World Bank Senior Economist Jane Kiringai, Prudential PLC chief
executive for Africa Matt Lilley (centre) and the outgoing British High
Commissioner, Dr Christian Turner, during the launch of a report on life
insurance markets in Africa at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi, on November
17, 2015. Dr Turner urged insurers to innovate to catch the eye of
tech-savvy Kenyans. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Outgoing British High Commissioner Christian Turner yesterday
challenged insurance companies to innovate products that target the
majority of Kenyans who have proved to be quick learners.
“I
do not like this thinking that nothing works in Kenya. I have heard it
before that in Kenya nothing works even traffic jams, graft, business,
but when you look at M-Pesa’s growth even my relatives back home in
Britain cannot understand a thing on money flowing through a mobile
phone platform.
“Kenya has great innovators who could
be tasked with coming up with an insurance product that meets the need
of the mass market and it is time we stopped saying nothing is possible
in Kenya. I have lived here and I know Kenyans are great people when it
becomes to business,” he said.
The High Commissioner
spoke yesterday when he participated in a panel discussion at Serena
Hotel in Nairobi where Prudential Life Insurance launched its study
titled Life Insurance markets in sub-Saharan Africa - Capturing the
benefits for economic development.
The report authored
by Overseas Development Institute Researcher, Dr Judith Tyson, found an
urgent need for addressing the poor perception of life insurance, which
is associated with death, a taboo topic in most Kenyan communities.
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