South Africa is a global hub for fintech innovation. Accion supports and advises South African innovators using technology to help entrepreneurs expand their businesses and families protect their homes around the world.

"I’ve been here in this informal settlement for 14 years,” Fundiswa explains as we visit the makeshift home she shares with her sister and their children outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Such neighborhoods, which are home to more than 1 billion of the world’s poorest people, are especially vulnerable to fire, as residents live in crowded conditions and building codes are not enforced. And when a fire does break out, residents lack the resources to rebuild. “If I had to buy everything again after a fire, it would be very hard because I don’t have a lot of money,” says Fundiswa.

<img class="alignleft wp-image-16829" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Lumkani_0007-1024x683.jpg" alt="Lumkani IoT heat detection device" width="500" height="333" />Lumkani, a South African insurtech startup and Accion portfolio company, is offering people like Fundiswa both protection and peace of mind with its innovative fire insurance product. Clients receive a heat sensing device, which sounds an alarm if it detects fire nearby. And the insurance policy helps pay for repairs or replacements if a home does burn.

Fundiswa became a Lumkani client because she wanted to know her family and possessions would be safe in a fire. Lumkani makes the process simple for customers, says Fundiswa: “I pay and then they send me an SMS to say I’m covered for the month with the insurance.”

But even more important than the straightforward process is the sense of safety Lumkani gives its customers. “If the house next door burns, I don’t stress. I just lock my door and run, because I know I’m covered by the insurance,” says Fundiswa. “People even steal from people’s homes when there are fires, but I don’t worry about any of that because I know I’m covered, and I know I will get back what is due to me after I send my claim.”

While Fundiswa hasn’t had to worry about a fire yet, she has already seen the impact of Lumkani in her community: “I know someone who lost everything in the fires and got a voucher, and he got everything back.”

Fire insurance provides peace of mind in South Africa

Informal settlements, in which at least 1.4 billion of the world’s poorest people live, are terribly vulnerable to fire. Homes are crowded together and often constructed of flammable materials like wood, plastic, and cloth. Residents without reliable electricity or gas line access resort to cooking on open flames. Building safety codes are not enforced. And if a home catches fire and burns down, the family living there — which already had little — has to start over without any help.

[caption id="attachment_18831" align="alignleft" width="400"]<img class="wp-image-18831" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Lumkani_0026-1024x683.jpg" alt="Lumkani community liaison officer Clive " width="400" height="267" /> Community liaison officer Clive supervises agents for Lumkani[/caption]

South African startup and Accion portfolio partner <a href="http://blogs.accion.org/features/insurtech-fire-protection-south-africa/">Lumkani</a> is offering a form of protection rarely seen in informal settlements: fire insurance. Its policyholders also receive an innovative fire detection device that sounds an alarm triggered by the heat of a nearby fire. The alarm gives residents a chance to seek safety, and the insurance payout helps them repair or replace items damaged in the blaze.

Because insurance is not commonly used by people in informal settlements, it can be hard to explain the concept and get buy-in. Lumkani has found that one effective way to achieve this is by hiring community members themselves as sales agents. Community liaison officer Clive, who supervises agents, explains that community feedback has been an important part of developing the policies and device. He says, “We asked individuals how we could design a product that would fit them and be affordable. I’ve seen where we’ve stopped fires and had an impact on people involved in the fires. It’s satisfying to know we can cover people’s homes and their goods. I believe we are a big answer to these communities.”

[caption id="attachment_17736" align="alignright" width="400"]<img class="wp-image-17736" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Lumkani_0014-e1550780398258-1024x799.jpg" alt="Zoliswa, an agent for Lumkani, in front of an informal settlement in South Africa" width="400" height="312" /> As an agent for Lumkani, Zoliswa helps people in informal settlements obtain fire insurance.[/caption]

Sales agents Kwanda and Zoliswa both spend their days making the rounds in their communities and signing people up for the service. A mobile app makes it easy to enroll new clients wherever they are. Says Zoliswa, “The reason I decided to work with Lumkani is the communication with the people in my community. It keeps me busy and updated.” Kwanda adds, “I saw an opportunity to improve my own community. It changed my life a lot. I earned respect. It helped me also see new directions and I started working around my community more.”

[caption id="attachment_18832" align="alignright" width="400"]<img class="wp-image-18832" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Lumkani_0029-1024x683.jpg" alt="Lumkani software engineer Dinesh" width="400" height="267" /> “I always wanted to do something to help people,” says Lumkani software engineer Dinesh[/caption]

Other staffers who don’t work as closely with clients on the ground have also found a sense of community at Lumkani. Dinesh, a software engineer originally from Brazil, says, “I see humans as social animals, so it’s interesting to see the idea of communities, like townships. A device like this can be used to help improve the sense of community. I always wanted to do something to help people. I want to give back to the world. Because we have this social structure it’s easy to forget how people live, but working here helps you remember and have more empathy in general.”

This insurtech startup takes pride in protecting their community

Noel Ehrenreich is CEO of New Earth Recycling, a polystyrene recycling facility based in Cape Town, South Africa. There are very few recycling plants specializing in polystyrene, and Noel is proud that his four-year-old company is able to contribute to protecting the environment. He says, “What motivates me most is that we’re making some difference in our community and environment. It’s rewarding, given the state of our planet, that we are part of the solution, not the problem.”

[caption id="attachment_18573" align="alignleft" width="499"]<img class=" wp-image-18573" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NewEarth_0005-1024x683.jpg" alt="Noel Ehrenreich" width="499" height="333" /> Noel Ehrenreich, CEO of New Earth Recycling, uses Lulalend for his business financing needs.[/caption]

The success of the business depends on Noel being able to act quickly when large stocks of recyclable material become available for him to purchase. He’s found <a href="https://www.lulalend.co.za/">Lulalend</a>, an online lending platform and <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab">Accion Venture Lab</a> portfolio company, to be the best option to turn to in such cases.

Traditional bank lenders, Noel explains, can take weeks or months to approve a loan. With Lulalend, he says, “it was quite an easy process to fill everything in, and within a day, I had access to funding. It was amazing.”

[caption id="attachment_18577" align="alignright" width="500"]<img class=" wp-image-18577" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/lulalendneil_crop-1024x836.jpg" alt="Neil Welman of Lulalend" width="500" height="408" /> Neil Welman, co-founder and CTO of Lulalend[/caption]

Lulalend is able to make its decisions so rapidly because of the systems it has built. “From inception, Lulalend has taken a digitally focused and data-driven approach to solving the problem of access to funding for small business,” says Neil Welman, co-founder and CTO of Lulalend.

Small business owners come to Lulalend not only because they hope they can get a loan right away, but also because often they don’t have the kind of detailed credit history mainstream banks use to make lending decisions. “From a very early stage, we realized that the traditional process of relying on credit bureau data alone represents only one aspect of the health of a business, and many good businesses are denied funding due to this,” says Neil. “By capturing data from multiple sources, we are able to model a much richer picture of a business. And capturing all this information digitally allows us to automate this process. This allows us to fund more businesses, and do so in the fraction of the time it would traditionally take."

[caption id="attachment_18576" align="alignleft" width="500"]<img class=" wp-image-18576" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Lulalend_0007-1024x683.jpg" alt="Sapna Gihwala at Lulalend" width="500" height="334" /> Sapna Gihwala is a credit analyst at Lulalend.[/caption]

Sapna Gihwala, a Lulalend credit analyst, relies on data to guide her in her interactions with clients. The online application portal sends her information about potential new borrowers, then she follows up with a few more questions, and lets the system analyze all the data and determine whether the applicant is eligible. “We don’t even need clients to walk in, we can just pick up a phone, send an email, and have it done online. So it’s getting an answer to them so much faster,” she says.

Using Lulalend to pounce on opportunities to grow his business has allowed Noel to hire new staff. “The business is my family, so everyone here is part of a family. We look after each other, we work hard, respect each other. Since I’ve used the Lulalend facility, I have employed easily 5 or 6 people,” he says. He hopes to continue to use Lulalend’s quick-access loans along with larger bank loans to scale up his operations. “We plan to employ, over the next 2 to 3 years, probably in excess of 50 people,” he predicts, adding, “This funding is a game-changer, as it allows you to bridge that gap and move to that next stage of growth. I’m excited about the future.”

When faster is better for small business lending

Fintech companies are, of course, technology-driven. The word “tech” is part of their name, after all! And yet, even fintechs usually include elements of human touch in their business models. For example, sales agents may help contact and enroll new customers, or support staffers may be available to help troubleshoot when problems arise.

In our recent paper, <a href="https://www.accion.org/the-tech-touch-balance/">“The Tech Touch Balance: How the Best Fintech Startups Integrate Digital and Human Interaction to Accelerate Financial Inclusion,”</a> we showcase several fintech startups in the Accion Venture Lab portfolio that are finding an optimal balance between tech and human interactions, making their offerings accessible, affordable, and attractive to their target customers. Two are located in Africa: Apollo Agriculture, and Lumkani.

Both companies are innovative in that they offer services that have not previously existed in the market. <a href="https://apolloagriculture.com/">Apollo</a>, based in Kenya, provides high-quality seeds and fertilizers for smallholder farmers. Apollo also provides guidance and information to the farmers so they can improve input yield and better respond to storms or droughts. The second Africa-based company profiled, <a href="https://lumkani.com/">Lumkani</a>, sells fire insurance to residents of informal settlements in South Africa. The insurance package includes an alarm that can detect a fire and then trigger an alert to residents and neighbors, so they have a chance to seek safety. And if a home does catch fire, the insurance payout helps policyholders replace damaged property. Since both Apollo and Lumkani offer products and services that customers are less familiar with, human interaction helps drive adoption and overall retention.

[caption id="attachment_17740" align="alignleft" width="500"]<img class="wp-image-17740" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Kenya_Nakuru_0034-1-1-1024x684.jpg" alt="Apollo agents in Nakuru, Kenya" width="500" height="334" /> Apollo Agriculture balances its high-tech model with field agents to serve smallholder farmers in Kenya.[/caption]

Apollo’s clients, smallholder farmers, are among the world’s most financially underserved populations. They also tend to be less digitally savvy, and many have had negative experiences with financial institutions in the past. At the same time, they are very interested in receiving help to boost their yields and incomes, so Apollo’s model is attractive.

Apollo primarily relies on tech to determine the creditworthiness of its customers: it employs a highly sophisticated, tech-driven underwriting process that leverages data collected from satellite imagery and the farmers themselves. All of Apollo’s loans are repaid through mobile money and require no human touch, which is convenient for farmers in remote, rural areas. Apollo also uses SMS to communicate with farmers for matters ranging from payment reminders to weather alerts.

On the other hand, Apollo field agents are an essential part of the customer journey, especially in the early stages, as they visit potential clients and answer questions. Agents are also available to go in person to handle challenges that can’t be managed through SMS. Call centers and automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are also part of Apollo’s tech-touch continuum.

In South Africa, mobile money systems are much less available than they are in Kenya, so they are not a good option for Lumkani clients to use to manage policy payments and payouts. Additionally, people in the informal settlements where Lumkani provides its services tend to be limited in both financial literacy and experience with technology, so they need information on what the insurance product is and how it works.

So Lumkani relies on agents — many of whom live in the same settlements — to do face-to-face sales pitches and enrollments. The agents, however, carry smartphones with an app for setting up the new accounts. Agents also collect cash payments in person but send SMS reminders to keep clients up to date. The fire detectors not only sound an alarm to warn people in the home when they sense heat nearby but also report back to Lumkani so that SMS alerts can be sent throughout the community. The company can then follow up with clients, both electronically and in person, to see if any fire damage occurred, and to begin the claims process if so. In combining tech and touch, Lumkani earns the trust of its clients while making the signup and payout processes faster and less expensive than many traditional insurance models.

For more examples of how fintech startups balance tech and touch as they develop their offerings, and general advice on these issues, read the full paper <a href="https://www.accion.org/the-tech-touch-balance">here</a>.

Two African startups where inclusive fintech comes with a human touch

[embed]https://soundcloud.com/accioninternational/lumkani-and-using-fire-insurance-to-protect-families-in-south-africa/s-nZAYy[/embed]

“It’s a daily event in the country — there are people being displaced every single day,” David Gluckman, CEO and co-founder of <a href="https://lumkani.com/">Lumkani</a>, laments in our latest episode of VentureKast. Destructive fires are a regular, and potentially devastating, occurrence for the approximately 10 million South Africans that live in informal settlement communities. These townships are particularly susceptible to the threat of fires due to the use of flammable building materials, the ubiquity of open flame fires, limited space between dwellings, and a lack of road infrastructure for adequate emergency response.

On this episode of <a href="https://soundcloud.com/accioninternational">VentureKast</a>, the podcast about the most innovative and impactful inclusive fintech startups in the world, I sat down with David to discuss Lumkani, a Johannesburg-based startup that leverages proprietary hardware and a tech-enabled agent network to provide customers living in informal settlements within South Africa with insurance products that protect against loss of life, shelter, and assets in the case of a home fire.

Lumkani, which means ‘be careful’ in Xhosa, originally began as a hardware company, deploying its first fire detector in late 2014. Within the first 18 months, they were able to prove that their technology “in 73 percent of cases was able to reduce the spreading of fires [beyond] the first home.” But it was not enough just to alert the community and stop the spreading of fires. David explains, “as we went on the customer was demanding more from us: ‘you can detect the fire but what is the end result?’”

With that problem in mind, Lumkani, partnered with Hollard, a South African-based insurance company, to develop the world’s first hardware-enabled fire insurance specifically designed for informal settlements. To serve clients that had been ignored by traditional financial service providers previously, the company has created an efficient, engaging, and easy to manage experience for its low-income customers. David describes how they designed the customer journey, noting that “the more you commit yourself to being a learning and listening organization, your customer will tell you how to make your business successful because they’ll tell you what they need.”

Lumkani uses fire insurance to protect families in South Africa

The Kids Cooking Club in Cape Town, South Africa, is a cheerful, colorful space with lime-green walls, stacks of plastic mixing bowls, and children decked out in aprons and paper chef’s hats concentrating on sprinkling candy bits onto cookie dough. Mondisa, its founder, clearly loves working with kids. She smiles as she describes the club’s weekday cooking classes and weekend birthday parties, where budding young chefs master basic techniques, learn to follow recipes, and finally enjoy tasting the treats they make themselves.

<img class="alignleft wp-image-16439" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/KidsCookingClub_0002-1024x683.jpg" alt="Child at Kids Cooking School mixing food in a bowl" width="500" height="333" />The difficult part of running the business, Mondisa says, is accessing funding. First, she tried applying for bank loans. As a new entrepreneur trying to get her project off the ground, she didn’t have answers yet to the kinds of questions banks had about the business’s performance. “They ask ridiculous things,” she says. Shaking her head, she adds, “I have been with the same bank since I started my business, and they won’t even fund me.”

Then, Mondisa heard about Accion Venture Lab portfolio company <a href="https://www.lulalend.co.za/">Lulalend</a>, an online platform for small business lending. “I do my applications online. It’s a very quick process. They ask for bank statements and then in a couple of hours, they call you, ask you some questions, and then you’ve got your funding,” she says.

<img class="alignleft wp-image-16440" src="http://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/KidsCookingClub_0003-1024x683.jpg" alt="Apron hanging on wall at Kids Cooking Club" width="500" height="333" />

Entrepreneurs, like Mondisa, have long been overlooked by traditional financial service providers. But <a href="https://medium.com/accion/how-lulalend-uses-data-to-fund-south-africas-small-businesses-73316cb9b36f">Lulalend uses alternative data</a> to make quick lending decisions for these small business customers. At <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab">Accion Venture Lab</a>, we invest in fintech startups that can bring essential financial tools to the underserved — and what Lulalend provides for entrepreneurs is essential. As Lulalend’s co-founder and CEO <a href="https://www.accion.org/trevor-gosling-lulalend/">Trevor Gosling</a> explains, working capital is the lifeblood of a small business: “Giving them access to finance allows them to build their business… and as the company grows, it gives them the ability to employ more people [and] increase job creation.”

Mondisa has experienced this growth for her business after receiving several loans from Lulalend over the course of a year. She says these funds were key to helping her manage her cash flow as she purchased supplies for the cooking classes and found a dedicated space to rent.

“It’s really hard for us small businesses to grow. It makes it easier when you have places like Lulalend to help,” she says.

Now that her business is starting to grow, Mondisa is looking forward to when she will qualify for one of those larger bank loans. She’d like to hire more staff — to give herself more time both to spend with her own two sons and to dedicate to planning for the future, such as exploring the possibility of franchising her business in other cities in South Africa. With a smile restored to her face, she says, “There’s a lot of potential, growthwise, for the Kids Cooking Club. I’m very excited, and so is my family. Whenever things are tough I always think, ‘You can’t give up!’ Being a small business owner has its challenges, but it’s also very rewarding as well.”

Recipe for success at the Kids Cooking Club in Cape Town

Globally, more than 1.4 billion people are living in informal settlements, and unfortunately, that number is rising rapidly. These communities are prone to overcrowding, they lack even the most basic amenities, and they fail to comply with regulations meant to protect inhabitants from fires and other threats. Natural disasters, conflict, climate change, and lack of affordable housing are <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://gsdrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/UrbanGov_GSDRC.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">among the factors</a> driving more and more people to live in informal settlements. Among the other challenges they face, most community members can’t access high quality, affordable financial services and insurance coverage.
Formal housing allows, and often requires, homeowners and renters to purchase insurance to protect them and their property. But families living in informal settlements have difficulty accessing the same type of coverage because providers can’t quickly locate their homes, assess the value of their assets, and validate and pay claims.
<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://lumkani.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lumkani</a>, one of our latest investments at Accion Venture Lab, leverages proprietary hardware and a tech-enabled agent network to provide consumers living in informal settlements within South Africa with insurance that protects against loss of life, shelter, and assets in the case of a home fire. Lumkani bundles this insurance product with an Internet of Things (IoT) connected heat sensor that detects fire in and around homes, reducing damages from the flames by providing an early warning system that alerts residents and neighbors. Lumkani’s IoT device and proprietary agent network generate data on household value, customer’s location, and demographics that Lumkani can use to underwrite, service, and pay out claims.
At Venture Lab, we’re most excited about the innovative way Lumkani is delivering microinsurance and their use of technology to reach underserved populations such as:
Using IoT to provide financial services to the underserved: Lumkani’s hardware can significantly change the way low-income consumers view insurance. The Lumkani’s IoT heat sensor serves as a reminder of the protection received when paying monthly premiums, resulting in a stickier insurance offering and an increase in retention. Existing clients view the Lumkani heat detector as a way to stay safe in their homes, and it helps create a tangible connection to the insurance product, thus driving customer retention.
Leveraging data for effective underwriting and claims management: On the insurance end, the IoT device and the data received present a new way to underwrite, service, and administer claims by accessing information such as household value, location, and demographic data. Lumkani has distributed nearly 13,000 IoT units and works with their partners to leverage this data when designing new products. They are continuously evolving as their dataset becomes more robust.
Applying a “tech and touch” model to reach into informal settlements: While we are excited about Lumkani’s technology approach, we also believe that for communities that are apprehensive about the value of long-term insurance, a human touchpoint is critical. This model not only builds trust with customers, but it also serves as a constant reminder of the value of the heat sensor and the accompanying insurance. The software they supply their agents and the mobile communications they maintain with their customers allow Lumkani to efficiently manage their clients, ensuring they can scale their operations.
Centering customer needs when developing and updating products: We have been impressed with the Lumkani team’s thoughtfulness and dedication to low-income consumers living in informal settlements. They have purposefully designed this product with the financially excluded in mind, and they have made the necessary adjustments to continue to serve this group better. We envision that the team will keep developing new products to deepen their clients’ overall financial health, and we look forward to seeing how they leverage their network of agents and IoT devices to expand access to financial services throughout South Africa.
We couldn’t be more excited to be working with the Lumkani team on their mission to keep people safe and protected in their homes. David Gluckman, Paul Mesarcik, and Francois Petousis have been building this solution since 2014.
While <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.pwc.co.za/en/assets/pdf/south-african-insurance-2014.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">insurance penetration rates in South Africa are some of the highest globally</a>, insurance companies have struggled to offer insurance solutions that reach low-income individuals, creating a massive market opportunity. Lumkani is dedicated to designing, delivering, and servicing some of the hardest to reach communities in an innovative way.
We at Venture Lab are looking forward to working with Lumkani and our co-investors, 4Di and Lireas, to bring insurance to the underserved and help to create thriving and secured environments for those who need it most.

Everyone should be able to feel safe in their own home

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Johannesburg, South Africa – June 7, 2018– Insurtech startup Lumkani announced today that it has closed a seed funding round to provide highly vulnerable, traditionally excluded, low-income consumers living in informal settlements with insurance coverage. 4Di Capital; Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment initiative of financial inclusion leader Accion; and Lireas participated in this round. The funds will enable Lumkani to enhance and grow its product offerings, reach new communities throughout South Africa, and expand its team.

Founded in 2015, Lumkani addresses the challenge of fire safety in informal settlements through a combination of early-warning fire detection technology and financial services. Lumkani leverages proprietary hardware and a tech-enabled agent network to provide consumers living in informal settlements with insurance that protects against loss of life, shelter, and assets in the case of a home fire. Lumkani bundles this insurance product with an Internet of Things (IoT) connected heat sensor that detects fire in and around homes. Lumkani’s insurtech software generates data on household value, location, and demographics that Lumkani can use to underwrite, service, and pay out claims.

“At Lumkani, we are committed to providing South Africans living in informal settlements with access to financial services that have previously not been on the market. We look forward to working with our new partners 4Di Capital, Accion Venture Lab, and Lireas to strengthen our ability to reach even more underserved consumers,” said David Gluckman, Director of Lumkani.

Consumers living in informal communities experience high-density accommodation, lack of access to basic amenities, and are overexposed to fires and other disasters. Consumers in this market also face significant challenges in accessing basic financial services.

“At 4Di Capital, we are excited about the potential for new technology and new data sources to create inclusion for the millions of South Africans presently not able to access financial services, as they do not have a formal address, a credit history or a KYC record, and traditional financial and risk products are unsuitably designed. Lumkani’s approach enables this effectively and affordably, potentially creating a whole new class of financial services customers,” said Justin Stanford, partner at 4Di Capital.

“More than a billion people live in overcrowded informal settlements with the fear of fires and other catastrophic events. Lumkani’s innovative insurtech offering is helping this vulnerable population feel safe in their homes,” said Michael Schlein, President and CEO of Accion. “Lumkani is a great example of how the right combination of technology and direct client support – ‘tech’ and ‘touch’ – can make insurance more accessible and scalable,” added Amee Parbhoo, Director of Investments at Accion Venture Lab.

“Lumkani has a number of unique features which stood out for us as an investor – a terrific team, simple, yet effective technology, and a market-first insurance product. Above all this business has the potential to make a difference to the most vulnerable of society and at the same time save lives. With reinsurance support from Hannover Re and an excellent investor base, Lumkani is well-positioned to begin serving this underserved market,” said Valerie Hayter, Managing Director of Lireas.

In 2015, The Tech Awards awarded Lumkani’s IoT heat sensor the Katherine M. Swanson Young Innovator Award. To-date, Lumkani has distributed more than 17,000 IoT heat sensors, and in 2016 launched a complementary insurance product. It has expanded its offerings to over 30 communities throughout South Africa.
###
About Lumkani
Lumkani is an Insurtech Startup that seeks to build resilience in under-served communities exposed to high levels of risk, using technology and financial services. Lumkani mitigates the loss of life and property caused by fires in informal settlements using specifically designed Internet of Things (IoT) heat sensors and insurance. The combination of technology and financial cover has enabled Lumkani to decrease the impact of fires in low-income neighbourhoods.

About 4Di Capital
4Di Capital is an independent venture capital firm based in South Africa’s “Silicon Cape”, specialising in high-growth technology venture opportunities, at the early- and growth-funding stages. The firm has offices in Cape Town, South Africa and Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., and counts among its funds investors Reinet Fund S.C.A., E. Oppenheimer &amp;amp; Sons, Convergence Partners and MMI Holdings. 4Di funds are managed by the GP partnership team of Anton van Vlaanderen, Douglas Cherry, Erik van Vlaanderen, Justin Stanford and Laurie Olivier. 4Di’s new Exponential Technology Fund invests in the FinTech, HealthTech and InsureTech sectors.

About Accion Venture Lab
Accion Venture Lab is the world’s leading seed-stage investor in fintech for the underserved. Venture Lab invests capital in, and provides support to, innovative fintech startups that increase access to, improve the quality of, or reduce the cost of financial services for the underserved at scale. Since launching in 2012, Venture Lab has deployed over US$10 million across more than 30 startups that work in over 20 countries worldwide. Venture Lab is a part of Accion, a global nonprofit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. Accion catalyzes financial service providers to deliver high-quality, affordable solutions at scale for the three billion people who are left out of – or poorly served by – the financial sector. For more than 50 years, Accion has helped tens of millions of people through its work with more than 90 partners in 40 countries. For further information, visit<a href="https://www.accion.org/venturelab">https://www.accion.org/venturelab</a>.

About Lireas
Lireas is the strategic Investment arm of Hannover Re Africa, a subsidiary of the 3rd largest reinsurer in the world. Mahogany Private Equity is a minority shareholder in Lireas and provides it with private equity and corporate finance expertise as well as BBBEE credentials. Lireas has a unique business model providing partners with access to finance, insurance licenses and reinsurance capacity. It is considered a pioneer of the underwriting agency concept in South Africa having been invested in this business model for over 30 years. More recently Lireas was mandated by its Board to venture into the world of insurtech and has made a number of investments to date. Lireas believes in investing in people rather than complex business plans and tries to balance the rigors of corporate governance with entrepreneurial flare, an ingredient critical to the success of all its businesses.

Media Contact:

Katie Mounts (Accion)
<a href="mailto:kmounts@accion.org">kmounts@accion.org</a>
+1 202.280.5859

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South African Insurtech Startup Lumkani Raises Seed Round to Bring Insurance to the Underserved

South Africa has one of the largest economies in Africa, but its economic and social disparities lead to a vastly underserved population in terms of financial services. Compared to other emerging economies around the world, the country does have relatively high bank account penetration rates (at around 70 percent of the adult population). Still, half of this banked population is “thinly served” and does not have access to formal credit.
Businesses face the same challenges individuals do: formal micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are usually unable to access credit from their banks, which struggle to properly assess small business risks. The kinds of nonbank financial institutions that often target underserved markets in other parts of the world are absent in South Africa. There is a microfinance sector, but it focuses on serving informal businesses and individuals, creating a “missing middle” — a large gap between these informal clients served by microfinance and the larger corporations that are able to access bank finance. In such an environment, innovative fintech companies often seek to provide alternatives, as seen in our recent publication <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/content/bridging-small-business-credit-gap-through-innovative-lending" rel="nofollow">Bridging the Small Business Credit Gap Through Innovative Lending</a>, which highlights the challenges small businesses face in markets around the world.
<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.lulalend.co.za/" rel="nofollow">Lulalend</a>, an online lending platform serving small businesses in South Africa, is one of the companies using tech to bridge the gap for small businesses.
<img class="alignleft wp-image-8059" src="http://blogs.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20171124_093808.jpg" alt="Lulalend serves small businesses in South Africa" width="500" height="375" />
Launched in 2015 in Cape Town, Lulalend is South Africa’s first online and automated provider of short-term funding for MSMEs. Lulalend lends exclusively to these businesses, and most of its funding is used for inventory or equipment purchases, renovations, or marketing.
Unlike traditional financial institutions, Lulalend allows small businesses to apply for and receive funding without visiting a bank branch. Its lending decisions are largely automated, and funding can be provided within 24 hours.
Lulalend leverages data from alternative and online sources, such as electronic bank accounts, payment gateways, online accounting companies, e-commerce marketplaces, and any other partners that could provide additional data. It even has tools to digitize offline data — for instance, it can “scrape” numbers from uploaded paper-based bank statements. The company uses this collection of data to feed an innovative scoring algorithm that allows them to evaluate applicants and provide funding quickly, conveniently, and transparently.
In a survey Lulalend conducted with local small and medium enterprises, 69 percent stated that access to funding could significantly help their business grow. Through innovation, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/trevor-gosling-lulalend/">Lulalend is seeking to do its part</a> to support healthy growth in South Africa’s small business sector.
This article is part of our global series on MSMEs in seven key countries/regions where we work. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.accion.org/content/bridging-small-business-credit-gap-through-innovative-lending" rel="nofollow">Read the paper Bridging the Small Business Credit Gap Through Innovative Lending</a>.

How Lulalend uses data to fund South Africa’s small businesses

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<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.yoco.co.za/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Yoco</a> is a point-of-sale payment solutions company based in South Africa. Its smartphone app and wireless card readers allow small businesses to accept credit and debit card payments easily and affordably. In this interview, Yoco cofounder and CEO Katlego Maphai discusses the company’s origins, and how he and his colleagues began to identify the market gap they could fill. “You have a lot of consumers with cards, but not enough businesses accepting cards,” he says. At the same time, he adds, “Small businesses are heavily underserved. Nobody’s building products or tools for them.” And thus, a business plan began to take shape.
Maphai clearly identifies with the clients Yoco serves. “We’re an SME, we’re entrepreneurs. Our customers are SMEs, they’re entrepreneurs too. So we’re the same… We’re in this together. We only grow when our customers grow,” he says.
Looking toward the future, Maphai is thinking of how his own SME can grow. Building on the network of entrepreneurs he’s established, he says, “We’ll be able to offer additional services, and we’ll also be able to plug in third parties… anyone who wishes to distribute to smaller businesses can do it through us,” he says.
<img class="progressiveMedia-image js-progressiveMedia-image alignnone" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/720/1*-eqVvpkalIaQaBCflJCIig.png" alt="&quot;In Africa, small business is big business.&quot;" width="720" height="360" />
This interview took place at the June 2017 <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.accion.org/inclusive-fintech-leaders-meet-to-accelerate-innovation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CEO Forum and Fintech for Inclusion Global Summit</a>, hosted by <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.accion.org/venturelab" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Accion Venture Lab</a>, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="https://www.fmo.nl/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">FMO</a>, and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.quona.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Quona Capital</a>.
Yoco and the Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, managed by Quona Capital, have partnered since 2017.

Katlego Maphai of Yoco

South Africa is a global hub for fintech innovation. Accion supports and advises South African innovators using technology to help entrepreneurs expand their businesses and families protect their homes around the world.

Coryell Stout

Portfolio Engagement Manager

Uriel Zuluaga

Senior Director, Credit and Business Processes

Ashley Lewis

Vikas Raj

Kenya

South Africa

Agricultural and Rural Finance

Alternative Data

Challenges and Crises

Data Analytics

Digital Financial Services

Entrepreneurs of MSMEs

Fintechs

Human Centered Design

Human Touch

Impact Investing

Inclusive insurance

Insurance

Insurance Companies

Insurtech

Life Insurance

MSME/SME Finance

Refugees and Migrants

Resilience

Smallholder Farmers

Social Impact Metrics

Social Performance

Women

Article

Podcast

Press Release

Sub-Saharan Africa

Consumer Protection

Enabling Environment

Financial Health

Underserved Groups

"I’ve been here in this informal settlement for 14 years,” Fundiswa explains as we visit the makeshift home she shares with her sister and their children outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Such neighborhoods, which are home to more than 1 billion of the world’s poorest people, are especially vulnerable to fire, as residents live in crowded conditions and building codes are not enforced. And when a fire does break out, residents lack the resources to rebuild. “If I had to buy everything again after a fire, it would be very hard because I don’t have a lot of money,” says Fundiswa.

<img class="alignleft wp-image-16829" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Lumkani_0007-1024x683.jpg" alt="Lumkani IoT heat detection device" width="500" height="333" />Lumkani, a South African insurtech startup and Accion portfolio company, is offering people like Fundiswa both protection and peace of mind with its innovative fire insurance product. Clients receive a heat sensing device, which sounds an alarm if it detects fire nearby. And the insurance policy helps pay for repairs or replacements if a home does burn.

Fundiswa became a Lumkani client because she wanted to know her family and possessions would be safe in a fire. Lumkani makes the process simple for customers, says Fundiswa: “I pay and then they send me an SMS to say I’m covered for the month with the insurance.”

But even more important than the straightforward process is the sense of safety Lumkani gives its customers. “If the house next door burns, I don’t stress. I just lock my door and run, because I know I’m covered by the insurance,” says Fundiswa. “People even steal from people’s homes when there are fires, but I don’t worry about any of that because I know I’m covered, and I know I will get back what is due to me after I send my claim.”

While Fundiswa hasn’t had to worry about a fire yet, she has already seen the impact of Lumkani in her community: “I know someone who lost everything in the fires and got a voucher, and he got everything back.”

Lumkani

Institutional Funder

Social Good

Accion Venture Lab

The real impact of financial inclusion

Delivery Channels

Financial Service Providers

Informal settlements, in which at least 1.4 billion of the world’s poorest people live, are terribly vulnerable to fire. Homes are crowded together and often constructed of flammable materials like wood, plastic, and cloth. Residents without reliable electricity or gas line access resort to cooking on open flames. Building safety codes are not enforced. And if a home catches fire and burns down, the family living there — which already had little — has to start over without any help.

[caption id="attachment_18831" align="alignleft" width="400"]<img class="wp-image-18831" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Lumkani_0026-1024x683.jpg" alt="Lumkani community liaison officer Clive " width="400" height="267" /> Community liaison officer Clive supervises agents for Lumkani[/caption]

South African startup and Accion portfolio partner <a href="http://blogs.accion.org/features/insurtech-fire-protection-south-africa/">Lumkani</a> is offering a form of protection rarely seen in informal settlements: fire insurance. Its policyholders also receive an innovative fire detection device that sounds an alarm triggered by the heat of a nearby fire. The alarm gives residents a chance to seek safety, and the insurance payout helps them repair or replace items damaged in the blaze.

Because insurance is not commonly used by people in informal settlements, it can be hard to explain the concept and get buy-in. Lumkani has found that one effective way to achieve this is by hiring community members themselves as sales agents. Community liaison officer Clive, who supervises agents, explains that community feedback has been an important part of developing the policies and device. He says, “We asked individuals how we could design a product that would fit them and be affordable. I’ve seen where we’ve stopped fires and had an impact on people involved in the fires. It’s satisfying to know we can cover people’s homes and their goods. I believe we are a big answer to these communities.”

[caption id="attachment_17736" align="alignright" width="400"]<img class="wp-image-17736" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Lumkani_0014-e1550780398258-1024x799.jpg" alt="Zoliswa, an agent for Lumkani, in front of an informal settlement in South Africa" width="400" height="312" /> As an agent for Lumkani, Zoliswa helps people in informal settlements obtain fire insurance.[/caption]

Sales agents Kwanda and Zoliswa both spend their days making the rounds in their communities and signing people up for the service. A mobile app makes it easy to enroll new clients wherever they are. Says Zoliswa, “The reason I decided to work with Lumkani is the communication with the people in my community. It keeps me busy and updated.” Kwanda adds, “I saw an opportunity to improve my own community. It changed my life a lot. I earned respect. It helped me also see new directions and I started working around my community more.”

[caption id="attachment_18832" align="alignright" width="400"]<img class="wp-image-18832" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Lumkani_0029-1024x683.jpg" alt="Lumkani software engineer Dinesh" width="400" height="267" /> “I always wanted to do something to help people,” says Lumkani software engineer Dinesh[/caption]

Other staffers who don’t work as closely with clients on the ground have also found a sense of community at Lumkani. Dinesh, a software engineer originally from Brazil, says, “I see humans as social animals, so it’s interesting to see the idea of communities, like townships. A device like this can be used to help improve the sense of community. I always wanted to do something to help people. I want to give back to the world. Because we have this social structure it’s easy to forget how people live, but working here helps you remember and have more empathy in general.”

Impact Investor

Credit

Financial Technology

Noel Ehrenreich is CEO of New Earth Recycling, a polystyrene recycling facility based in Cape Town, South Africa. There are very few recycling plants specializing in polystyrene, and Noel is proud that his four-year-old company is able to contribute to protecting the environment. He says, “What motivates me most is that we’re making some difference in our community and environment. It’s rewarding, given the state of our planet, that we are part of the solution, not the problem.”

[caption id="attachment_18573" align="alignleft" width="499"]<img class=" wp-image-18573" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NewEarth_0005-1024x683.jpg" alt="Noel Ehrenreich" width="499" height="333" /> Noel Ehrenreich, CEO of New Earth Recycling, uses Lulalend for his business financing needs.[/caption]

The success of the business depends on Noel being able to act quickly when large stocks of recyclable material become available for him to purchase. He’s found <a href="https://www.lulalend.co.za/">Lulalend</a>, an online lending platform and <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab">Accion Venture Lab</a> portfolio company, to be the best option to turn to in such cases.

Traditional bank lenders, Noel explains, can take weeks or months to approve a loan. With Lulalend, he says, “it was quite an easy process to fill everything in, and within a day, I had access to funding. It was amazing.”

[caption id="attachment_18577" align="alignright" width="500"]<img class=" wp-image-18577" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/lulalendneil_crop-1024x836.jpg" alt="Neil Welman of Lulalend" width="500" height="408" /> Neil Welman, co-founder and CTO of Lulalend[/caption]

Lulalend is able to make its decisions so rapidly because of the systems it has built. “From inception, Lulalend has taken a digitally focused and data-driven approach to solving the problem of access to funding for small business,” says Neil Welman, co-founder and CTO of Lulalend.

Small business owners come to Lulalend not only because they hope they can get a loan right away, but also because often they don’t have the kind of detailed credit history mainstream banks use to make lending decisions. “From a very early stage, we realized that the traditional process of relying on credit bureau data alone represents only one aspect of the health of a business, and many good businesses are denied funding due to this,” says Neil. “By capturing data from multiple sources, we are able to model a much richer picture of a business. And capturing all this information digitally allows us to automate this process. This allows us to fund more businesses, and do so in the fraction of the time it would traditionally take."

[caption id="attachment_18576" align="alignleft" width="500"]<img class=" wp-image-18576" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Lulalend_0007-1024x683.jpg" alt="Sapna Gihwala at Lulalend" width="500" height="334" /> Sapna Gihwala is a credit analyst at Lulalend.[/caption]

Sapna Gihwala, a Lulalend credit analyst, relies on data to guide her in her interactions with clients. The online application portal sends her information about potential new borrowers, then she follows up with a few more questions, and lets the system analyze all the data and determine whether the applicant is eligible. “We don’t even need clients to walk in, we can just pick up a phone, send an email, and have it done online. So it’s getting an answer to them so much faster,” she says.

Using Lulalend to pounce on opportunities to grow his business has allowed Noel to hire new staff. “The business is my family, so everyone here is part of a family. We look after each other, we work hard, respect each other. Since I’ve used the Lulalend facility, I have employed easily 5 or 6 people,” he says. He hopes to continue to use Lulalend’s quick-access loans along with larger bank loans to scale up his operations. “We plan to employ, over the next 2 to 3 years, probably in excess of 50 people,” he predicts, adding, “This funding is a game-changer, as it allows you to bridge that gap and move to that next stage of growth. I’m excited about the future.”

Lulalend

The majority of Kenyans have mobile money accounts; their activity demonstrates digital financial services’ potential. Accion helps Kenyan innovators harness emerging technologies to create new financial services.

Fintech companies are, of course, technology-driven. The word “tech” is part of their name, after all! And yet, even fintechs usually include elements of human touch in their business models. For example, sales agents may help contact and enroll new customers, or support staffers may be available to help troubleshoot when problems arise.

In our recent paper, <a href="https://www.accion.org/the-tech-touch-balance/">“The Tech Touch Balance: How the Best Fintech Startups Integrate Digital and Human Interaction to Accelerate Financial Inclusion,”</a> we showcase several fintech startups in the Accion Venture Lab portfolio that are finding an optimal balance between tech and human interactions, making their offerings accessible, affordable, and attractive to their target customers. Two are located in Africa: Apollo Agriculture, and Lumkani.

Both companies are innovative in that they offer services that have not previously existed in the market. <a href="https://apolloagriculture.com/">Apollo</a>, based in Kenya, provides high-quality seeds and fertilizers for smallholder farmers. Apollo also provides guidance and information to the farmers so they can improve input yield and better respond to storms or droughts. The second Africa-based company profiled, <a href="https://lumkani.com/">Lumkani</a>, sells fire insurance to residents of informal settlements in South Africa. The insurance package includes an alarm that can detect a fire and then trigger an alert to residents and neighbors, so they have a chance to seek safety. And if a home does catch fire, the insurance payout helps policyholders replace damaged property. Since both Apollo and Lumkani offer products and services that customers are less familiar with, human interaction helps drive adoption and overall retention.

[caption id="attachment_17740" align="alignleft" width="500"]<img class="wp-image-17740" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Kenya_Nakuru_0034-1-1-1024x684.jpg" alt="Apollo agents in Nakuru, Kenya" width="500" height="334" /> Apollo Agriculture balances its high-tech model with field agents to serve smallholder farmers in Kenya.[/caption]

Apollo’s clients, smallholder farmers, are among the world’s most financially underserved populations. They also tend to be less digitally savvy, and many have had negative experiences with financial institutions in the past. At the same time, they are very interested in receiving help to boost their yields and incomes, so Apollo’s model is attractive.

Apollo primarily relies on tech to determine the creditworthiness of its customers: it employs a highly sophisticated, tech-driven underwriting process that leverages data collected from satellite imagery and the farmers themselves. All of Apollo’s loans are repaid through mobile money and require no human touch, which is convenient for farmers in remote, rural areas. Apollo also uses SMS to communicate with farmers for matters ranging from payment reminders to weather alerts.

On the other hand, Apollo field agents are an essential part of the customer journey, especially in the early stages, as they visit potential clients and answer questions. Agents are also available to go in person to handle challenges that can’t be managed through SMS. Call centers and automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are also part of Apollo’s tech-touch continuum.

In South Africa, mobile money systems are much less available than they are in Kenya, so they are not a good option for Lumkani clients to use to manage policy payments and payouts. Additionally, people in the informal settlements where Lumkani provides its services tend to be limited in both financial literacy and experience with technology, so they need information on what the insurance product is and how it works.

So Lumkani relies on agents — many of whom live in the same settlements — to do face-to-face sales pitches and enrollments. The agents, however, carry smartphones with an app for setting up the new accounts. Agents also collect cash payments in person but send SMS reminders to keep clients up to date. The fire detectors not only sound an alarm to warn people in the home when they sense heat nearby but also report back to Lumkani so that SMS alerts can be sent throughout the community. The company can then follow up with clients, both electronically and in person, to see if any fire damage occurred, and to begin the claims process if so. In combining tech and touch, Lumkani earns the trust of its clients while making the signup and payout processes faster and less expensive than many traditional insurance models.

For more examples of how fintech startups balance tech and touch as they develop their offerings, and general advice on these issues, read the full paper <a href="https://www.accion.org/the-tech-touch-balance">here</a>.

Apollo Agriculture

Mastercard Foundation

Financial Service Provider

The tech touch balance

The Kids Cooking Club in Cape Town, South Africa, is a cheerful, colorful space with lime-green walls, stacks of plastic mixing bowls, and children decked out in aprons and paper chef’s hats concentrating on sprinkling candy bits onto cookie dough. Mondisa, its founder, clearly loves working with kids. She smiles as she describes the club’s weekday cooking classes and weekend birthday parties, where budding young chefs master basic techniques, learn to follow recipes, and finally enjoy tasting the treats they make themselves.

<img class="alignleft wp-image-16439" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/KidsCookingClub_0002-1024x683.jpg" alt="Child at Kids Cooking School mixing food in a bowl" width="500" height="333" />The difficult part of running the business, Mondisa says, is accessing funding. First, she tried applying for bank loans. As a new entrepreneur trying to get her project off the ground, she didn’t have answers yet to the kinds of questions banks had about the business’s performance. “They ask ridiculous things,” she says. Shaking her head, she adds, “I have been with the same bank since I started my business, and they won’t even fund me.”

Then, Mondisa heard about Accion Venture Lab portfolio company <a href="https://www.lulalend.co.za/">Lulalend</a>, an online platform for small business lending. “I do my applications online. It’s a very quick process. They ask for bank statements and then in a couple of hours, they call you, ask you some questions, and then you’ve got your funding,” she says.

<img class="alignleft wp-image-16440" src="https://accion-staging.flywheelsites.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/KidsCookingClub_0003-1024x683.jpg" alt="Apron hanging on wall at Kids Cooking Club" width="500" height="333" />

Entrepreneurs, like Mondisa, have long been overlooked by traditional financial service providers. But <a href="https://medium.com/accion/how-lulalend-uses-data-to-fund-south-africas-small-businesses-73316cb9b36f">Lulalend uses alternative data</a> to make quick lending decisions for these small business customers. At <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab">Accion Venture Lab</a>, we invest in fintech startups that can bring essential financial tools to the underserved — and what Lulalend provides for entrepreneurs is essential. As Lulalend’s co-founder and CEO <a href="https://www.accion.org/trevor-gosling-lulalend/">Trevor Gosling</a> explains, working capital is the lifeblood of a small business: “Giving them access to finance allows them to build their business… and as the company grows, it gives them the ability to employ more people [and] increase job creation.”

Mondisa has experienced this growth for her business after receiving several loans from Lulalend over the course of a year. She says these funds were key to helping her manage her cash flow as she purchased supplies for the cooking classes and found a dedicated space to rent.

“It’s really hard for us small businesses to grow. It makes it easier when you have places like Lulalend to help,” she says.

Now that her business is starting to grow, Mondisa is looking forward to when she will qualify for one of those larger bank loans. She’d like to hire more staff — to give herself more time both to spend with her own two sons and to dedicate to planning for the future, such as exploring the possibility of franchising her business in other cities in South Africa. With a smile restored to her face, she says, “There’s a lot of potential, growthwise, for the Kids Cooking Club. I’m very excited, and so is my family. Whenever things are tough I always think, ‘You can’t give up!’ Being a small business owner has its challenges, but it’s also very rewarding as well.”

South Africa

Meet the Experts

Coryell Stout

Uriel Zuluaga

Filter

Filter

Fire insurance provides peace of mind in South Africa

This insurtech startup takes pride in protecting their community

When faster is better for small business lending

Two African startups where inclusive fintech comes with a human touch

Lumkani uses fire insurance to protect families in South Africa

Recipe for success at the Kids Cooking Club in Cape Town

From the Center for Financial Inclusion

Fire insurance provides peace of mind in South Africa

This insurtech startup takes pride in protecting their community

When faster is better for small business lending

Two African startups where inclusive fintech comes with a human touch

Lumkani uses fire insurance to protect families in South Africa

Recipe for success at the Kids Cooking Club in Cape Town

Everyone should be able to feel safe in their own home

South African Insurtech Startup Lumkani Raises Seed Round to Bring Insurance to the Underserved

How Lulalend uses data to fund South Africa’s small businesses

Katlego Maphai of Yoco

Everyone should be able to feel safe in their own home

South African Insurtech Startup Lumkani Raises Seed Round to Bring Insurance to the Underserved