The Insurance Regulatory Authority has partnered with Innovation Village Uganda, in a program dubbed 'IRA InsureX to support existing insurance players, startups, and other organizations using technology to build and increase access to insurance solutions.
Speaking at the launch of the program, the Director Planning, Research, and Market Development at Insurance Regulatory Authority Sande Protazio said the program will provide business development services and assist industry players to innovate, test and scale their innovative solutions to better serve their customers through digital channels.
He said people are worried whether their claims will be paid and paid in time so they want to see innovations through this partnership addressing such challenges.
" The products have remained extremely tradition, and the distribution is not appealing now the innovation we would like to see come out of this partnership should be able to address those challenges, and we target that by 2025, if those challenges are addressed we should be able to see penetration doubling ''
Sande stressed that as a regulator they will support innovators to get market validation of their ideas so they can develop appropriate regulatory approaches to enable them to succeed for the benefit of the insurance industry.
The lead Future lab studio Innovation Village Uganda Arthur Mukembo said this partnership will provide a safe space for entrepreneurs to innovate, build, and test market-driven innovations under a flexible regulator regime.
Mukembo says that this InsureX program is an opportunity for existing licensed players and innovators wanting to digitize to get support in building, testing, refining, and scaling these solutions in collaboration with the regulator.
Whereas Uganda's insurance sector continues to experience strong growth evidenced by the increase in the gross written premium over the years from 240 billion shillings in 2010 to 1.2trillion in 2021, there is a need for sector players to continue embracing innovation and adopt technology to increase market adoption of insurance solutions and creating opportunities to grow market share.
