Innovative microinsurance solutions in Africa
aYo, the joint venture between MMI and MTN, is providing Africa's emerging markets with a revolutionary insurance offering, powered by Silvermoon's LUNOS platform.
Currently available in Uganda, Zambia and Ghana, aYo needed to develop novel insurance products in order to meet the needs of less affluent populations. Because the majority of these potential clients may not own a bank account or smartphone, two problems needed to be addressed: communication and billing.
While the ownership of smartphones might not be common, most people in these countries do have access to a basic model cell phone. This is why aYo opted to implement the USSD system to facilitate communication from clients instead of developing an app for smartphones, which would be more suited to first-world countries. For example, in Uganda, an MTN client can sign up for the insurance offering by dialling *296# before navigating the subsequent menus to customize their insurance policy, pay for premiums and submit claims.
Billing for these products presented another challenge. Here, Silvermoon's LUNOS platform enabled MMI to create the required administration platform with which clients interact through the USSD codes. Two key LUNOS capabilities are important here: product flexibility and flexibility in designing the billing and other financial processes. Indeed, billing for these products cannot be done on a monthly cycle through EFT. Instead, the premiums are paid for whenever the client purchases airtime. This requires a very different setup of the company's billing processes.
aYo is very successful in its target markets. It had a prudent initial start but quickly exceeded expectations with a million new clients added to the portfolio in the four months from July 2018 to October 2018. By April 2019, aYo was servicing over 3.5 million clients, and enrolling an average of over 80,000 new clients every day. The LUNOS driven solution is currently handling half a million business transactions per day, driven from the clients' cell phones. The solution is designed using a microservices approach so that the high workload can be handled with a relatively small hardware set.
For more information on aYo, click here >>
For the press release by MMI Holdings, click here >>
