Digital insurance platform mTek has partnered with Kyosk.app and Fin Africa to provide insurance coverage to over 100,000 Kenyan dukas, or informal retail shops. This innovative partnership aims to address the underinsurance of the informal retail sector, which employs over 80% of the Kenyan workforce, but faces a wide range of insurable risks, such as business interruption, theft, damage to property, cyber-attacks, and loss of stock.
According to mTek CEO Bente Krogmann, the partnership will provide a paperless ecosystem to facilitate the purchase of the BRITAM product, with Kyosk.app serving as the direct link to its network of 100,000 informal retailers and Fin Africa providing affordable financing options for the insurance services.
“We have come together to become enablers and protectors of the informal retail sector through insurance products, contributing to the growth of Kenya’s economy,” Krogmann said. “With the adoption of digital services by informal retailers, mTek’s paperless services offer business owners accessibility, convenience, and affordability.”
Kyosk.app Head of Innovations Elijah Maina also emphasized the importance of this partnership in empowering Kenya’s informal retailers and smallholder farmers to protect their profits as they grow their livelihoods.
“Every day, informal retailers are exposed to risks that could negatively impact their businesses from loss of inventory due to fire or theft or loss of profit due to hospitalization,” Maina said. “Through this partnership, we have a bespoke insurance product that caters for all these risks under one cover, facilitating business continuity for the informal retailers, moreso dukas.”
This partnership comes at a crucial time, as the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) reported in 2021 that insurance penetration in Kenya was only 2.23% of the country’s total GDP. With digitization and innovative insurance products like this, it is clear that the adoption of insurance products is critical in driving economic growth and stability in Kenya.
“Kenya’s economy is underpinned by the informal retail sector. The sector drives both employment and GDP,” said Fin Africa CEO Tonderai Mutesva. “Fin is proud to do its part by providing traders within the Kyosk.app network with a funding solution that will help them access insurance.”
This partnership is an important step in addressing the underinsurance of the informal retail sector in Kenya, which employs a large percentage of the country’s workforce, and will help to support the growth and stability of Kenya’s economy. With digital and customized insurance products starting as low as 74 KES per month, this partnership will make it more convenient and affordable for small business owners to protect their livelihoods.
Read: Interview with Bente Krogmann on the growth of mTek services and the future of the insurtech firm
