More and more people in Ghana and Uganda are adopting the services of aYo, a mobile micro-insurance joint venture between MTN and SA’s third-biggest insurer Momentum Metropolitan.
Its products, which are designed for the lower-income segment of mobile phone users, focus on digitally enabled, high volume, low-value transactions offering flexible payment and cover options
“While aYo clients enrolments increased by a pleasing 233% to 4.0 million year-on-year, it has yet to achieve sufficient scale to fund the overhead costs,” said Momentum Metropolitan in its latest integrated annual report.
The JSE-listed insurer said the rollout of aYo to additional markets should help it achieve the necessary scale.
In 2017, Momentum Metropolitan and MTN launched aYo, a micro-insurance joint venture.
It began its roll-out in Uganda in January 2017 and has also been deployed in Ghana.
The insurer said it has plans to launch in Zambia.
“There are further plans for it to expand into four more African countries in the medium term.”
Momentum Metropolitan currently operates in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Botswana, Namibia, India, Kenya, and the UK.
The insurer is planning exit its operations in eSwatini, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
While MTN has 21 operations in both the Middle East and Africa.
With insurance penetration low in many countries in the African region, aYo aims to draw on the resources and capabilities that both companies provide to improve this and offer relevant, accessible and easy-to-use insurance solutions to consumers.
Meanwhile, MTN has collaborated with JSE-listed financial services group, Sanlam, to make a range of innovative and inclusive financial services available to MTN’s digitally savvy customers.
The company announced in July that the initial Sanlam product range that MTN will be making available via its digital platforms includes a funeral cover and a range of life products with unique extra benefits.
For more read: MTN, Sanlam to Offer Innovative Digital-Based Insurance
