Britam, a Kenya-based investment firm active in seven African countries, is working on “developing new property insurance solutions” to provide security to microentrepreneurs who use their homes for business operations and storage. The project is supported by the US-based nonprofit Habitat for Humanity and the Impact Insurance Facility of the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO).
George Mugweru, the housing market systems specialist at Habitat for Humanity, stated, “Research has found that 35 percent of Kenyans have reported losing their homes, businesses or property due to fire, flood, theft or eviction in the last two years. Therefore, we decided to develop this project with the ILO to incubate innovative property risk management solutions.”
Britam was founded in 1965 and has since expanded from Kenya to serve Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The firm is active in insurance, asset management, banking and property development. As of 2019, Britam has KSH 125 billion (USD 1.15 billion) in total assets.
The Impact Insurance Facility is housed within ILO’s Social Finance Program, which has staff of 18. Formerly known as the Microinsurance Innovation Facility, the goal of the entity is to facilitate the efforts of the insurance industry, governments and other partners to expand insurance options for low-income people, particularly to protect agriculture, health, life and property.
Founded in 1919, ILO has 187 member states. Its mission is to set international labour standards and policies for sustainable employment and working conditions. As of December 2018, ILO had total assets of USD 1.95 billion and a one-year deficit of USD 30 million.
Habitat for Humanity seeks to provide poor people with clean, safe and affordable places to live. Since its inception in 1976, Habitat for Humanity has engaged the services of homeowners and volunteers to build houses under the supervision of trained builders. In the US, the organization offers no-interest mortgage loans directly to low-income families, and in other countries it partners with microfinance institutions to distribute and service home loans. Habitat for Humanity operates in 70 countries and reported total net assets of USD 3.1 billion as of June 2019.
By Romil Pandey, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
ILO press release
http://ilo.msgfocus.com/q/13VuhdYHFHvOP4bZeqAGM/wv
Britam homepage
https://www.britam.com
Britam annual report 2019
https://ke.britam.com/documents/767267/1cf2ece6-fc1f-6a73-a969-301f92d9410b
Habitat for Humanity homepage
https://www.habitat.org
Habitat for Humanity Annual Report FY 2019
https://www.habitat.org/multimedia/annual-report-2019/
Impact Insurance Facility homepage
http://www.impactinsurance.org
ILO Financial Report December 2018
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_norm/—relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_695423.pdf
Social Finance 2019 Annual Report
http://www.impactinsurance.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Social_finance_Annual_Report_2019_EN_Web.pdf
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