Digital insurance platform mTek has partnered with digital informal retail aggregator Kyosk.app and Fin, a focused fintech platform to provide insurance covers to over 100,000 Kenyan dukas.
Despite employing over 80 percent of the Kenyan workforce, the informal retail sector is underinsured and faces a myriad of insurable risks, including business interruption, theft, damage to property, cyber-attacks, and loss of stock.
mTek Chief Executive Officer Ms. Bente Krogmann said that mTek would provide a paperless ecosystem to facilitate the purchase of the BRITAM product, Kyosk.app will facilitate a direct and seamless link to its network of 100,000 informal retailers, and Fin will provide affordable financing 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. With the adoption of digital services by informal retailers, mTek’s paperless services offer business owners accessibility, convenience, and affordability,” said Ms. Krogmann.
Informal retailers affiliated with the Kyosk.app platform will access digital and customized insurance products starting from as low as Kenya Shilling 74 per month.
Kyosk.app Head of Innovations Mr. Elijah Maina said the partnership would empower 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. 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,” said Mr. Maina.
In 2021, the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) reported the insurance penetration at 2.23% of Kenya’s total GDP – with digitization and innovative insurance products being critical contributors to the adoption of insurance products.
“Kenya’s economy is underpinned by the informal retail sector. The sector drives both employment and GDP. 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” said Mr. Tonderai Mutesva Chief Executive Officer of Fin.