By Kortor Kamara, Special Contributor, USA
The five-day international conference on inclusive insurance (ICII) 2021, organized and hosted by the Germany-based Munich Re Foundation and The Micro-Insurance Network ended on October 28, 2021.
The conference, opened by Mr. Dirk Reinhard, Vice Chairman of Munich Re Foundation and Chairman of the Conference Steering Committee, attracted over a thousand experts and participants, from all over the world, including myself representing both the US and Sierra Leone, kicked off on October 25, 2021 with the launch of “The landscape of inclusive insurance report, 2021 - Voices from the field”.
The conference, which included representatives from insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers, distribution channels, technology providers, investment funds, international organizations, NGOs and development aid agencies as well as insurance supervisory regulatory agencies, discussed and addressed ways of implementing programs and accelerating growth and economic viability of inclusive insurance for emerging markets.
Expert and innovative presentations were made by over 70 professionals from the insurance and finance industry, risk management, microfinance and microinsurance, government and insurance regulatory bodies, academics and consultants.
Through lectures and case studies, the conference sought to address such issues as how to make insurance work for women; index insurance certification; climate and pandemic risks; agricultural risk management; risk layering approaches to manage climate and disaster risks; challenges of reaching the client; distribution and technology; digitization facilitating inclusive insurance - leveraging mobile and digital solutions for inclusive health insurance in low and middle income countries; digital health; Insur-Tech for inclusive insurance; how insurance supervisors can adapt to drive innovation.
Representatives from Africa based companies and institutions also made presentations at the conference, including the Insurance Federation of Egypt; National Health Insurance Authority, Ghana; PharmAccess, Ghana; Area Yield Index Insurance Program, Kenya; Britam, Kenya; CarePay, Kenya; Takaful Insurance of Africa, Kenya; Hollard, Mozambique; Radiant Yacu, Rwanda; WHO, Rwanda; Cenfri, South Africa; IAA Microinsurance Working Group, South Africa; Insurance Regulatory Authority, Uganda.
Next year’s 2022 ICII conference is slated to be hosted by the Insurance Association of Jamaica, and held in Jamaica, whose Minister of Finance announced the introduction of health micro insurance access for all Jamaicans during this fiscal year at the conclusion of this year’s conference.
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