NEW YORK, May 31, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MicroEnsure (now part of the Micro Insurance Company) and ImaliPay are partnering to deliver digital insurance products to Africa's gig workers. These unique insurance products will provide this underserved sector with a safety net, so when the unexpected happens, people are able to bounce back swiftly.
Micro Insurance Company (MIC) is focused on providing end-to-end microinsurance products to the mass market at affordable premiums. ImaliPay is a fast-growing Pan African and VC-backed financial services platform focused on offering credit, savings, and insurance via a single channel or API to Africa’s gig economy platforms. ImaliPay deploys short-term finance easily and quickly to enable their customers to generate more revenue from their gig work.
ImaliPay is partnering with MIC to deliver insurance products to their growing customer base of gig workers in Kenya. This partnership will empower gig workers by providing insurance tailored to their needs and their level/proportion of income generation. Furthermore, the addition of this insurance product will help improve the quality of life for delivery, ride-sharing, and mobility sector workers.
The majority of gig workers, especially in the ride-sharing sector, remain active despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the nature of their jobs, they remain at high risk for contracting Covid-19 with minimal access to insurance coverage to protect them. Therefore, this insurance product being offered through the partnership between MIC and ImaliPay will cover Covid-19 as well as a range of other risks including health, death, disability, and property destruction.
Micro Insurance Company brings its comprehensive trajectory and track record in providing microinsurance which ImaliPay will leverage to provide insurance products to its customers.
Ms. Wairimu Njoki, Country Manager, MicroEnsure East Africa, says:
“We are delighted to be partnering with ImaliPay to boost the rising gig economy by providing social protection through innovative, need-based insurance. This is in line with our audacious goal of insuring the 4 billion un/underinsured lives globally.”
Uptake of insurance remains low in Kenya, with poor product design and constrained distribution channels contributing to low insurance penetration levels. MIC and ImaliPay join forces to address both of these issues – using ImaliPay’s platform as a route to access these services along with their knowledge of the gig workforce, and MIC's expertise in product design to ensure optimal product consideration and adjusted premiums.
Tatenda Furusa, Co-founder of ImaliPay, says:
“At the very heart of our business, we are concerned with re-defining our customer experience by providing a wider product basket and prioritising the products that are most important/necessary to our customers. Insurance sits right at the forefront of our customer needs and we’re happy to be catering to those needs with this collaboration.”
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a03b4557-90ee-4a47-9930-15ef8fe577c7