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Is AI Disruption on the way for Kenya’s Insurance Space?

The earliest known reason for introducing insurance protection in Kenya, came during the time of the Colonial British — when they insured their farms and crops against loss, damage etc. Today, Kenya has 70% of the East African Insurance market (among Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania & Rwanda). Still, African Insurance is relatively nascent in terms of size. Only 6 major markets dominate the landscape in a serious way — Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria & Kenya. Infact, the number of insurtech startups in the continent altogether is a paltry 50 something. 

The looming political climate coupled with a slowly recovering economy and some fierce competitive tactics used by traditional incumbents places the industry far from ideal in terms of marketplace conditions, including the slowdown in uptake of insurance products by an income-sensitive population.

Yet, Kenya offers a sense of growing appeal for young insurtechs in this region. The market remains largely undisrupted, since insurance penetration is only about 3% (insurance penetration for the African continent is only at 0.3%), attracting large international insurers like Allianz and Swiss Re who have recently entered the market. Kenya, like other countries in the region, has enormous potential similar to South-East Asian economies that also remain largely undisrupted with lower penetration rates.

The positive sentiment surrounding Kenya’s potential for deep tech disruption is not surprising — According to the 2019 Government AI Readiness Index published by the  IDRC and Oxford Insights — Kenya is the most AI ready country in Africa.

Buying Behavior

Insurtech startups are exploring avenues using AI that large, traditional players have less incentive to exploit, such as offering ultra-customized policies, social insurance, and using behavior data from devices to dynamically price premiums.

The Millennial experience is entirely technology driven, while their attitudes and perceptions as consumers will shape the future of how insurance as a service continues to remain relevant.


According to a Kenya Insurance Industry Report, 65% of millennials compare prices across different websites before making a purchase, 68% only buy a product through referrals from friends and social media. Interestingly, 84% of them are opposed to traditional advertising. 

For insurers, loyalty comes at a price — often dictated by the pain point the product/service can eliminate for impatient classes of customers. Analysing buying or browsing behavior can lead to an immense amount of ethically siphoned data. Using ML models and regression algorithms, insurers can create a unified view of their prospect, and realize a multi-targeted approach to create opportunities for upselling or cross-selling.


The report also highlights the importance of making sense of social media behavior — since 41% of millennials use social networking sites to pass on recommendations of products and services to friends and family.

Unlocking market potential requires targeting the uninsured growing middle class in creative ways. In addition to better pricing models, insurtech startups are testing the waters on a host of potential game-changers, such as using deep learning trained artificial intelligence (AI) to handle the tasks of brokers and finding the right mix of policies to complete an individual’s coverage.

Insurtechs are using AI to solve for Kenya’s distribution challenges, by looking at vital consumer needs that have previously been unmet or glossed over. At the same time, there is scope for improving the average consumer’s awareness of artificial intelligence technology, and how they can take advantage of it to solve priority-first issues related to convenience, cost and range of choice.
Nairobi-based Jubilee Insurance, the largest insurer in East Africa is making the most of AI tools like chatbots and automated messaging platforms for streamlining simple customer feedback & support operations. They have also launched forward-thinking products like “Recover in Style” which provides hair and make-up services to Jubilee patients who are hospitalized — services that go beyond the financial needs and into the realm of delivering superior customer experiences.

These efforts highlight a trend pointing towards the growing interest in the use of apps to pull policies into one platform for management and monitoring, creating on-demand insurance for micro-events like borrowing a friend’s car, and the adoption of the peer-to-peer models to create customized coverages. Bluewave, for example, is an insurtech startup offering low-cost insurance products, as low as US$4 a week, aimed at low-resource, low-income users in last-mile environments.

The expanding middle class and growth in mobile phone penetrations will be critical to widening distribution and getting more people to buy micro-insurance sized products for the first time. Badalaa is an on-demand insurtech startup focussed on bringing insurance at the point of transaction where the user needs it. Turaco, a recently funded insurtech, with premiums for as little as US$2 — leverages mobile financial services to provide hospital cashback to customers who have sought treatment at any nationally-accredited hospital in the regions where they operate. These innovations further the consumer’s awareness of AI-enabled insurance coverage and protection in general, in an otherwise underpenetrated marketplace.


Bismart is another example — an insurtech aggregator that allows customers to not only buy the best-in-class insurance products but also make claims directly from their portal as well. 

The biggest learnings for young insurtechs in this space from more mature markets, are about getting the basics right – having a single view of the customer, being able to launch rates and change pricing in real-time, offering customers a multichannel experience without requiring them to fill in the same information over and over again, and settling claims quickly without the need for multiple touchpoints.

Demand-driven models, built on sufficiently large data-sets will be instrumental in driving individual customisation at mass-scale for the sector at large.

webinar: AI for data-driven Insurers

Join our Webinar — AI for Data-driven Insurers: Challenges, Opportunities & the Way Forward hosted by our CEO, Parag Sharma as he addresses Insurance business leaders and decision-makers on April 14, 2020.

We help young insurtechs, build and scale AI-driven products and solutions for last-mile environments. Reach out to us on hello@mantralabsglobal.com, to learn more.

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How Smarter Sales Apps Are Reinventing the Frontlines of Insurance Distribution

The insurance industry thrives on relationships—but it can only scale through efficiency, precision, and timely distribution. While much of the digital transformation buzz has focused on customer-facing portals, the real transformation is happening in the field, where modern sales apps are quietly driving a smarter, faster, and more empowered agent network.

Let’s explore how mobile-first sales enablement platforms are reshaping insurance sales across prospecting, onboarding, servicing, renewals, and growth.

The Insurance Agent Needs More Than a CRM

Today’s insurance agent is not just a policy seller—they’re also a financial advisor, data gatherer, service representative, and the face of the brand. Yet many still rely on paper forms, disconnected tools, and manual processes.

That’s where intelligent sales apps come in—not just to digitize, but to optimize, personalize, and future-proof the entire agent journey.

Real-World Use Cases: What Smart Sales Apps Are Solving

Across the insurance value chain, sales agent apps have evolved into full-service platforms—streamlining operations, boosting conversions, and empowering agents in the field. These tools aren’t optional anymore, they’re critical to how modern insurers perform. Here’s how leading insurers are empowering their agents through technology:

1. Intelligent Prospecting & Lead Management

Sales apps now empower agents to:

  • Prioritize leads using filters like policy type, value, or geography
  • Schedule follow-ups with integrated agent calendars
  • Utilize locators to look for nearby branch offices or partner physicians
  • Register and service new leads directly from mobile devices

Agents spend significantly less time navigating through disjointed systems or chasing down information. With quick access to prioritized leads, appointment scheduling, and location tools—all in one app—they can focus more on meaningful customer interactions and closing sales, rather than administrative overhead.

2. Seamless Policy Servicing, Renewals & Claims 

Sales apps centralize post-sale activities such as:

  • Tracking policy status, premium due date, and claims progress
  • Sending renewal reminders, greetings, and policy alerts in real-time
  • Accessing digital sales journeys and pre-filled forms.
  • Policy comparison, calculating premiums, and submitting documents digitally
  • Registering and monitoring customer complaints through the app itself

Customers receive a consistent and seamless experience across touchpoints—whether online, in-person, or via mobile. With digital forms, real-time policy updates, and instant access to servicing tools, agents can handle post-sale tasks like renewals and claims faster, without paperwork delays—leading to improved satisfaction and higher retention.

3. Remote Sales using Assisted Tools

Using smart tools, agents can:

  • Securely co-browse documents with customers through proposals
  • Share product visualizations in real time
  • Complete eKYC and onboarding remotely.

Agents can conduct secure, interactive consultations from anywhere—sharing proposals, visual aids, and completing eKYC remotely. This not only expands their reach to customers in digital-first or geographically dispersed markets, but also builds greater trust through real-time engagement, clear communication, and a personalized advisory experience—all without needing a physical presence.

4. Real-Time Training, Performance & Compliance Monitoring

Modern insurance apps provide:

  • On-demand access to training material
  • Commission dashboards and incentive monitoring
  • Performance reporting with actionable insights

Field agents gain access to real-time performance insights, training modules, and incentive tracking—directly within the app. This empowers them to upskill on the go, stay motivated through transparent goal-setting, and make informed decisions that align with overall business KPIs. The result is a more agile, knowledgeable, and performance-driven sales force.

5. End-to-End Sales Execution—Even Offline

Advanced insurance apps support:

  • Full application submission, from prospect to payment
  • Offline functionality in low-connectivity zones
  • Real-time needs analysis, quote generation, and e-signatures
  • Multi-login access with secure OTP-based authentication

Even in low-connectivity or remote Tier 2 and 3 markets, agents can operate at full capacity—thanks to offline capabilities, secure authentication, and end-to-end sales execution tools. This ensures uninterrupted productivity, faster policy issuance, and adherence to compliance standards, regardless of location or network availability.

6. AI-Powered Personalization for Health-Linked Products

Some forward-thinking insurers are combining AI with health platforms to:

  • Import real-time health data from fitness trackers or health apps 
  • Offer hyper-personalized insurance suggestions based on lifestyle
  • Enable field agents to tailor recommendations with more context

By integrating real-time health data from fitness trackers and wellness apps, insurers can offer hyper-personalized, preventive insurance products tailored to individual lifestyles. This empowers agents to move beyond transactional selling—becoming trusted advisors who recommend coverage based on customers’ health habits, life stages, and future needs, ultimately deepening engagement and improving long-term retention.

The Mantra Labs Advantage: Turning Strategy into Scalable Execution

We help insurers go beyond surface-level digitization to build intelligent, mobile-first ecosystems that optimize agent efficiency and customer engagement—backed by real-world impact.

Seamless Sales Enablement for Travel Insurance

We partnered with a leading travel insurance provider to develop a high-performance agent workflow platform featuring:

  • Secure Logins: Instant credential-based access without sign-up friction
  • Real-Time Performance Dashboards: At-a-glance insights into daily/monthly targets, policy issuance, and collections
  • Frictionless Policy Issuance: Complete issuance post-payment and document verification
  • OCR Integration: Auto-filled customer details directly from passport scans, minimizing errors and speeding up onboarding

This mobile-first solution empowered agents to close policies faster with significantly reduced paperwork and data entry time—improving agent productivity by 2x and enabling sales at scale.

Engagement + Analytics Transformation for Health Insurance

For one of India’s leading health insurers, we helped implement a full-funnel engagement and analytics stack:

  • User Journey Intelligence: Replaced legacy systems to track granular app behavior—policy purchases, renewals, claims, discounts, and drop-offs. Enabled real-time behavioral segmentation and personalized push/email notifications.
  • Gamified Wellness with Fitness Tracking: Added gamified fitness engagement, with rewards based on step counts and interactive nutrition quizzes—driving repeat app visits and user loyalty.
  • Attribution Tracking: Trace the exact source of traffic—whether it’s a paid campaign, referral program, or organic source—adding a layer of precision to marketing ROI.
  • Analytics: Integrated analytics to identify user interest segments. This allowed for hyper-targeted email and in-app notifications that aligned perfectly with user intent, driving both relevance and response rates.

Whether you’re digitizing field sales, gamifying customer wellness, or fine-tuning your marketing engine, Mantra Labs brings the technology depth, insurance expertise, and user-first design to turn strategy into scalable execution.

If you’re ready to modernize your agent network – Get in touch with us to explore how we can build intelligent, mobile-first tools tailored to your distribution strategy. Just remember, the best sales apps aren’t just tools, they’re growth engines; and field sales success isn’t about more apps. It’s about the right workflows, in the right hands, at the right time.

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