Insurance in Africa: untouched goldmine

The insurance industry in Africa, contrary to general expectations, contains some of the most advanced and sophisticated systems in the world but, on the continental level, the industry is very unevenly developed.

Apart from North and South Africa, Africa’s insurance potential has hardly been touched. Dezider Stefunko, head of the Insurance Unit at UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), explains why.

Perhaps the greatest concern for many involved with the insurance industry in Africa is to discover why, in so many countries on this continent, insurance is so little used and contributes such a small percentage of their GDP, despite universal acknowledgement of the important role played by insurance for a country’s trade and its economic and social development.

We are all aware of the essential role that insurance plays as a commercial and infrastructural service. From an infrastructural perspective, insurance promotes financial and social stability, mobilises and channels savings, supports trade, commerce and entrepreneurial activity, and improves the quality of the lives of individuals.

Read the full story in African Banker