After successful pilots of an inclusive insurance product that helps families and microentrepreneurs to recover from the consequences of natural disasters in Guatemala and El Salvador, MiCRO started a regional expansion to maximize impact and reach scale
Activities in the first expansion country, Colombia, are the result of a partnership with SBS Seguros Colombia S.A, and now with the valued support of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, represented by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management Bridgetown
Critical to many Latin American economies, the agriculture and small business sectors are exceedingly vulnerable to natural disasters.
Climate change is a threat multiplier for many such events, increasing both natural disasters’ severity and frequency.
MiCRO’s approach to mitigating the effects of these disasters is seen as a real alternative to increase the resilience of underserved segments of the population. Its innovative solutions offer access to needed and affordable risk management products by applying cutting edge technologies that expand the traditional boundaries of insurability.
Products are index-based and designed to protect the continuity of productive activities after the occurrence of natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts and excess rain. After a successful pilot phase in Central America, MiCRO started a regional expansion which will bring its solutions to five additional countries in the next five years.
The first expansion country is Colombia, where a partnership between SBS Seguros and MiCRO is now supported by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, which will help to implement the solutions and accelerate growth in that country.
Funded by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the fund supports innovative climate risk insurance solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change.
“Closing the protection gap where most needed is a task that calls for multilateral partnerships to ensure the resources for product scaling and achievement of our organizations’ visions. The signing of this grant agreement between MiCRO and SBS Seguros, together with the Frankfurt School as a manager of InsuResilience Solutions Fund, is an important step in that direction”, said Steve Mitchell, MiCRO’s Chairman.
“This grant will help us to co-fund market entry costs and growth activities in Colombia, which demand continuous innovation and efforts to bring innovative risk management solutions to vulnerable smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs”, added Carlos Boelsterli, MiCRO’s CEO.
“The support of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund will leverage the resources we are investing into this important initiative. This will contribute to our main goal of widening the reach of affordable and appealing protection to the underserved and vulnerable communities of the population”, said Martha Pava, CEO of SBS Seguros Colombia S.A.
The Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (MiCRO) is a socially oriented commercial enterprise focused on Latin America. It is supported by Mercy Corps, co-founder of MiCRO, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Climate Adaptation Platform managed by KfW, and Swiss Re, whose technical assistance and risk capacity is instrumental in providing innovative insurance protection.
Source: MiCRO