Pula scoops 2020 Insurtech award for supporting smallholder farmers in Africa
African leading Agricultural technology insurance company popularly known as Pula has won the Insurtech of the year award during the 6th Annual African Insurance awards that recently took place in Lagos, Nigeria.
Pula develops and deploys crops and livestock insurance to smallholder farmers and the award is the recognition of how the company has managed over 4.3 Million smallholder farmers through their area risk index and yield insurance product.
The company also packages digital services that include providing SMS agronomy tips during planting season and it has also implemented the crop cut experiment as claim assessment methodology. This assessment relies heavily on grounds crop cuts and it’s fed on mobile apps which relay instant feedback.
Pula also carries out crop cut Exercise on farms after harvest to determine compensation for farmers and so far smallholder farmers have already received total compensation of up to 20 million USD.
Speaking in an interview with Nyasa Times, Pula Co-Founder Thomas Njeru said the award is a testimony to the significance of Pula’s mission of protecting smallholders’ farmers in Africa.
“This award is a testimony of our vision in building resilience and profitability for the millions of hardworking smallholder farmers across Africa who help put food on our tables and help drive GDP of the continent,” he said
Njeru said they provide insurance because African farmers are exposed to various climate risks including excessive rainfall, drought, pests and diseases that affect production.
According to Njeru, among others, they specialize in Agriculture insurance and provide levers to connect participating farmers with regional and global reinsurance firms to mitigate such risks.
In addition, Pula Co-founder Rose Goslinga said they are looking forward to partnering with more African governments and private sector to help drive the uptake of agriculture insurance and drive resilience for additional 10 million farmers.
“With this award, we are optimistic that agricultural insurance will be a necessity product that will transform agriculture industry in Africa,” she said
Pula works with National Insurance companies across 12 Africa countries they operates in and some of their notable clients include and not limited to World Food Program, IFAD, Governments of Kenya and Zambia, Central Bank of Nigeria, One Acre Fund and Vision Fund.
Insurtech Company of the year award targets non-insurers collaborating with insurers to improve customer service delivery, products development and innovation and the awards were sponsored by Lagos based African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re).
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