Omega Ukama 
CASSAVA Smartech Zimbabwe (Cassava) says its insurance business lines grew significantly in 2019, buoyed by the group’s robust technology infrastructure.
The Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (Econet) spin-off said its insurtechs, EcoSure and Moovah, saw a 5 050 percent increase in short-term policies between November 2018 and November 2019, while life policies grew by 17 percent during the same period.
“The unique synergies inherent in the group’s businesses have given us an opportunity to bundle products and leverage on shared services to effectively launch and scale new services,” the company said last week in a trading update for the nine months to November 2019.
EcoSure and Moovah take advantage of Econet’s mobile network, which is the largest in Zimbabwe with more than eight million subscribers.
The recently established insurtechs also leverage on Cassava’s mobile money service EcoCash, which is also the largest in the country with more than six million subscribers.
The company reports that EcoSure-insured lives had grown to 2,8 million by August 2019, while Moovah active policies were 47 922.
Zimbabwean insurers have been urged to adopt digital service models to improve insurance penetration rate in the country, which at about two percent is alarmingly low.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec), which is aiming for the local industry to achieve a penetration rate of 20 percent, has also been pushing for the adoption of new technologies.
Meanwhile, Cassava says EcoSure and Moovah have managed to maintain their claims ratios at levels lower than the industry average.
The industry has had a hard time containing claims ratios in the hyperinflationary southern African economy.
According to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) Zimbabwe’s year-on-year inflation rate spiralled to 521 percent in December last year, from 481 percent in November.
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