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InsureTech for Development

Peter Wrede's picture

Ventures that promise to make insurance more fun with technology attract considerable attention and funding. In mature markets, that is. More than half of the $2.3 billion InsureTech funding in 2017 went to the US and the UK, where the average person spends more than $5,000 on insurance every year (that includes newborns). In a country like Bangladesh, by comparison, insurance premium per capita is $8, and this statistic fails to show that most people have no insurance at all, so that insurable events such as accidents end the progress out of poverty for too many. The obstacles that prevent these people from including insurance in their risk management toolkit are surprisingly similar to the obstacles that InsureTech wants to remove to better serve American Millennials. They include lack of trust in insurance companies and lack of understanding of insurance, but also the frustration caused by annoying processes (think filling long forms and waiting for mailed responses) and products that don’t fit. 

But there’s an app for that.

Unlocking Competitiveness: Why Invest in Rural Vietnam?

Christine Qiang's picture
For investors seeking opportunities in Vietnam, the rural province of Dong Thap may not be the first location that comes to mind. Located in the southwest corner of Vietnam, Dong Thap is remote – the nearest airport is a three-hour drive. Road infrastructure is relatively poor, and until recently was complicated by deficient bridges over the Mekong River. It was also known for delayed customs processes that could disrupt supply chains.
 

Why Do Foreign Investors’ Attitudes toward Women Matter?

Heba Shams's picture
Gender equality is one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that calls for ensuring women’s full participation in political, economic and public life as a target. Gender inequality is still a key development issue. The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report 2017 found a gender gap of 42% when it came to labor force participation and earned income. Unrealized Potential, a May 2018 publication of the World Bank Group, puts a staggering figure to the cost of this inequality in earnings - $160.2 trillion globally, or $23,620 per capita.
Kuralay Aitzhanova, Dispatcher Manager at the Energy Transmission Control Center of KEGOK. Kazakhstan. Photo: Shynar Jetpissova / World Bank

Making marble from bottles: plastic waste’s second life in Kenya

Justine White's picture
It is estimated that every day Nairobi generates 3,000 tons of waste; 12% is plastic. At the same time, the demand for new houses is growing at a rate of 600 per day. Innovative climate technologies can offer solutions that tackle both the challenges of plastic recycling and the increasing housing demand. But what is an effective approach to introducing technologies that can impact a critical number of companies in the value chain?
 
“From plastic waste to building materials,” a partnership supported by the World Bank Group gathering six private sector frontrunners in Kenya, is testing exactly this.
From plastic to marble. Photo © Better Future Factories
From plastic to marble. Photo © Better Future Factory

De-risking and remittances: the myth of the “underlying transaction” debunked

Marco Nicoli's picture
Also available in: Español | Français
Societé Genérale Mauritanie bank branch in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
Societé Genérale Mauritanie bank branch in Nouakchott, Mauritania. ©️ Arne Hoel

This Saturday, June 16, we celebrate International Day of Family Remittances to recognize “the significant financial contribution migrant workers make to the wellbeing of their families back home and to the sustainable development of their countries of origin.”

Which is why it is the perfect time to talk about a trend facing remittance service providers who migrants rely on to transfer their money across borders and back home.
In recent years, the international remittance services industry has been subject to the so-called “de-risking” phenomenon. Banks believe that anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations and enforcement practices have made serving money transfer operators (MTOs) too risky from a legal and reputational perspective. For banks, the profit of serving MTOs is not considered sufficient to justify the level of effort required to manage these increased risks.
 

Initial findings from the implementation of the 'Practical Guide for Measuring Retail Payment Costs'

Holti Banka's picture

MoMo Tap in Côte d'Ivoire
In November 2016, we published the “Practical Guide for Measuring Retail Payment Costs”, an innovative methodology that can be customized to country needs and circumstances, without losing the international comparative dimension.

The guide enables countries to measure the costs associated with retail payment instruments, based on survey data, for the payment end users, payment service/infrastructure providers, and the total economy. The guide also enables countries to derive projected savings in shifting from the more costly to the less costly payment instruments.
 

A new Toyota-sponsored startup shakes up Bamako’s public transit

Alexandre Laure's picture

Left to Right: Thomas Gajan, Chief Innovation Officer at CFAO, Sendy CEO Meshack Alloys, Teliman CTO Abdoulaye Maiga, and Teliman CEO Etienne Audeoud


Like many African cities, Bamako’s population of 2.3 million is growing rapidly by roughly 5% a year. As people increasingly flock to the city, its road network is coming under increased pressure, especially when it comes to public transportation.

Traditional taxis are too expensive for the average commuter and the alternative option, SOTRAMA or public vans, are uncomfortable and slow, overflowing with people on Bamako’s roads.

Three years in a row: Mauritania continues to excel in its Doing Business performance

Alexandre Laure's picture
Also available in: Françaisالعربية

Fish market and vegetable market, Nouakchott. The daily catch is brought here by the fishermen’s wives and family members to sell the fish.
Photo: Arne Hoel
Description: Fish market and vegetable market, Nouakchott. The daily catch is brought here by the fishermen’s wives and family members to sell the fish.

As the World Bank Group’s flagship publication, Doing Business, celebrates its 15th edition, Mauritania continues to thrive as a major reformer in investment climate policy. The country was highlighted in the Doing Business 2016 report among the top 10 reformers worldwide and the current 2018 report shows that Mauritania outperforms the regional average. 

Following a downward trend between 2010 and 2014, Mauritania has been steadily improving its ease of doing business performance. Figure 1 shows how, in just three year, a series of reforms that began in earnest during 2015, were key to help the country jump a remarkable 26 places from 176th in 2015 to 150th this year in 2018.

A network approach to growing green entrepreneurship

Samantha Power's picture
Climate Business Innovation Network participants at the end of a workshop held in Pretoria, South Africa. Photo © World Bank


How do you empower local entrepreneurs to advance bottom-up solutions to climate change? How do you provide local green entrepreneurs with the technical assistance and market intelligence they need to validate innovative technologies and business models? How do you improve these entrepreneurs' access to capital?
 
These are some of the questions discussed by the World Bank Group’s Climate Business Innovation Network (CBIN) at its most recent meeting in Pretoria, South Africa earlier this month.
 
This network of leaders of incubators and accelerators from around the world meets bi-annually to share their experiences supporting green entrepreneurs, brainstorm solutions to common challenges, and learn from business incubation experts in this emerging field.
 

Can blockchain disrupt gender inequality?

Alicia Hammond's picture

Pakistan-woman-shopkeeper
Blockchain is the subject of considerable hype, thanks largely to the rise (and fall and rise...) of high profile digital currencies. Beyond this spotlight, development experts and innovators are exploring whether the technology behind cryptocurrencies can be leveraged to advance gender equality.
 
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology  that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions without using an intermediary. (The technology is also notoriously difficult to follow, but we find this brief video helpful and this talk explains blockchain well, if you have a bit more time.) Put simply, the system is maintained by collaboration, code and sometimes competition. Many experts refer to Google Docs to explain the concept: multiple users can access the same document simultaneously and they can all see the changes. This feature potentially makes it suited for validating records and processing financial transactions in the absence of strong institutions.
 

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