Innovating for inclusivity, financial performance and impact

By Lemmy Manje*

The 2026 Annual TAG Inclusive Insurance Conference took place in Lusaka, Zambia, from 26 to 28 May. The event was co-hosted by the Pensions and Insurance Authority, the Munich Re Foundation and FinProbity Solutions. The conference convened national, regional and international stakeholders to explore how inclusive insurance can enhance financial resilience, market growth, social protection and sustainable development. Around 100 delegates attended the conference.

The 2026 TAG conference featured a dynamic mix of workshops, executive retreats, plenary and panel discussions, co-creation workshops, insurtech pitches, and networking opportunities. Key themes included microinsurance regulation, sandbox guidelines, insurance for human-wildlife conflict, carbon insurance, sustainable and digital insurance, inclusive health insurance, bancassurance, agricultural insurance and purpose-driven profit.

In her opening speech, the Registrar and CEO of the Pensions and Insurance Authority, Namakau Ntini, said that inclusive insurance is not just a social policy, but also a business opportunity. Experience from other markets shows that profitability and social impact can go hand in hand. Properly designed inclusive insurance can expand market reach, build customer trust and support sustainable long-term growth. She also emphasised that the conference issued a clear call to action: although the regulatory framework is now in place, the industry must act boldly. Insurers, intermediaries and innovators are urged to seize this opportunity by developing affordable, easy-to-understand products, and by leveraging technology and partnerships to reach rural and informal markets. The goal is to provide Zambians with real protection and resilience, not just more insurance.

In his recorded keynote speech, Arup Chatterjee, Head of the Capital Markets and Insurance Practice Team at the Asian Development Bank, emphasised that much of the conversation around risk in Africa focuses on underinsurance. However, the continent’s deeper challenge is not only low insurance penetration, but also the persistent failure to finance timely recovery following losses. In many developing countries, less than 10% of disaster losses are insured, leaving households and governments to absorb shocks that formal risk systems should mitigate. When financial support arrives late, what begins as a private loss quickly becomes a public burden, undermining resilience and exacerbating vulnerability.

He also emphasised that the future of insurance will not be determined by the sale of insurance policies, but by how well insurance systems respond to losses. Effective risk systems must be designed to work in layers, absorbing initial losses, providing immediate liquidity and transferring catastrophic exposures beyond national balance sheets. Crucially, the recovery process must begin quickly enough to prevent irreversible losses, such as the sale of assets or children dropping out of school. Other lessons from Asia include the importance of embedding insurance in trusted channels, pre-financing catastrophe risk, and earning credibility through fast, reliable claims handling. Although microinsurance has expanded globally, resilience will remain elusive unless access is matched by reliability. 

Shipango Muteto, President of the Technical Advisory Group on Microinsurance (TAG), emphasised that the TAG conference provides a platform to discuss strategies that can transform insurance markets in Zambia and around the world. The conference brings together regulators, insurers, reinsurers, brokers, innovators and development partners from Africa and beyond to discuss important issues relating to the viability and impact of inclusive insurance. He also pointed out that, as Zambia celebrates the new microinsurance regulations, supervisory frameworks and sandbox guidelines that are establishing the country as a leader in inclusive insurance, the question of how these initiatives will inspire and catalyse innovation across Zambia and Africa is inevitable.

The business case is growing

The 2025 FinScope Survey for Zambia shows that financial inclusion has increased significantly over the past five years. Overall inclusion rose from 69.4% in 2020 to 80.1% in 2025, while rural inclusion jumped from 55.9% to 72.5%. While still modest, insurance uptake grew from 6.3% to 10.4% over the same period. However, the survey also reveals that millions of Zambians remain vulnerable to medical costs, climate shocks and loss of livelihoods.  

Throughout the conference, a number of companies demonstrated that microinsurance can be profitable. Microinsurance Services Limited from Malawi demonstrated that inclusive insurance could be made commercially viable by designing products around the realities of low-income clients. The company showed a clear pathway from its establishment in 2018 to achieving profitability in 2022 and formal licensing in 2025. Its high level of female participation and 70% repeat customer rate suggested that low-income clients could understand, value and renew insurance policies if they were affordable, relevant and trustworthy.

Radiant Yacu, a dedicated microinsurance company, grew its client base from 356 in 2019 to 1,264,327 in 2025. This demonstrates the power of structured distribution partnerships with aligned vision and goals. Pioneer Insurance revealed that its path to profitability was fuelled by showcasing the effectiveness of insurance: promptly paying claims and providing support in times of need were key factors in Pioneer’s sustained growth. Similarly, Green Delta Insurance has shown that focusing on areas most vulnerable to agricultural risk has contributed to its success.

The partnership with FSDA’s BIMALab in this TAG conference edition added immense value, particularly by showcasing some of the most innovative insurtech solutions reshaping the distribution landscape of inclusive insurance across Africa which included Africom Assurance, Microinsurance Services Limited and Hobbiton Technologies.

Overall, the conference emphasised the importance of inclusive insurance for protecting low-income groups as well as and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) against risks related to climate, health, agriculture, and nature. The event showed that Zambia has the foundations in place to develop a stronger, more inclusive insurance market. However, translating these foundations into tangible progress requires decisive action. For inclusive insurance to fulfil its potential, products must be affordable, reliable, well-regulated, digitally accessible and provide genuine value when clients experience adverse events.

*Conference summary compiled by Lemmy Manje, CEO and Founder of Finprobity Solutions and Chair of the TAG Zambia Technical Committee, with inputs from Nilla Muyembe, Conference rapporteur and Research Associate at Finprobity Solutions and Dirk Reinhard, Vice Chair of the Munich Re Foundation. © 2026 Microinsurance Technical Advisory Group Zambia