…reaches 8.4m subscribers
By Eugene Davis
aYo Intermediaries Ghana Limited, a leading micro-insurance company, says they are hopeful of further growth in the ensuing months and years as it reaches 8.4 million subscriber mark in six years.
According to the CEO of aYo Intermediaries Ghana, Francis Gota, who announced this at a maiden media engagement held in Accra, explained that the 8 million subscribers represent about 25% of the over 32 million Ghanaian population.
GH¢14m Claims paid
According to him, the company also paid claims in value of GH¢14 million to 40,000 policyholders or subscribers, showing its commitment to the economic wellbeing of its customers in the country.
The company also paid GH¢4.5m claims last year, with claims recording increases by the year.
Drivers of growth
The company which is a subsidiary of the MTN Group was established to distribute insurance solutions to MTN subscribers in Ghana, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Uganda and Zambia and across Africa, attributed the significant growth of the subscribers to timely payment of claims to policyholders and leveraging on technology to give policyholders an awesome customer experience.
He also attributed the company’s growth to its sustained micro-insurance campaigns supported by MTN Ghana to improve household resilience to eventualities.
Mr Gota emphasised that aYo Ghana started its operations in April 2017 and launched its first product named Send with Care on May 10, 2017, in partnership with Metropolitan Life Insurance Ghana and MTN Ghana.
aYo Send with Care leverages on the remittances behaviour of MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) subscribers to offer insurance cover to both the sender and recipient of the remittance.
On the other hand, aYo Recharge with Care which is the second product was launched on April 5, 2018, and since then its enrolment has been growing.
aYo’s vision
Mr Gota reiterated that: “The vision of aYo is to provide a future where everybody uses insurance by leveraging on technology to provide relevant, accessible and easy to use insurance solutions that gives peace of mind and improves financial wellbeing of subscribers”.
“We are so excited about this landmark achievement because 8 million Ghanaians can go about their daily activities with confidence because they have access to insurance. This is very important for financial inclusion and insurance penetration in Ghana.
He also used the occasion to thank their subscribers and partners especially MTN Ghana for their continuous support.
Lessons learnt
He indicated that it has been worthwhile and a valuable experience, “for me it is six years of valuable lessons, trying to understand the segment that you are playing -when you say you want to provide for low-income people, people with low financial literacy, it takes a lot. You need to understand the people that you are serving, you need to make sure that they are well educated, for them to appreciate it and once they have bought it the customer experience and the service -now you have convinced them, you need to give them a good experience, so we spend a whole of time in making our customers happy, for me it has been an honouring experience for me.”
Fraudulent claims
Mr. Gota lamented on the bogus claims that subscribers make and added that is stifling the delivery of insurance, “It is hectic because now we need to spend a lot to verify every claim because you cannot trust what people are bringing, we have established good relationship with most of the hospitals and so the person submits the document, you can easily call the people that you trust and we verify the claims, it is something that industry wide we are tackling and it is impacting the delivery of insurance in our country so we encourage people who are doing that to desist from it.”
Company’s products in details
The Manager In-charge of Strategic and Executions and Projects, Emmanuel Gyim, explained that aYo Ghana currently runs four insurance products underwritten by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Ghana.
These products he mentioned are-Send with Care, Recharge with Care, Recharge with Care Annual Cover, and aYo Family Cover.
He stressed that Recharge with Care offers life and hospital insurance cover every time a customer recharges his or her airtime.
“The Recharge with Care policy provides life cover to an MTN subscriber and family members of entry age below 66 years. It also provides daily admission benefits for the subscriber”.
Mr Gyim was quick to add that the policy is monthly renewable with premiums deducted from airtime wallet anytime the customer recharges airtime.
A customer can get up to GH¢50 per night for each night spent at the hospital as in-patient to support his or her hospital admission bills.
In addition, a customer or subscriber can get up to GH¢3,000 life insurance cover for himself or herself and one family member to cater for funeral expenses without any stress or hassle.
Customers can sign onto the product via *296#, as well through aYo app, and telesales.
Touching on the Recharge with Care Annual Cover which has similar features like the Recharge with Care policy, provides a one time annual premium ofGH¢130 is deducted from the customer’s MoMo wallet.
The policy which is renewable annually can be easily accessed through USSD (*928*101#), and the telesales channel.
Furthermore, this policy provides a 30 days waiting period for non-accidental events, Mr Gyim stated.
While the company’s Send with Care policy provides up toGH¢30,000 life and accidental hospitalisation cover, GH¢10,000 general hospitalisation to the subscriber.
Policyholder, according to him, earns a cash-back bonus of 10% premium paid. The Send with Care policy is available via USSD (*170#), select option 1 and 3 to add and get covered.
aYo Family Cover which is expected to be launched officially next week is extra life cover and flexible premium payment.
