Tech adoption augurs well for investment in Kenya

administrator July 26, 2017

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Left to Right: Coenraad Vrolijk, Regional CEO Africa Allianz, Oliver Baete, Chairman of the Board of Management of Allianz SE engage with Demba Sy, CEO Allianz Insurance Co. of Kenya at Allianz Kenya offices

NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – RAPID advances and adoption of technology in Kenya augurs well for foreign businesses investing in the country, an executive from one of the largest general insurance companies in the world has said.
Oliver Baete, Board Chairman of Allianz, said this when he visited the firm’s Kenya offices.
“Kenya has an economy that is leapfrogging traditional economies in the use of mobile technology. This has created a lot of ingenuity and innovation. We hope that we can take this to mature markets,” said Baete.
He added that East Africa is on the rise, particularly Kenya, with the middle class growing fast which has served to attract Foreign Direct Investments.
Baete expressed optimism about the company’s prospects in Kenya.
“The population is evolving very quickly because of positive steps made in education and the strong entrepreneurial spirit which is a prerequisite for a successful insurance industry,” said Baete.
Allianz Group, founded 127 years ago, is among the top three financial institutions in the world. In Kenya, they launched their motor and home insurance with an aim of leveraging on their global experience.
Baete said that Allianz is looking at partnering with local firms such as banks and distributors to enable it penetrate the local market.
He said Kenya had one big advantage – its modern technology base.
“With the payment system such as M-Pesa and the huge leaps in technology, you get very efficient methods to create products and to service them unlike in other countries where they heavily rely on physical insurance structure,” he said.
Baete said Allianz has a strong digital agenda.
“We want to develop products for the digital age. Since most of Kenyans have a phone and many are now acquiring smartphones, this provides an excellent infrastructure for services we would like to offer across the space. We want to grow with the economy and grow with the population as well.”
The company has offices in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Congo Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Togo.

– CAJ News