Originally published: February 6, 2008
Source: Opportunity International
Micro Insurance Agency, a subsidiary of Opportunity International has received a US$24.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding will help Micro Insurance Agency expand its insurance products to the poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It will also enable the Agency to enter 11 new countries and provide life, health and crop insurance to 21 million poor people by 2012.
The grant will allow the agency to expand into health insurance. Richard Leftley, president of the Micro Insurance Agency said, “Health insurance is the most critical need of the poor and the most limited today. Our plan is to develop affordable and easy-to-use health insurance, and to enable 2.4 million people to gain access to healthcare services as we test, refine and roll out new products over the life of this grant”.
The Micro Insurance Agency acts as an insurance broker and is working with many large international insurance companies that underwrite the policies. The organization has developed efficiencies in its back-end administration that make the insurance affordable and able to pay out claims in an average of six days.
The funding is part of Gates foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor initiative, which is working with partners to develop and employ innovative ways to bring a wide range of financial services to people living in poverty throughout the developing world.
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