Deadline: 5 February 2019
Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU) is currently seeking applications for its Microinsurance Challenge Fund (MCF) to develop a more inclusive financial sector with a focus on low-income individuals (particularly women) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
FSD Uganda works with both public and private sector players to develop sustainable improvements in the livelihoods of low-income individuals through reduced vulnerability to shocks, increased incomes and employment creation. FSD Uganda is funded by Department for International Development (DFID) UK aid, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and is part of a network of nine financial inclusion organizations working in the sub-Saharan region of Africa.
The MCF aims to contribute to the development of an inclusive insurance market in Uganda and the body of knowledge on workable and viable microinsurance products, customer journey, business models, and end to end distribution applicable to the Ugandan market.
Objectives
There are three main objectives of the MCF, namely:
- Stimulate the design and distribution of customer centric insurance solutions for underserved and unserved market segments,
- Contribute to business ventures aimed at increasing scale, outreach and client value,
- Build capacity of insurers and distributors in product design and delivery, particularly leveraging the Human Centered Design (HCD) approach and technology.
Categories
- New Untested Concept: This category refers to ideas that are in infancy and are yet to go through initial proof of concept in a field-based pilot. The idea could include a completely new product with benefits targeting unserved of (under)served individuals, or innovations in distribution and service delivery or other untested ideas aimed to increasing insurance uptake among Ugandans.
- Product or business model refinement: Ideas that have graduated from a concept stage and require some refinement before they are ready to go-to-market.
- Ready to scale: These are innovative products or services within the insurance industry that already exist in the market targeting un(under)served individuals and are looking to scale.
Funding Information
The MCF provides co-financing grants ranging from GBP 50,000 to GBP 100,000 per organisation. The total co-financing available is GBP 300,000 which can be distributed across 3-5 organizations under the three support categories as follows:
- New Untested Concept – 1 winner.
- Product or Business Model Refinement – 1 to 2 winners.
- Ready to scale – 1 to 2 winner
Eligibility Criteria
- International and domestic companies. For non-Ugandan companies, partnership with a domestic service provider is required.
- All entrants need to demonstrate evidence of partnerships with companies across the value chain that are involved in delivering the product/service. These could be contracts or if the partnership is under development then a letter of intent would suffice for the purposes of selection. However, a contract with all partners that are key to the service/ product development will be required prior to obtaining a grant from FSDU.
- Types of insurance focus for the challenge fund:
- The fund will focus on life (including funeral cover), health, property insurance product lines.
- Applications that have a bundled product encompassing some or all these services are welcomed and encouraged.
How to Apply
Interested applicants must download the application form and sent it via email at the address given on the website.
Eligible Country: Uganda
For more information, please visit http://fsduganda.or.ug/mcf/