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INSURANCE COMPANIES SHOULD START EMBRACING THE 21st CENTURY E-COMMERCE TYPE OF DOING BUSINESS

   Insurance in our African region is not seen as a very important necessity compared to other places in the world. For the past few decades since this practice was introduced to the African population it has been something for the elite only. It was tailor made for the working class people because they were the only group that was earning regular income and could afford to pay for the annual premiums. Such actions made the insurance companies that were there by then lay a very segregating foundation of this industry. As years followed more and more insurance companies from both local and international spectrum which were joining this market didn't bother to alter these barrios. These aspects later led into a mental state from the low income earners and people who were coming from the informal sector that such things like "Health insurance" policies were not ment for them. A tradition which have led to the stagnant grow of our insurance industry compared to others.
   Decades ago we were on the same level with the Banking industry but as years went by the banking sector had a steady growth compared to insurance. Banking also was viewed as an elite type of industry with countless list of rules just to acquire an account. Somewhere along the road they stopped and checked on how they were conducting their business and found that there was an upcoming of a threat from the micro-banking (Table-banking). In this type of banking was commonly formed by small businessmen and women who were vegetable venders and other small scale businesses. After all these the banking sector went back and sat down,went through the issue once again and consulted widely to come up with a banking solution which would take in all these people. With some few months of deploying field agents to teach these people who were already in groups how it's important to have an account.
  Insurance can also take such bold step to initiate a slow but steady growth of the industry. Something like health is more basic than banking but if we were to take statistics you'll see that there are more people in terms of percentage,who have bank accounts but no medical insurance policy. It might seem abnormal but this shows the amount of people who are not aware of the importance of insurance. Another aspect that is really letting this industry down is the number of fraud stars present in the industry. There have been thousands of cases which are voiced by potential clients that they have been duped insurance sales persons,agents,brokers and even main stream companies. Claims go unsettled,premiums defaults and even closing down of insurance companies without the knowledge of the clients.
  Another big blow that this industry is facing is the slow pace that they are embracing technology in way of doing business. More companies are now embracing technology to ease the cost of operation and increase consumer volumes. This might be also the right time that insurance company to take this path to see it's future growth in revenues. With the same media they can also spread the importance of insurance to the wide population despite the background you are coming from. Relevant organizations both local and international once again should champion such initiatives in terms of funding and networking of researchers so as to come up with insurance policies that could favor the masses.         

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