Kinshasa, DRC, October 5, 2023 – The DRC Agribusiness Innovation Challenge recognized businesses dedicated to digital technology and circular agriculture as winners in a startup competition organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-led climate insurance program, Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF). The competition aims to bolster agri-small businesses, support smallholder farmers, and promote the development of climate-smart agriculture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The three triumphant companies emerged from a shortlist of 10 businesses that presented their

IFC concluded two regional insurtech mapping studies in Africa and South-East Asia. The studies provided useful insights on industry trends and investable opportunities. Insurtech is reimagining insurance for incumbent (re)insurers and customers. Key trends include data-driven process optimization, industry-agnostic product development and cloud-based platforms . Usage-based personalized products and personalized customer service platforms such as offered by Naked Insurance are industry-agnostic and provide a large value add applicable across various insurance sectors. Remote claims assessment

The symposium emphasized the development of accurate index designs, the importance of partnerships between governments and the private sector, and the role of financial institutions in distributing index insurance products to farmers. It showcased successful collaborations, such as the National Agricultural Insurance Company of Senegal, which made index insurance accessible to small-scale farmers. The event concluded with a call to action for governments, insurers, financial institutions, and development organizations to work together in expanding the reach of index-based agricultural

We invite you to delve into the insightful symposium on index insurance and disaster risk financing for French-speaking countries, which took place in Dakar, Senegal. This event brought together over 120 participants from 15+ African nations, including experts, representatives, and stakeholders, to discuss innovative financial solutions for enhancing farmers' resilience to climate-related risks. The symposium emphasized the development of accurate index designs, the importance of partnerships between governments and the private sector, and the role of financial institutions in distributing

The Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) was thrilled to announce the successful launch of the DRC Agribusiness Challenge earlier this month, marking a significant step forward in advancing the agri-food landscape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The mission was clear: to strengthen the Congolese agro-industrial ecosystem and empower SMEs and smallholder farmers, thereby enhancing their productivity and profitability. We invite you to watch a brief overview of the presentations by the finalists during the DRC Agribusiness Innovation Challenge as they introduced their

The Global Index Insurance Facility picked up valuable moments and testimonials from donors, guest speakers, and participants at the Africa AgTech & Inclusive Insurance Challenge hosted at Sankalp 2022, which took place last month in Kenya, Nairobi. “This was a great opportunity for start-ups in this space to collaborate with IFC and its partners and bring to the fore game-changing ideas that will contribute to the transformation of Africa’s agricultural sector”, said Fatou Assah, GIIF Program Manager. Click here to watch the extended version of the wrap-up video.

How does Stellapps use technology to improve the livelihoods of smallholder dairy farmers? Stellapps is a farm to consumer dairy digitization service provider, improving productivity, quality and ensuring end-to-end traceability across the dairy supply chain. It leverages advanced analytics and artificial intelligence through its full-stack IoT platform to enable dairy ecosystem partnerships with financial & insurance institutions, veterinary services, cattle nutrition providers etc. to drive significant value for smallholder farmers and all stakeholders in the dairy value chain. Through its

Digital innovation and transformation in insurance has been accelerated by the combination of the COVID-19 and climate change crisis. As a fundamental building block for sustainable inclusive economic and social development, insurance is fundamental for individual and collective protection, providing safety nets and resilience against and to risks. It is even more significant for growth in economies like those in Africa where insurance penetration is still very low. The ‘Digital Innovation in Insurance in Africa’ conference took place on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 of September, and it was

When farmers learned about weather insurance in the southern area, there were a lot of pests affecting their fields. Insurers were able to help provide them with pesticides to spray into their fields and control various pests that had attacked their crops. Insurance can help small scale farmers not only to mitigate drought spells when there is no proper rainfall, but also provide assistance when affected by many other factors. The job of insurers, as Niza Banda (Mayfair – Index Insurance Analyst), explains is to help farmers when things become more challenging and compensate them so they are

Since its inception in 2014, the focus with Mayfair Insurance in Zambia has been helping small-holder farmers mitigate risks posed by climate change. Mayfair has since insured millions of farmers and has been a farmer’s friend in securing food baskets at domestic and national levels. Weather insurance is very important in agriculture. Agriculture is a very risky business that can be affected by so many factors. Emmanuel Ndoyo (DACO-Zambezi District) states that the whole district of Zambezi is currently covered, and that there are around 2,900 insured farmers getting payouts for the first-time