BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR — With Nigeria’s insurance penetration persistently hovering below 1% despite a massive market of over 220 million people, top insurance executives are charting a major pivot toward retail markets, micro-insurance, and digital delivery systems.
The strategy formed the core of regional executive briefings at the African Insurance Organisations (AIO) conference, where operators admitted that traditional reliance on heavy corporate business must give way to tech-driven, affordable personal lines if the industry is to survive and scale.
In a direct bid to capture tech-literate consumers outside major urban centers, Linkage Assurance Plc has launched its dedicated mobile application, designed to mimic the frictionless experience of retail mobile banking.
Daniel Braie, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Linkage Assurance Plc, described the application as the company’s frontline strategy for grassroots expansion.
Through the smartphone application, users can buy policies, print statutory certificates, lodge claims, and route customer service inquiries entirely via their mobile devices.
“Once there’s network from your phone, you can do all your insurance transactions,” Braie stated. While acknowledging that rural poverty and basic literacy remain structural barriers, he emphasized that the company is systematically targeting literate, asset-owning individuals across various regions.
“We are targeting those that we believe will purchase insurance… those who have cars or properties they want to insure. With our app, you can reach out to any of them, wherever they are located.”
