Bharti Airtel, an Indian telecommunications services provider with operations in 150 countries, has partnered with MicroEnsure, a UK-based nonprofit microinsurance intermediary, to provide MicroEnsure’s microinsurance services to Airtel customers in Africa via mobile phone. The microinsurance products will be available in all 17 African countries that Bharti Airtel currently operates in, and will include options covering life, accidents, health and agriculture. Under the terms of the partnership, Airtel will market and distribute the microinsurance services using its established local brand and infrastructure. MicroEnsure will design and implement products, facilitate international underwriting support, provide technology and perform administration and customer service.
This partnership comes in the face of an alleged growing demand for microinsurance services in Africa; according to a study published by Making Finance Work for Africa, a Tunesia-based partnership of 13 development institutions that focuses on promoting financial sector development in all of Africa, between 2010 and 2012 the microinsurance market grew by approximately 200 percent in the continent. Despite this growth, only approximately 5 percent of Africans outside of South Africa currently have microinsurance.
MicroEnsure provides microinsurance products to approximately 3.5 million clients in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia as of 2012. As of the same year, Bharti Airtel has total assets of USD 636 billion and approximately 261 million subscribers across 150 countries.
By Makai McClintock, Research Associate
About MicroEnsure
MicroEnsure was founded in 2005 in the UK as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit microfinance network created in 1974. MicroEnsure was known as the Micro Insurance Agency until 2008. As an insurance intermediary, it provides a range of products including health, life, property and weather index-based insurance to approximately 3.5 million poor clients through retail providers in Ghana, India, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Malawi, the Philippines, Tanzania and Kenya as of 2011.
About Bharti Airtel
Founded in 1995, Bharti Airtel (Airtel) is an Indian telecommunications company. Airtel operates Airtel Money, where users can transfer money, pay bills and perform other financial transactions directly on the mobile phone. As of August 2012, has total assets of USD 636 billion and approximately 261 million subscribers across 150 countries.
About Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A)
The Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) Partnership was launched in October 2007 by the G8, a multilateral forum comprised of eight country members. Its mission is the establishment of a common platform for the harmonization and facilitation of financial sector development and knowledge in Africa. The partnership brings together donors, African governments, the private sector and other financial sector stakeholders with the aim of unleashing the potential of Africa’s financial sector in order to drive economic development and reduce poverty across the continent.
Sources and Additional Resources
MicroEnsure Press Release, “Airtel Africa Partners with MicroEnsure for Mobile Microinsurance,” http://www.microensure.com/news.asp?id=267&start=0
MicroCapital story, January 22, 2013, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroEnsure to Tap Data from Meteo Rwanda to Provide Weather Index Insurance for Farmers,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-microensure-to-tap-data-from-meteo-rwanda-to-provide-weather-index-insurance-for-farmers/
MicroCapital story, November 28, 2012, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroEnsure Ghana Unveils “Edusave”, Incorporating Insurance, Savings, and Education Finance,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-microensure-ghana-unveils-edusave-incorporating-insurance-savings-education-finance/
MicroCapital Universe Profile: MicroEnsure
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=MicroEnsure
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Bharti Airtel
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Bharti+Airtel
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A)
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Making+Finance+Work+for+Africa+%28MFW4A%29
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