Country: Kenya

FSD Africa and Jubilee Group partner in an effort to double Jubilee’s customer base and expand insurance access across the region

Posted on by Allan Musumba

Specialist development finance agency FSD Africa and East Africa’s largest and composite insurer Jubilee Group have entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking FSD Africa’s first partnership with an insurer, aimed at advancing financial inclusion by expanding access to insurance and investment solutions, with a particular focus on undeserved segments including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

This partnership will initially be implemented in Kenya as a strategic launch market before being scaled across Jubilee’s wider regional footprint. It forms part of the company’s broader growth agenda to double its customer base by deepening penetration across its integrated financial services offering and strengthening its role in delivering accessible and inclusive solutions across East Africa.

Under the MoU, Jubilee will work with BimaLab, FSD Africa’s flagship insurtech accelerator, to co-create and pilot inclusive, tech-driven solutions to reach millions of underserved and low-income Kenyans, opening a new customer segment for the Jubilee Group.

The partnership will operate through the BimaLab’s Insurtech-Insurer Partnership Framework, which pairs high-impact BimaLab alumni insurtechs with an established insurer to build, test, and launch joint tech enabled products in real markets.

The initiative will be rolled out through J-Hub, the Group’s innovation and technology arm, which accelerates development, testing and deployment of digital and AI-powered solutions across the business. By leveraging J-Hub’s innovation capabilities alongside FSD Africa’s expertise in inclusive finance, the partnership will fast-track the design and scaling of customer-centric solutions that address the evolving needs of underserved communities.

Speaking during the MOU signing, Jubilee Group Deputy CEO, Juan Cazcarra emphasised the need to expand insurance penetration and coverage across the region to ensure that the large segments of the population currently excluded for a variety of barriers are brought into insurance protection.

“Driving access is a key priority for our business. Too many people in East Africa remain outside the protection of insurance and financial security due to barriers we must continue to address. This partnership allows us to begin closing that gap by reaching segments that have previously been excluded. We will continue to pursue and scale innovative solutions that make it possible for more people across the region to participate in lasting financial security, better health outcomes and long-term well-being.” said Juan.

FSD Africa’s Chief Adaptation & Resilience and Strategy Integration Officer, Kelvin Massingham, said the partnership strongly aligns with BimaLab’s vision.

“A large majority of Africans face rising climate, health and economic risks with no insurance to fall back on. This is why closing Africa’s protection gap is one of the most urgent resilience challenges of our time. We built BimaLab to back the innovators solving it and when their solutions reach scale through partners like Jubilee, that is resilience made real for millions,” Massingham said.

Through a competitive process, Bimalab Insurtechs will work with Jubilee Group to co-design solutions for three priority areas: embedded and bundled distribution, SME ecosystems, and health, wellness & engagement. The shortlisted BimaLab insurtechs are expected to be named in August this year.

Kenya has achieved world-leading financial inclusion, with 85% of adults using a formal financial service, yet insurance remains the sector’s deepest gap. Insurance penetration in 2025 was only 2.4% of GDP against a global average of 7%. Health shocks, in the form of out-of-pocket medical costs, are estimated to push 1.5 million Kenyans below the poverty line each year.  The country’s SMEs, estimated at 7.5 million and employing 15 million people, are highly vulnerable to economic shocks, as witnessed during the COVID pandemic, where roughly a third shut down.

Rethinking benefit sharing in African carbon projects

As the global carbon market evolves, the demand for high-integrity carbon credits is surging—credits that not only mitigate climate change but also deliver meaningful socio-economic and environmental benefits. Africa, with its rich natural resources and diverse communities, is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation. However, achieving this potential requires a shift towards more equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms that genuinely empower local communities.

In this report, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the critical role Benefit-Sharing Mechanisms (BSMs) play in ensuring that carbon projects deliver real value to those most affected. Through detailed case studies from Zambia and Kenya, we explore how traditional practices, community agency, and robust governance can be integrated into carbon projects to maximize their impact.

This report offers actionable insights for policymakers, project developers, and investors seeking to build an African-centric approach to benefit sharing—one that not only attracts investment but also fosters transparency, accountability, and fairness. By rethinking benefit sharing, Africa can unlock its carbon potential, create sustainable development opportunities, and contribute to the global fight against climate change. Join us in exploring how we can collectively pave the way for a more just and sustainable future.

Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa

Read our first of its kind report that forecasts the new direct job creation potential of 12 green sub-sectors by 2030. The report predicts the creation of up to 3.3 million new green jobs across the continent, with the majority in renewable energy, particularly solar.

More about the report

By 2050, expert projections suggest jobs created within the green economy could well approach 100 million. The pioneering study provides detailed forecasts for five focus countries, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, which together account for more than 20% of new jobs, and in key sectors such as e-mobility, agriculture, construction and manufacturing.

View the data set here

A Deep Dive Study on the Impact of Regulatory Interventions

Introduction

Despite their potential in driving development, Africa’s capital markets remain underdeveloped. They are narrow and illiquid, with few listed and tradable securities, too few issuers, investors, intermediaries and a lack of financial product diversity, often dominated by government bond markets.

In response to the challenges that African capital markets face, FSD Africa has been providing technical assistance to regulators since 2016, particularly by assisting in strengthening regulatory frameworks and through capacity building. This learning brief presents some key lessons from the some of  FSD Africa regulatory efforts on strengthening capital markets in Africa.

The Emerging Regulatory Agenda – Improving Transparency of Nature-related Risks in Africa

Executive Summary

Financial regulators around the world are recognising that the depletion of nature poses major risks to financial and economic stability: these are additional to climate change risks.

  • They have the opportunity to act on nature-related risks because doing so ensures that they fulfill their core mandate to maintain financial stability.
  • Transparency is the cornerstone of strong risk management.
  • Regulatory momentum regarding disclosure of nature-related risks has been increasing globally.
  • African regulators, in particular, will see the benefit of acting with urgency because the continent is disproportionately exposed to nature-related risks.
  • African regulators can engage with this new agenda by following a set of no-regret moves as a key first step in developing a roadmap to incorporate nature-related risks into financial disclosure.
  • These no-regret actions include aligning with a government agenda, understanding requirements, determining availability of capacity, and engaging with existing nature alliances.

Introduction

Degradation of our natural ecosystems poses a significant risk to our financial and economic stability. A significant portion of our global economic product relies on nature and natural systems. As human activity and climate change continue to deplete these systems, we need to create a regulatory agenda to better manage nature-related risks and the harms they can create. This paper offers up next steps for this regulatory agenda, specifically in the context of Africa, illustrating the urgency to do so for African economies, why transparency should be an important component of any regulatory agenda, and what African regulators can do to support stable nature-positive economies.

A rapid analysis of the gender intentionality of Africa’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

Introduction

As countries gather at UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the UAE, where the highly anticipated first-ever global stocktake is expected to conclude. We are pleased to share – A rapid analysis of the gender intentionality of Africa’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

This paper investigates gender intentionality using several dimensions including gender-responsive budgeting in African NDCs. More importantly, the paper explores whether countries are mobilising and allocating climate finance with a gender lens, and it makes recommendations for governments, financiers, and investors to ensure climate finance is not gender neutral.

African countries are called upon to reflect on key gaps articulated in this paper, and work towards accelerating gender-responsive climate finance actions.

Is it time for a solar receivables finco?

In the last ten years PayGo – the method of distribution and financing of off-grid solar home systems (SHS) – has revolutionized the effort to bring clean, renewable energy to people in Africa without access to electricity.

While the achievements of the PayGo sector are a cause for celebration, the companies that employ this business model have struggled. Several notable companies have failed outright. Others have slowly wound down or continue to struggle. Most – although not all – of the remaining companies have not achieved profitability after five or more years of operations.

Today, those of us working in the PayGo sector are making an effort to understand why PayGo companies have generally not achieved profitability and what can be done about it.

This paper presents our analysis of one of the key weaknesses in the PayGo industry and provides a prescription for the next stage of the industry’s evolution. Our analysis centers around a central feature of PayGo companies: each PayGo company is essentially two businesses. One is a solar products retail distribution company. The other is a consumer finance company, or
“Finco”.

It is estimated that 490 million people are accessing energy through off-grid solar solutions worldwide. In Africa, nearly 50% of these are people that would not have been able to afford solar home systems without the financing provided by PayGo. This is nothing short of remarkable.

West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Green Bond Scoping Report

The Member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) face the triple challenge of addressing the consequences of climate change, developing infrastructure in light of strong anticipated demographic growth, and rebounding from the impacts of recent global shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic (hereafter “COVID”) and the war in Ukraine. These challenges need to be met in the context of sizable long-term financing gaps in several economic sectors, and within the fiscal constraints imposed by sovereign debt burdens which, for some Member States, are significant – especially in the context of tightening global credit markets and rising interest rates. Faced with these challenges, Member States need to ensure the development of their economy, while integrating the commitments developed within their Nationally Determined Contribution1 (NDC), which aim to combat climate change as part of broader national development plans. In this regard, private sector actors are required to contribute alongside public sector actors to the achievement of climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives, particularly in sectors whose expected contribution has been defined as relatively important.

“Green Bonds” are financial instruments whose proceeds are utilised to finance eligible projects and activities designed to foster sustainable, resilient and inclusive growth. In this sense, Green Bonds fit into the list of alternative financing mechanisms that can be used to solicit some of the capital needed for national objectives, potentially allowing access to a broader and more diverse investor base, some of whose investment mandates include positive environmental and social impact requirements.

This Study focuses on the feasibility of developing an active market for Green Bonds in the WAEMU region and aims to assess the potential for sovereign and corporate Green Bond issuance. The Study highlights multiple deficiencies that may impede the development of such a market, and provides recommendations to overcome them. Initiatives and interventions that should be taken to foster the emergence of such a market are also presented, as well as opportunities to develop a pipeline of green projects and activities eligible for Green Bond financing.

Given the regional, multi-country scope of the Study, a desktop review and stakeholder consultation was undertaken to identify common barriers, which are primarily related to three themes:

  • The underdevelopment of the regional financial market relative to international standards.
  • The lack of Green Bond and general climate initiatives from national governments, institutions and industries.
  • The generally low level of familiarity among key market stakeholders with the international standards and requirements associated with Green Bonds, and consequent low capacity to meet such standards.

For each barrier identified, actionable recommendations are drawn from the lessons learned from more successful Green Bond programmes in other Sub-Saharan African countries, whilst giving due consideration to the specific nuances of the WAEMU region to assess their applicability. The findings from the desktop research were then supplemented and validated during additional interviews and in a stakeholder engagement workshop to ensure the recommendations are context appropriate.

The desktop review covers the following key determinants of market development potential:

  • Regional debt capital market (structure, regulation, depth, liquidity, stakeholders, etc.)
  • Historic context and current trends regarding sovereign and corporate bond issuance (issuance features, context and objectives, subscription rate, credit, etc.)
  • Regional and national advances in climate integration and related initiatives.
  • Stakeholders’ capabilities with regard to international standards and requirements for Green Bonds
  • Investor appetite (investor awareness, investment trends, incentives, obstacles, etc.).

 

Fintech for Climate Resilience

 Climate change impacts are likely to send more than 130 million into extreme poverty by 2030. Africa, Latin America, and South Asia are among the most vulnerable regions, where natural disasters, food insecurity, and health hazards are already exacerbating the vulnerability of local communities. There is on urgent need to buildclimate resilience among households and communities vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Startup innovators ore at the forefront of creating the tools and services people need to manage disasters, adopt their assets and livelihoods, and build long-term resilience, They ore collecting data on disaster risk, launching insurance products, crafting regenerative agricultural models, and designing ways to access carboncredit markets.

As promising and impoctful as these innovations ore, they struggle with many of the challenges that face early-stage ventures: funding, talent, customer acquisition, partnerships, and more. At the heart of these challenges Is a commontheme: the difficulty of creating monetizable, commercial models that ore scalable with venture funds.

Fortunately, !he last decade hosshown us that fintech can enable greater accessibility and affordability of products for underserved, last­ mile populations, leveraging digital payments, satellite data, online marketplaces, and embedded finance infrastructure lo bring down costs. deliver access for low-income populations, and drive scalability of business models. Such achievements explain why investments in fintech companies increased from nine billion in 2010 lo over 220 billion in 2Q21.

Regulating for innovation in Africa – Cross-country synthesis note

This document outlines the findings across a series of studies commissioned by FSD Africa on the state of insurance innovation and regulation in eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It aims to inform regulatory authorities across the continent in the quest for balancing the mandate for market development and innovation with that of consumer protection.

 Innovation snapshot

Cross-cutting challenges to market development highlight untapped market potential. Across the study countries, low insurance penetration rates persist. Though the share of life insurance premiums in total premiums is growing, the market is for the most part still dominated by non-life insurance, and compulsory insurance plays a strong role. The result is that the voluntary retail insurance market still reaches a limited number of policyholders, and that large population segments such as rural inhabitants, informal sector workers and MSMEs remain un- or underserved. This indicates substantial untapped market potential in all the study countries.

More – and different – innovation needed. While innovation is present in all the study countries, each country is at a different stage along the innovation journey, depending on its unique country and market context. Some insurers have started to digitalise their processes and client engagement journey, and COVID-19 has provided an added impetus to do so. Some are implementing or pursuing alternative distribution partnerships, and some are doing market research to help target new market segments such as MSMEs. Partnerships with insurtech firms are emerging to help streamline internal systems and processes. On the whole, however, the cross-country innovation assessment shows that innovation is not yet entrenched in the fabric of the market or leveraged to reach underserved target market segments at scale.

 Key constraints to innovation

Various elements of the enabling environment or ecosystem shape the current innovation picture.