Britam said it is banking on her decade-long tenure at Safaricom — having steered M-Pesa to be an integral revenue arm of the telco from its launch in March 2007 — to entrench mobile technology at the listed insurer.
Britam has tapped former Safaricom head of M-Pesa, Betty Mwangi-Thuo, as commercial director for the insurance group.
Ms Mwangi-Thuo took up the new role at Britam on December 1, 2016. She will be in charge of employing technology to integrate and develop innovative products for Britam’s insurance, asset management, pension, and real estate units.
Ms Mwangi-Thuo left Safaricom at the end of March to ‘‘pursue personal interests,’’ according to an internal memo by chief executive Bob Collymore.
Britam said it is banking on her decade-long tenure at Safaricom — having steered M-Pesa to be an integral revenue arm of the telco from its launch in March 2007 — to entrench mobile technology at the listed insurer.
“Betty will lead Britam’s commercial division whose focus is to maximise productivity through leveraging on key distribution channels to generate profitable business and drive innovation around products, markets and processes to improve customer experience,” said Britam Holdings Group managing director Benson Wairegi.
“Her vast experience in the telecommunications and mobile telephony industry gives her a competitive edge to discharge this mandate,” he added.
The need for an ‘‘Uber’’ moment for insurers comes as underwriters face increased competition and seek to cut reliance on mandatory covers and stock market earnings.
Analysts at Standard Investment Bank reckon that tech and innovation will greatly shape insurance business in the future.
“We expect the industry to remain under pressure as competition continues to intensify, need for innovation to increase product uptake becomes more urgent,” said SIB in a research note.
Britam’s hiring of Ms Mwangi-Thuo is a strong signal that the financial services firm is keen to roll out insurance, pension and asset management products through mobile phones.
The insurer last year pulled the plug on ‘‘Linda Jamii’,’ a mobile-based medical insurance scheme offered in partnership with Safaricom. With annual premiums starting at Sh12,000 and paid via M-Pesa, the product targeted the mass market with benefits of up to Sh250,000.
Kenya’s insurance industry saw gross underwritten premiums grow by 7.3 per cent the first nine months of this year to Sh144.76 billion.
This translates to an insurance penetration rate of 2.33 per cent of Kenya’s GDP. Analysts attribute this low figures to the fact that Kenyans only take up insurance that is mandatory in law, such as motor insurance.
The entry of Ms Mwangi-Thuo may also see Britam venture into running a mobile-based pension scheme where contributors pay via mobile money low amounts daily, weekly or monthly. Mbao Pension Plan, owned by KCB Bank, is a voluntarily saving for informal workers who can save as low as Sh20 per day for their retirement.
Britam is currently implementing a Sh3 billion IT project dubbed ‘‘Jawabu’’ — meant to integrate all products in a seamless platform to drive earnings.
Britam Holdings shrugged off the bearish run at the Nairobi bourse to nearly triple half-year profits to Sh1.77 billion as at June from Sh624 million in a similar period a year earlier.
The performance was helped by Britam disposing of some shares held on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and instead putting the money on government papers which offered better returns.
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