NMB Bank has launched the third edition of the ‘Umebima’ insurance literacy and awareness campaign in Mbeya.
The campaign seeks to drive home financial inclusion through increased uptake of insurance services.
Like its predecessors, the new risk management educational drive will be a nationwide expedition whose ultimate goal is to support the national inclusive insurance agenda.
Speaking at the event to inaugurate Umebima 2023 at Mwanjelwa-Kabwe in Mbeya city recently, NMB officials said the initiative was in line with aspirations of the government to enlighten the public on insurance matters and increase uptake of the service’s policies.
NMB’s Chief of Retail Banking, Mr Filbert Mponzi, said the current insurance penetration rate of 1.6 per cent was unfavourably low hence the need to mobilise more people to cover themselves and insure their properties against risks.
Mr Mponzi said principally the Umebima campaigns seek to address that anomaly by mostly educating excluded and underserved segments of society on the relevance and benefits of insuring both life and property.
He told the Umebima launch gathering that since obtaining the bancassurance licence in 2020, NMB has been tirelessly championing insurance awareness and the outcome of the venture has been impressive.
He said that the government was visionary in coming up with the bancassurance idea since the innovative insurance distribution channel was playing a decisive role in realising national insurance inclusion ambitions.
“Being a bancassurance agent, we are obliged to support the government’s insurance agenda by working closely with Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) to ensure more Tanzanians embrace and have proper understanding of insurance services,” he noted.
This is the first time the Umebima campaign has been launched outside Dar es Salaam with Mr Mponzi saying doing it in Mbeya was strategic and part of the bank’s insurance literacy endeavour to cover the whole of Tanzania.
Citing victims of the Mwanjelwa and Kariakoo market fires, he said the Umebima investment has been a success as more people are increasingly benefiting from policy coverage against unexpected losses or damage.
“After the Dar es Salaam Kariakoo Market inferno, within a week we helped traders to be compensated with over 400m/-by one of our bancassurance partners,” the consumer banking expert explained.
The head of NMB’s insurance unit, Mr Martine Massawe, said the bank offers bancassurance services in partnership with 10 insurance companies.
In his speech to inaugurate Umebima 2023, Mbeya Regional Commissioner Juma Homera commended NMB for leading the insurance uptake crusade through mass mobilisation efforts and its unrivalled market outreach of 228 branches across the country.
“Due to its relevance in insurance education and mobilising Tanzanians to embrace insurance services, the Umebima campaign has full support of both the regional and national governments,” Mr Homera said.
The event was also attended by the Commissioner of Insurance, Dr Baghayo Saqware, who said the undertaking of the campaign was pivotal for the advancement of the local insurance industry and better understanding of insurance services available in the market.
Through the initiative, he explained, NMB was making meaningful contribution towards attainment of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority’s target to uplift awareness of insurance to 80 per cent from the current level of 37 per cent as directed by the government.
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