Jubilee Group and FSD Africa’s BimaLab accelerator have teamed up to work with seven insurtech firms to create affordable insurance for small businesses, informal workers, farmers and low-income households in Kenya, with pilots slated for November 2026.
The collaboration will run an eight-week product co-creation phase that will focus on digital distribution, bundled coverage for small-business ecosystems and linking insurance to health and wellness services.
The selected firms are Dukatech Solutions, Aura Insure Technologies, Inclusivity Solutions, DPE, Fiinovate, Agrails and Ibisa Network, chosen after a competitive process involving alumni of the BimaLab Africa Insurtech Accelerator.
The programme targets a market where more than 10 million small and medium enterprises provide over 70 per cent of jobs, yet insurance penetration in that segment averages about 1 per cent, according to the partnership announcement.
Juan Cazcarra, deputy group chief executive officer of Jubilee Group, said there is a large group of Kenyans who work, earn and run businesses every day but still have little or no insurance coverage. He added that meeting people where they are with affordable, relevant and simple products is essential, and that the partnership will let Jubilee test various products and distribution models before scaling the most successful.
Elias Omondi, principal for sustainable insurance at FSD Africa, noted that the challenge is not merely creating more insurance products but ensuring they reach those who need them at affordable prices through familiar channels.
Dukatech Solutions will use its Shopokoa platform, which supplies curated food and shopping baskets to waste pickers, refugees and informal-sector workers, to explore bundled and embedded insurance distribution via its existing customer and merchant network.
Aura Insure Technologies, a Dubai-based firm expanding into Africa, will provide SaaS underwriting and distribution tools that enable insurers and partners to manage quoting, onboarding, policy issuance, servicing and renewals digitally through APIs.
Inclusivity Solutions, operating from Cape Town in more than ten African countries, will contribute its ASPin platform that supports embedded insurance sales, policy administration, premium collection and claims management through digital and commercial channels.
Kenyan health-engagement company DPE will add its Interch platform, which uses SMS, WhatsApp and voice to deliver health information and services, and claims to have reached over 300,000 households.
Fiinovate will investigate credit-linked insurance using its FinHub and Fin Shield platforms, aiming to connect protection with borrowing and other financial services for small businesses and borrowers.
Agrails, a Kenyan generative AI and parametric technology firm active in more than three African countries, will explore climate-intelligence-linked insurance models, leveraging its climate data analysis and verification capabilities.
Ibisa Network, headquartered in Luxembourg with operations across Africa, will develop parametric insurance for farmers and renewable-energy operators, using satellite data and AI-driven analytics to trigger automated payouts after extreme weather events.
Jubilee will coordinate the pilots through its J-Hub innovation and technology arm, which creates and deploys digital and AI-powered solutions across the group. After the eight-week co-creation phase, the joint pilots are scheduled to start in November 2026, after which the partners will evaluate the products and distribution models for possible scaling.
BimaLab Africa, an initiative of FSD Africa, reports having supported 135 startups in 28 African countries over six years, developing more than 300 insurance solutions that have reached over 6.5 million underserved customers.
Jubilee Holdings, founded in 1937, provides insurance and investment solutions across East Africa and serves more than 1.4 million customers and beneficiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi.
The partnership follows similar innovation efforts by Britam, which launched its BetaLab hub in February 2024, moved it to the Two Rivers International Finance and Innovation Centre special economic zone in April 2025, and has used embedded insurance such as Britam Connect for gig workers and a Kinga ya Mkulima partnership covering 200,000 farmers and about 600,000 people.
