It is no secret that a person’s life and possessions are exposed to the risk of tragedy, impairment, and some circumstances at any given time. These circumstances can invite themselves on any occasion, whether you are prepared or not.
Although, one cannot avoid a situation but can surely minimize the after-effects of the occurrence. Insurance is one such reasonable strategy to transfer such risks to a third party, as it provides coverage acting as a protection plan to subjugate the condition.
Such a significant attribute, for decades, was regarded as a luxury rather than a need. This concept against insurance has faded with the advancement of time.
However, in certain parts of the world, insurance is still viewed as something that can be acquired only after achieving a particular level of financial stability and hence not viewed as a necessity.
To obliterate this belief, Nonso Opurum, a social entrepreneur, has undertaken the initiative to provide quality insurance by accepting cash or recyclables as premiums to ensure health inclusion and environmental sustainability. Nonso has been fascinating to build on excellent ways to bridge the gap in poor healthcare and financing in Africa.
SOSO CARE, the InsurTech venture by Nonso, provides Low-Cost Health Insurance that aims to enable millions of million to access care nationwide and ensures everyone in Africa owns a health plan irrespective of their financial status.
Nonso was approached by Insights Success to provide a brief understanding of such an entrancing approach without previous instances in the InsurTech industry.
Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at SOSO Care. What challenges have you had to overcome to reach where you are today?
For us, we had to pivot from telemedicine (JARA CARE) to micro health insurance (SOSO CARE). We had to make the tough decision when we realized that millions of low incomes could not afford data to connect with a doctor online, and most times internet connection wasn’t really stable. We figured out that what people need is inpatient and outpatient care, not just convenient healthcare access like telemedicine, so we launched the operation.
Tell us something more about SOSO Care and its mission and vision.
As less than 10% of Nigeria’s 200 million population have health insurance, millions of people are pushed into poverty yearly as a result of no safety net and high out-of-pocket health financing. Again, Nigeria generates over 20 billion pet plastics, of which less than 5% is collected and recycled, leading to substantial environmental and public health problems.
SOSO CARE is an affordable health InsurTech which accepts cash or recyclables as a premium to enable people to access care across over 1000 hospitals in Nigeria.
Enlighten us on how you have impacted the InsurTech industry through your expertise in the sector.
What we have done at SOSO CARE is to change how thousands of people view insurance. We have worked really hard to eliminate the trust gap around insurance.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives SOSO Care.
One of the things that drive us is the ability to be ahead in our industry; as a pioneer in alternative ways of financing health insurance premiums without cash, we’re constantly searching for excellent ways of improving the value of recyclables as a means of insurance premiums.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?
Technology is a strong layer of our work. By leveraging technology, we reduce the cost of micro insurance plans and monitor our decentralized agents across communities.
What, according to you, could be the next significant change in InsurTech Industry? How is SOSO Care preparing to be a part of that change?
I think embedded insurance as a way of distribution and awareness would continue to be the biggest change that would happen to microinsurance. For us, we’re positioning recyclable fragments as a premium or pay-as-you-like model to give more people options for financing their premium.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for SOSO Care?
We want to be able to replicate our solution in other countries in Africa and Asia where there is an urgent need for health care intervention and environmental management.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into InsurTech Industry?
Insurance is complex insurance, as most low-income people consider it an expensive luxury; take your time to find a niche.
