Jim Roth, MicroInsurance Centre, USAJim has over 15 years worth of experience in development finance. Over the last decade he has focused on microinsurance. In 1998 he read for a PhD at Cambridge University on microfinance. During his fieldwork, undertaken in a small African town, he observed the centrality offuneral insurance in the financial transactions of the poor. This experience led him to dedicate his time to understanding and promoting the use of insurance services by the poor. In 2000 he began working for the International Labour Organisation in Geneva on microinsurance. Here he lead a research project in a number of countries which explored among things, the possible role of commercial insurers in expanding access to insurance by the poor. This work culminated in a text book and training course on developing partnerships between commercial insurers and a distribution network(microfinance institutions). In 2004 he was chief technical adviser to donor project on microinsurance in India. In this project he trained MFI managers and assisted them in developing partnerships with commercial insurers. He also worked with a commercial insurer on an alternative distribution strategy involving micro-agents. From 2005-2007, Jim worked as vice-president of the MicroInsurance Centre, a dedicated consulting firm. Here he worked on a number of projects including finding and evaluating microinsurance investment opportunities for development banks and insurers, and developing microinsurance products and distribution networks for commercial insurers. One of the largest project lead by Jim was a survey of microinsurance in the world's 100 poorest countries. Jim is now a partner in, and founding member of, the Leap Frog Microinsurance Fund. This is the world's first fund dedicated to investing in commercial microinsurance. |