms.

Zamara Group chief executive officer (CEO) Sundeep Raichura said the new platform targets young people who are mostly uninsured.

"e-Zamara is about responding to the needs and the demands of the tech-savvy generation."

"Customers are definitely asking for more simplicity, choice, transparency as well as easier access to insurance and financial products," the CEO said, adding that the current insurance industry is complicated and fragmented, making it hard for young people to get insurance policies.

The launch comes at a time insurance brokers and companies are shifting to digital spaces to woo underserved and unserved consumers.

In October 2021, the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) said that insurance penetration in Kenya dropped to 2.43 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019, which was the lowest point in 15 years down from its 3.44 per cent peak in 2013.

To boost its digital strength, the firm announced that it will invest about 100 million over the next three years in technology as per its 2022-2025 strategic plan.

"The digital transformation of the insurance industry will require a considerable amount of capital to invest. However, investing in digital technology will be necessary if insurers are to stay relevant to consumers, " Raichura said.