Country: Rwanda

Exploring new frontiers in fintech investments in East Africa 2018

FSD Africa in partnership with East Africa Venture Capital Association (EAVCA), Intellecap and FMO have published the findings of their sector study on the investment opportunities in FinTechs within East Africa.

The report’s core explores the funding options currently available for the sector: ranging from debt offering, grants and equity provision. With the increased success of FinTech players in East Africa, investors are keen to understand the opportunities available for capital deployment in East Africa’s FinTech space. The report assesses the financing options currently available in the market for target investors. It also explores the risks associated with the sector and how other investors deal with such risks. Finally, the report has explored returns available for FinTech investors in East Africa, to provide guidance on the region’s earnings potential.

Some highlights from the report:

  • Africa is the second fastest growing region for Fintech investments, with an 87% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), after Asia Pacific;
  • US$ 200 million was raised for Fintech businesses in East Africa in 2017;
  • 98% of funds raised in East Africa went to Kenyan companies;
  • Lending segment of Fintech sector attracted the highest number of funds raised between 2010 – 2017; and
  • Equity financing accounted for 71% of total funds raised; debt financing 6% and hybrid financing 23%.

FSD Africa Investments backs Africa Climate Ventures

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The investment represents the first institutional backing for the venture builder, which aims to assemble a portfolio of businesses focused on climate action across Africa, boosting continental participation in global carbon markets.

22 May 2023, Nairobi – FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi) has invested £1 million in Africa Climate Ventures (ACV), a pioneering venture builder working to build a US$45 million portfolio. ACV will catalyse the carbon asset class in Africa by building innovative businesses focused on solving our generation’s greatest challenge and at the same time capturing a significant share of global carbon markets in Africa. The venture represents a series of “firsts” in Africa: from its entirely Africa-based founder team and its permanent capital structure based in Kigali, to its exclusive focus on carbon mitigation, capture and removal, the continent’s fastest evolving sector.

ACV represents a historic evolution in Africa’s carbon ecosystem and will contribute directly to capital mobilisation in climate action. Indeed, by 2030 ACV aims to eliminate one million tonnes of carbon every year while improving the lives of 50 million Africans and creating at least 5,000 jobs on the continent.

The venture builder features a peerless bench of experienced Africa-based founders with a record of pioneering innovation on the continent and championing disruptive enterprises. James Mwangi is a 2022 Climate Breakthrough Award Winner and the founder of the Climate Action Platform for Africa, a non-profit organization that aims to help Africa achieve broad-based economic growth through climate action leadership. James is best known as a co-founder of Dalberg Advisors, the firm’s first elected Global Managing Partner and then Dalberg Group’s Executive Director. Mohamed Cassim is a South African investor best known as an angel investor, the Chair of MFS Africa Board, and the Founder of Abacus Advisory. CJ Fonzi was also a Partner at Dalberg Advisors, with the firm for over a decade he served as the Group Director of Innovation and then founded Dalberg’s Rwanda business in 2017.

This team is working to build a portfolio of climate positive businesses across Africa, with the ultimate aim of launching and scaling 15 ventures in the next four years. ACV is seeking to build this portfolio by investing to: i) bring proven global climate technology to Africa, ii) accelerate and de-risk the continental expansion of technologies and business models that have gained traction in one or a few African market(s), and iii) add carbon revenue streams to existing African businesses with the potential to scale climate positive solutions.

ACV has adopted a structure more in-line with a global north venture studio in which the vehicle is structured as a permanent capital vehicle which sells equity rather than securing fund management mandates. This has allowed ACV to begin building ventures in parallel with fund raising, which the founders believe is paramount given the urgency of climate change, and the need for Africa to quickly establish itself as part of the solution.  There are already two ventures in the portfolio: KOKO Networks Rwanda, a co-venture between ACV and KOKO Networks which already provides sustainable bioethanol cooking fuel to over 900,000 Kenyan families and aims to reach a million Rwandan families by 2027, and Great Carbon Valley, a Kenya based developer of direct-use clean energy applications currently focused on developing a direct air capture and permanent carbon storage site in Kenya.

ACV’s pipeline of further opportunities demonstrates the breadth and versatility of the venture builder. They range from biochar and enhanced rock weathering technologies, to biodigester and e-mobility businesses, to harvesting carbon revenue for green growth across the portfolio of a well-established continental private equity fund. These are businesses and technologies which have the capacity to transform African economies and make a meaningful difference in climate change but they require risk capital and hands on venture builders to scale, attract further investment, and reach their potential.

FSDAi’s investment in ACV takes the form of a convertible loan of £1 million to support the venture builder’s formalisation and build additional ventures as demonstrations to attract investment from larger funds. On top of this investment, FSD Africa will provide £75,000 in grant funding to support the development of premium carbon credits and the marketing of portfolio and pipeline companies. Moving forward, FSDAi has secured the right to invest up to £8 million in ACV’s planned 2024 close.

FSDAi is the investment arm of specialist financial development agency FSD Africa which receives funding from the UK government and provides tools and resources to drive large-scale change in financial markets and support sustainable economic development. ACV is the latest in a series of investments by FSDAi in innovative green investment vehicles including Persistent Energy, a leader and pioneer investor in the off-grid energy and e-mobility sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Nithio, which invests in renewable off-grid energy.

FSDAi has committed to support ACV on the basis that its activities will actively contribute to Africa’s transition to net-zero, the promotion and acceleration of the continent’s green sector, and the creation of quality, skilled jobs (around 600 will be created via this initial £1 million investment) in a strategically vital sector. Ultimately, FSD Africa believes that ACV can help the continent’s businesses participate in global carbon markets and capitalise on the continent’s unrivalled capacity for profitable climate-smart businesses. Moreover, FSDAi’s investment aligns with the emerging priorities of African policymakers who will gather in Kenya in September at the Africa Climate Summit to co-ordinate a unified, collective pan-African approach to the discussions at the next COP in Dubai.

Anne-Marie Chidzero, CIO of FSD Africa Investments, said: “In backing the ACV partners, FSDAi sees a tremendous opportunity to galvanise global investment and finance to promote Africa’s status as the pre-eminent climate investment destination.’’

James Mwangi, CEO of Africa Climate Ventures, said: “We are thrilled that FSDAi has joined us in building ACV.  The involvement of FSDAi has already been invaluable in refining the ACV model. As we work towards ambitious objectives, we believe FSDAi will be a key partner in ensuring our success.”

Rachel Turner, Director, International Finance, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, said: “We are excited to be supporting this enterprising partnership between FSD Africa and ACV. The need to mobilise climate finance for Africa has never been greater, and this can’t happen without innovations that can build the pipeline of opportunities to absorb and deploy capital into productive, sustainable and inclusive uses. Tapping into the developing carbon market ecosystem represents a significant opportunity for Africa to raise capital at affordable terms whilst contributing directly to the climate challenge. This partnership with an impressive African team is pioneering in its approach.”

Innovative Rating Agency Launched to Boost Biodiversity Investments

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African Leadership University’s School Of Wildlife Conservation (ALU’s SOWC), Dalberg, and FSD Africa Investments bring together their in-depth expertise in biodiversity conservation and restoration, finance, and impact investments to form a partnership that will help investors measure and track the impact of their biodiversity-related investments over time.

NAIROBI, KIGALI, DAR ES SALAAM – A pioneering initiative aimed to boost biodiversity investments by helping investors measure, rate, and track their impact on biodiversity conservation and restoration – the Biodiversity Investment Rating Agency (BIRA) – was launched today by the African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation, Dalberg, and FSD Africa Investments.

Biodiversity is ranked as the third most significant threat to humanity, after carbon emissions and nuclear war.  Yet, less than 16% of the required funding is currently available for biodiversity, leaving a US$ 700 billion funding gap for biodiversity conservation and restoration. Private capital can play a critical role in closing this funding gap while tapping into an attractive asset class that is poised to grow. However, investments are currently limited because there is no standard way to measure, rate, track, and communicate biodiversity impacts. Investors are looking for simple, credible tools based on biodiversity science.

 Figure 1: Illustration of the biodiversity conservation funding gap

Illustration of the biodiversity conservation funding gap
Source: The Nature Conservancy, Closing the Nature Funding Gap, 2020

To address these challenges, BIRA will advise investors on identifying the opportunities for impact investing in the biodiversity sector, spotlighting relevant frameworks to measure biodiversity investment impacts, and provide existing aligned frameworks with guidance on how to make their tools investor friendly. BIRA aspires to see measurement frameworks that can provide simple answers to investors’ questions about the potential outcomes of biodiversity investments. BIRA will work in collaboration with existing frameworks that meet certain design criteria to develop modules that match measurement frameworks with investor needs.

FSD Africa Investments and Dalberg are excited to welcome ALU’s SOWC as the science and training partner for the initiative. ALU SOWC will bring its expertise in scientific inquiry, research, and training to ensure that the modules developed are credible and usable. BIRA will also lean on SOWC’s expertise to develop and launch training programs that will help bridge the existing knowledge gap in the market.

By bridging the gap between investors and the existing biodiversity measurement frameworks, BIRA will support informed decision-making by investors. Ultimately, this will increase investments in conservation and restoration, leading to positive biodiversity outcomes.

Mike Musgrave, Conservation Leadership Faculty, School of Wildlife Conservation, said:

“Institutional investment in biodiversity as an asset class will be the key to unlocking the billions of private capital we need to address climate change and promote the business of conservation.”

Devang Vussonji, Partner, Dalberg Advisors, said: “We have lost 68% of monitored animal populations between 1970 and 2016. We face a USD 700 billion funding gap in reversing this effect, and private capital will be essential in filling this gap. BIRA aims to attract private capital to the sector by making it easier for private investors to measure, communicate, and track biodiversity outcomes.”

Anne-Marie Chidzero, CIO, FSD Africa Investments, said: “FSD Africa Investments is proud to partner with Dalberg and the African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation to create the Biodiversity Investment Rating Agency. This innovative initiative to help investors measure and track the impact of their capital on biodiversity conservation and restoration will play a central role in increasing investment in the sector.”

BIRA invites technical partners and investors to join the founding partners in developing the initiative. Interested parties should contact Devang Vussonji at devang.vussonji@dalberg.com.

Climate finance innovation for Africa

The African continent presents a massive investment opportunity for investors to advance climate solutions in the coming decade, however, a set of barriers to finance have stifled requisite investment to date. In this new report, in collaboration with Climate Finance Innovation for Africa and Climate Policy Initiative, we provide a framework for how innovation in financing structures can leverage strategic deployment of public capital to ‘crowd-in’ private investment at levels not yet seen.

This paper focuses primarily on climate mitigation, which represents the largest investment opportunity for private investors. We refer audiences focused specifically on adaptation to the work done by the Global Center on Adaptation and Climate Policy Initiative on Financial Innovation for Climate Adaptation in Africa.

What financial services would you need if you found yourself as a refugee?

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I often find it difficult for most people to relate to refugees. We seem to forget that we can be in the same situation depending on the circumstances around us. The happenings in Ukraine have shown just how delicate our stability status is, and that we can quickly be turned into forcibly displaced people overnight!

While conflict, war or persecution have been traditionally viewed as the main forces giving rise to refugees, natural disasters triggered by climate change among others are fast becoming a force to reckon with. The number of forcibly displaced people has now surpassed 100 million for the first time, fueled by the war in Ukraine and other ongoing conflicts around the globe.

This takes me back to a scenario in June 2018 when FSD Africa, FSD Uganda and BFA Global were conducting a design sprint with 6 Ugandan financial service providers (FSPs), to develop new ideas for financial products and services for refugees in the country. The 4-day event reached a phenomenal breakthrough when one of the participants posed: “What if something happened and we found ourselves in another country as refugees? What financial services would we need?” Those two questions opened the minds of the participants and ideas started flooding in. The design sprint was one of the 4 steps that FSD Africa has been following to develop financial inclusion for refugees (FI4R) projects. The other 3 are:

  1. Market assessments that capture the financial lives of refugees and show the potential of serving these populations.
  2. Innovation competitions where FSPs are invited to pitch ideas of how they would address refugee financial needs
  3. Financial support and technical assistance to FSPs to develop, pilot and roll-out financial solutions.

In Uganda, working with FSD Uganda, we identified Equity Bank Uganda Limited, VisionFund Uganda and Rural Finance Initiative to offer financial services in various refugee settlements from October 2019. While the project concluded in March 2022, these FSPs have continued operations as this turned out to be a viable business for them. The project engaged BFA Global as the learning and research partner. They undertook a baseline study in January 2020 and a series of 4 financial diaries (linked below) – capturing the financial needs and uses of refugee households.

The 4 financial diaries:

They then carried out an endline study in November 2021. The partners achieved the following results:

  • Over 26,300 customers accessed loans, with 73% being female
  • Cumulative loans amounted to £9 million ($2.7million)
  • 262 bank agents were recruited across the settlements, 15% of which were women
  • Over 93,300 households registered on Equity Bank Uganda’s digital platform
  • 65,484 households receiving digital payments as of March 2022.
  • The bank made payments worth UGX 10.8 Bn (£2.2m) during the first quarter of 2022
  • 8 humanitarian agencies used the Equity Bank Uganda platform for disbursements

Below is a summary of some of the different financial services offered by the FSPs:

Based on the end-line study findings, there is still work to be done to improve financial services for refugees in the following areas:

 

Extending financial services to refugees in Rwanda with Equity Bank

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The pilot project aims to give 100,000 refugees in Rwanda access to financial services through mobile phones.

Together with Equity Bank Rwanda PLC, we have just launched in the field a Financial Inclusion for refugees (FI4R) programme that aims to provide financial services to over 90,000 refugees in Rwanda.

Through this programme, refugees will be able to access mobile banking & agency banking services like opening accounts, receiving, and sending money, saving, digital loans, insurance and others through unstructured service data (USSD) channels. Furthermore, the project will provide financial literacy training to equip the refugees with knowledge on how to manage their finances.

The need to extend financial services to vulnerable groups like refugees, cannot be understated. With easier access to financial services and knowledge of how to manage their personal and business finances, refugees across Rwanda will be able to transact safely and with ease. Access to and usage of financial services can allow low-income households, including refugees, to build assets, mitigate shocks, increase resilience, and contribute to the local economy.

The project builds on earlier work funded by FSD Africa and Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) in partnership with UNHCR following a market assessment done by BFA Global that outlined refugees financial needs and provided a business case for financial institutions to serve them. It also identified barriers refugees face when accessing financial services and offered solutions to overcoming them.

The project was officially launched in Mahama Refugee Camp in Kirehe District, Eastern Province. Mahama Refugee Camp is the largest refugee camp in Rwanda, hosting over 47,000 refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and several other neighbouring countries.

Refugees have financial and other needs like everybody else. It is therefore imperative for the financial sector to serve them just as they would anybody else. Refugees are engaged in economic activities, have incomes and spend; the financial system should facilitate such activities.
Kuria Wanjau, Programme Manager for Fragile Communities and States

There are plans to expand the project to refugee populations in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

FSD Network collaborations aimed at harnessing the power of the digital platform economy

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Digital platforms are virtual marketplaces that connect providers of goods and services with consumers. In 2018, the i2i facility identified 277 digital
platforms, of which around 80% were of African origin. These platforms derive revenues from facilitating interactions between providers and consumers of goods and services. Transactions are normally settled on the platform through various payment methods, such as bank cards, bank transfers, cash, mobile money and digital wallets.

A growing number of Africa-based digital platforms are starting to leverage their technology to channel financial services to their customers, therefore providing early demonstration of the ability of platforms to extend financial service reach to new or under-served individuals and small enterprises. They offer financial service providers access to customer data that enables more appropriate product design, as well as access to a range of payment solutions through which they can service these customers.

We are currently providing support to two innovative projects that leverage platform technology in collaboration with FSDs.  This support s provided by Cenfri, through our Risk, Remittances and Integrity (RRI) programme.

Addressing risks and constraints in Kenya’s housing sector

 

 

 

We have forged a partnership with FSD Kenya and iBUILD, through Cenfri to understand and address constraints to providing construction-linked financial services in Kenya.

Kenya’s housing shortage is estimated to be around two million units, with over 60% of the country’s urban population reported to be living in slums. Only 7% of Kenyans are able to access formal housing finance, such as mortgage finance. Construction workers, building suppliers and other housing industry players face various risks, ranging from injury, loss of income and breach of contract, as well as constraints such as lack of capital and fluctuations in price or consumer demand.

iBUILD is a digital platform that offers the potential to contribute to tackling some of these issues and broadening financial service delivery to the sector. It connects construction workers with people looking to build and facilitates open access to housing support services that guide individuals through housing construction and reconstruction processes.

Cenfri has signed an MOU with FSD Kenya to rtake consumer research to help build a business case for insurance companies, banks, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) and others to offer construction-linked financial products to users of the iBUILD app in Kenya.

The consumer research will focus on three iBUILD small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users: construction workers, contractors and building suppliers.  It will tease out the issues they face and identify how financial services could add value to their businesses, including asking the questions: How can finance add real value to small businesses and informal workers in construction?  How does their participation in a digital platform help facilitate the delivery of innovative solutions?

The ultimate objective of this research is to support the launch of a financial service (insurance, credit or savings) that is distributed through iBUILD to its customers. FSD Kenya will engage with financial service providers to understand what such a financial produccould look like.

Building the resilience of e-hailing drivers in Rwanda

Through Cenfri, Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) and Yego – an e-hailing taxi service in Rwanda – we are collaborating to help improve the resilience of e-hailing drivers by understanding the financial service needs of Yego’s drivers.

Yego is a digital platform that was launched in Rwanda in 2018. Like Uber, it connects passengers and local drivers of cars and motorbikes (moto) through a computer or mobile device. Yego currently has around 11,000 motorcycle and 2,000 taxi drivers signed up in Rwanda and is looking to expand on the continent.

Initial scoping suggests an encouraging opportunity to offer financial services, specifically insurance, to Yego drivers, who report that they trust Yego and would be open to procuring insurance through the company. Yego is keen on partnering with insurance firms to develop products suitable to the needs of the Yego drivers.

Cenfri has signed an MoU with AFR and Yego to support this collaboration. The objective will be to build a business case for financial service providers, specifically insurers, to service tharket through digital platforms.  AFR and Cenfri will provide technical assistance to Yego in the form of consumer research and support to identifying an insurance partner, as well as during the product development process.

Crowdfunding on the move: approaching P2P market regulation in East Africa

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In June 2016, the crowdfunding industry in East Africa met for the first time in Nairobi, Kenya. The indaba hosted over 60 leading platforms, regulators, donors, researchers and business service providers from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The event highlighted crowdfunding as a potential source of alternative finance in the region (summary here).

To maintain momentum, FSD Africa has partnered with the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and Anjarwalla and Khanna to examine the existing regulatory and policy landscape that governs debt, equity, rewards and donation-based crowdfunding activity in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

According to Joe Huxley of FSD Africa: “Effective regulation and policy frameworks are critical. They provide the necessary rules and incentive structures to ensure the growth of crowdfunding markets in East Africa is carefully managed.”

The objectives of this work are to:

  1. Map out the existing regulatory and policy landscape for all crowdfunding models in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
  2. Determine a list of priority areas for regulatory and policy development to support crowdfunding market development in East Africa.
  3. Identify key lessons from the regulation and policymaking of leading crowdfunding markets.

To provide relevant insights for East Africathe  regulation and policy frameworks for crowdfunding markets in South Africa, the UK, New Zealand, the USA, Malaysia and India will also be examined. In addition, the research team will also interview and seek insights from selected crowdfunding platforms, practitioners and experts internationally.

According to Kieran Garvey of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance: “Throughout the project, we intended to work closely with regulators and industry practitioners in East Africa to foster common understanding of key crowdfunding risks and opportunities, and how to manage them appropriately.”

The research will be finalised and launched in September 2016.

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Further information:

To express your interest in this research or to participate, please email Kieran Garvey from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance “mailto:kjg44@cam.ac.uk”>kjg44@cam.ac.uk

For further information on the crowdfunding industry, please the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance reports here: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternative-finance/publications/

Furthermore, the Africa and Middle East alternative finance benchmarking survey is currently underway. Please see further details here:

http://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2016/06/87301-cambridge-centre-alternative-finance-launches-first-industry-study-middle-east-africa/

Crowdfunding platforms in Africa & the Middle East can access the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/AltFin_MiddleEast_Africa

Financing the frontier: risk, reward, and reality in Africa’s fragile stat

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Like most bankers, Patrick Kiiru did not imagine Congolese refugees as his ideal clients, seen by most as simply hungry, homeless, and transient. But after three days with FSD Africa in Gihembe Refugee Settlement—a bumpy one-hour journey north of Rwanda’s capital Kigali—the head of diaspora banking at Kenya’s Equity Bank Group began to change his mind.

After having experienced the refugee-finance business case firsthand, Kiiru describes reaching an “aha” moment: “I can solve this problem. It is possible to serve… refugees profitably.” Refugees need more than food and shelter; they, too, can benefit from financial services.

With targeted financial and technical support from two United Kingdom aid-supported agencies—FSD Africa and Access to Finance Rwanda—Kiiru’s bank is preparing to offer its Eazzy Banking mobile money product to Rwanda’s adult refugee population of more than 89,000, with plans to expand in other countries. With a footprint in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and the DemocratDRC), this may be the early days of a region-wide approach by Kiiru and his team.

This risk perception versus reality gap is not distinct to banking refugees. The theme persists across all 26 fragile and conflict-affected states in sub-Saharan Africa, as defined by U.K. aid. There are two big picture consequences.

First, development agencies and their partners with a focus on private sector development can neglect to deliver services where they are needed most. According to a 2016 CGAP survey of 19 financial inclusion donors in sub-Saharan Africa, the highly fragile states of Chad, Central African Republic, and Somalia had only one active donor each. This means some countries, regions, and communities remain trapped within a humanitarian crisis paradigm.

As the world grows more prosperous, international development practices will only increase in concentration in the left-behind nations, regions, and communities.

Second, development financiers, commercial investors, and business leaders can misprice risk—adding a premium based on perception rather than the reality. This means capital is not being efficiently allocated. According to World Bank figures in 2017, excluding Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria, just 3.23 percent of all foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa reached fragile states.

This mean that, in fragile states, many investment-ready firms are left without the long-term finance they need to survive and grow. This is not to say fragile states are not difficult places to invest and do business. Since 2016, FSD Africa’s own increasing fragile states footprint in the DRC, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, and for forcibly displaced people has had to weather a cycle of instability: political (e.g., military coups, new central bank governors), environmental (e.g., Ebola outbreaks, mudslides), and economic (e.g., currency depreciation, inflation).

But the people, entrepreneurs, and investors in Africa’s fragile states are resilient and resourceful. The FSD Africa team has witnessed numerous examples of smart practices which help to mitigate risk.

On the investor side, locally born nationals, who are better able to price risk accurately, are particularly active; many accept that there will be arid periods when deployapital is too risky, and so switch to running their own enterprises; and many deals rely on financial innovation to hedge against risks.

On the donor side, some build a presence—people and platforms—which lays dormant when things are difficult, but which springs into action when pockets of opportunity present themselves. Others complement their fly-in, fly-out model with a permanent local lead, who provides a depth of relationships and market intelligence to build and maintain momentum in good times and b

Insurance for inclusive and sustainable growth – imperatives for action

Insurance has a strong role in combatting poverty and advancing development, in at least three ways:

Improving individual and household resilience
Insurance makes households more resilient in the face of financial shocks. Insurance also enables households to access services such as credit, health and education that may otherwise not be attainable to them.

Improving business resilience & productivity
Effective risk transfer is a fundamental part of corporate sustainability.
It also facilitates exports and imports, enables foreign investment and helps to ensure access – at better terms – to business financing.

Developing the demand and supply of capital
Insurance mobilizes capital through premium collection, its role in enabling business development and its linkages with the pensions market.It also pools capital into larger pots of funds that are more efficient to manage and invest.

Recognising the role that insurance can play in supporting sustainable development and growth, the UK’s DFID partnered with the World Bank, FSD Africa and Cenfri to conduct a series of diagnostics that explore how these three roles manifest in four countries in SSA: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda.

This paper synthesises cross-cutting themes from the study countries and beyond and draws conclusions and recommendations on how to further develop insurance markets.