A market queen Ama Nyarko held the Kejetia Market Complex in the Central Business District of Kumasi to a listening attention when she shared her testimony about how micro-insurance product MTN Ayo had brought her relief and offered an opportunity to reach out to the less privileged.

According to the Abehemaa, (to wit the queen in charge of the sale of Palm); apart from the assurance of receiving claims to offset her medical bills, the micro-insurance scheme allows her to perform her Godly obligations of caring for humanity.

“Even if I don’t fall sick and someone else gets catered for because of my contributions, I have fulfilled the gospel. Jesus Christ said as you didn’t do for one of your neighbors, you didn’t do same for me. For everyone who gets healthcare, I get the blessing out of it,” She shared.

Her spontaneous testimony set the pace for the launch of the AYO Family Cover Insurance Product, a new addition to the MTN AYO Portfolio of Insurance offerings.

The product was launched to offer subscribers up to GHc15,000 life cover for a monthly premium of just GHc10 in the event of the demise of a subscriber or stated beneficiaries.

The package further offers hospitalization care of up to GHc300 per night spent at a hospital to the Subscriber and his or her family members, listed to benefit from the insurance.

Micro Insurance

With FinTech companies like Ayo leveraging the widely built telecommunications space to roll out easily accessible, affordable and convenient systems of transaction, the future looks bright for Ghana’s burgeoning micro-insurance industry.

Micro Insurance, a unique financial solution for financial inclusion within the microfinance bracket is set to revolutionize the uncomplimentary low penetration of insurance in the country.

Consequently, In just seven years of its launch and operation in Ghana, Ayo, a subsidiary of Telecoms Giant MTN has signed up a breathtaking 8.2 million subscribers, approximately a quarter of the 33 million Ghanaians.

Inferably, one in every four Ghanaians is signed up to the package which offers life insurance on the demise of subscribers and health insurance for general ailment and accidental hospitalization.

The insurance which is available only to MTN subscribers has so far paid out 14 million cedis in claims across its ‘Send With Care’ and ‘Recharge With Care’ products.

The Send With Care provides life, general healthcare and accidental Hospitalization cover of between GHC3,000 and GHc 30,000 for premiums charged on electronic cash transfers between subscribers and their beneficiaries.

The Recharge With Care on the other hand makes premium deductions from airtime to offer life insurance for a subscriber and a family member to the tune of Ghc6,000; general illness cover of up to GHc10,000 and GHc120 payment per day of hospitalization.

Changing the Narrative

Chief Executive Officer for Ayo Francis Gota is positive, the goodwill and patronage puts the company in a good stead to change the long held narrative that insurance belongs to an elite and wealthy class.

“In our market, many think insurance is for the rich and formal workers but we are leveraging technology to demystify that. Those who really need insurance is in the lower income bracket largely found in the informal sector of the economy because they need the protection the most,” he averred.

He explained how this product which is currently in operation in Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Cote D’Ivoire, Cameroon and Nigeria aligns with nine out of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).

Francis Gota is excited his company is able to provide a strong backbone for low and middle income families through the power of dialing *296*; transferring money via the *170* or opting for a yearly premium service through the *298*100# to enjoy ‘RELEVANT, ACCESSIBLE and easy to USE Insurance Solutions.’

He noted that the new product under the Family Cover Package covered persons as old as 65 years old up to children as young as a year old, distinguishing it from insurance packages that only accommodated persons above 18 years.

Affordability:

Hailing the initiatives, the Ntomahene of the Kumasi Central Market made particular notice of the possibility of every trader to make humble contributions of 30p every day to be availed of the extensive insurance cover.

“This is money that the head porter can get; the shoe shine can get 30p; and any worker no matter how small, can make this money to be protected in their time of need,”

Prompt Claims Payment

Head of Sales, Ayo Ghana, Marian Appiah Benjamin gave the firmest of assurances that with proof of hospitalization and death, subscribers were assured prompt claims settlement.

Speaking to Ultimate News’ Ivan Heathcote – Fumador, she outlined that MTN Ayo redeemed its claims for death of a beneficiary within 72 hours while cases of hospitalization and general illness took a maximum of 24 hours to honor claims.

She further indicated that subscribers could use the same short codes to conduct the claims requisition process from the comfort of their phones without having to visit an MTN Ayo office.

By: Ivan Heathcote – Fumador