Women leaders innovate for a more equitable world, part one

Jihan Abass comes from a family of entrepreneurs, setting her on a path to become an entrepreneur herself from an early age. After beginning her career in finance in London, she returned home to Kenya and launched Lami in 2018. Lami, an Accion Venture Lab portfolio company, is an embedded fintech company that provides affordable, accessible insurance products to underserved people across Africa through partner platforms.

On founding Lami, she says, “My main motivation is the fact that a lot of people don’t have access to insurance products in Africa. A few years ago, I had a conversation with a waiter who told me he didn’t have medical insurance, and that got me thinking about the insurance space.” She started researching and realized there was a lack of technological infrastructure to distribute insurance products widely and affordably. “I think insurance is one part of financial inclusion that has really been ignored. It brings about a lot of security because here in most of Africa, people rely on single sources of income,” she says. Lami leverages technology to close those gaps and give people access to the safety net that insurance can provide during illness, accidents, and other disruptions to their income.

Because many people distrust insurance, Jihan and her team stress the importance of building confidence and trust in their customer journey. They’ve found the best way to do that is to embed their services into apps and interfaces that people already use daily, so they can access Lami’s products through providers they already have a trusted relationship with, including banks, telcos, e-commerce platforms, and logistics companies.

“I think innovation is the backbone of what we’re doing here,” says Jihan. “We’re trying to transform how people get access to insurance products. We’ve digitized the entire value chain, something that hasn’t really been done in the past. We’re building the infrastructure and the rails for others to quickly launch products through their channels. To be able to overcome some of the hurdles in terms of how people view insurance, you need to have a product that is different, and that has a lot of impact and value.”

On her entrepreneurial journey, Jihan says, “I think being a female founder is unfortunately quite rare in most of Africa, and probably most of the world. It’s been an interesting experience being a female founder. In general, I would say that, despite the biases, a lot of people are really excited about seeing women leading companies, which has been very positive.” Lami’s team is 55, and Jihan is determined to attract and mentor young women and encourage them to grow within the company. “That’s a big indication of how we’re trying to support and cultivate young talent. Providing opportunities is one of the best ways that we can have a gender balance.”

“In the future, our goal is to be the leader in digital insurance. And not just in Africa but the rest of the developing world because we often face similar problems. We’re pushing the boundaries within the insurance space so we can have a transformative effect on the whole industry.”

Sandra Calderon is the Digital Strategy and Channels Director for Latin America, part of the Accion Global Advisory Solutions team. She supports microfinance institutions and banks across Latin America to help them design, implement, and manage their digital financial service channels. She brings many years of experience in the commercial banking sector to her role at Accion. “When I was offered this opportunity to do something really tangible for low-income people, it was very exciting for me, and I immediately identified with it.”

Since then, she has managed a wide range of projects, like supporting institutions in adopting new channels such as ATMs, mini-branches, mobile banking, and agent networks – bringing life-changing financial tools to people across Latin America, including Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, and El Salvador. She’s passionate about building digital products and services that are easy to use, intuitive, and affordable so that all women can benefit from using them, no matter their level of experience using digital technologies.

Sandra emphasizes that innovation should always factor in an understanding of the realities that women face, and we must design tools from the perspective of women. “No one understands better the journey of a mother at home than another mother in charge of her home. Often, women must take care of their children while they are using digital products or services. For many, it’s also a great challenge to help their children with their homework using the internet or applications that schools use today. It’s necessary to provide learning spaces that make them feel proud of their achievements, build their confidence, empower them to become economically independent, and teach them to create new opportunities for themselves and their families.”

In many communities, women must divide their time between taking care of their family and earning a living, either because they are the heads of their household or because their economic dependence on their partner limits their autonomy. “The role of women in society is critical. We must facilitate their work by providing them with better tools to manage their households, start businesses, and earn a living for their families, including both financial and non-financial products and services,” says Sandra.