Godfather

Four years ago, a friend started a grocery business and three years down the line, he lost the business to vandalism that resulted from the protests which ravaged Nigeria last year. My friend is just one out of 70% of Nigerians with no insurance cover, a situation that exposes them to poverty.

We believe consumers are generally uninterested in products that appear complex, and this is the current reality with insurance in Nigeria. Thus, by demystifying insurance concepts and completely automating the entire insurance process, we are convinced we can increase insurance uptake.

Godfather is a digital platform that allows users to quote, compare and buy insurance products, make and track claims, and learn more insurance concepts.

At Godfather, we aim to bridge the insurance literacy gap among Nigerians and consequently, increase insurance penetration in Nigeria and wider Africa with the ultimate goal of protecting Africans against poverty.

According to a report by The Brookings Institute about 33.5% of the African population currently live below the global poverty line. In Nigeria alone, over 80 million people live in poverty. Recently conducted research from the Perking University in Beijing shows that insurance and its supporting mechanisms are powerful tools to manage the risk of falling into poverty due to unforeseen events.

However, the African Reinsurance Corporation estimated insurance penetration in Africa to be about 2.8%, with Africa accounting for only 1.56% of global Gross Premiums Written (Africa Global Funds), a very low rate when compared to other global economies. We believe that the low rate of insurance penetration stems from a significantly low level of insurance literacy among Africans, an increasingly complex insurance process, and the inaccessibility of insurance products to the general populace. This seemingly low insurance penetration in Africa reflects in the alarming poverty rate recorded across the continent. 

Consequently, Godfather seeks to change the narrative by leveraging technology to reinvent the traditional insurance space in Africa with a flagship in Nigeria. Our mission is to simplify insurance and make insurance solutions readily available, reliable, and affordable for everyone to stay protected against poverty.

Put in a most simplistic way, we are building a digital platform that serves as a one-stop shop for all the insurance needs of our users.

The functionality of our solution is hinged on three core areas; increasing insurance literacy, automating insurance policy purchase, and fast-tracking insurance claims processes.

Godfather leverages technology to develop a mobile and web application primarily driven by artificial intelligence (AI), that acts as an insurance intermediary enabling users to gain seamless access to compatible and competitive insurance products as an aggregator using a recommender
system. Our solution also comprises an effective automated tracking system that improves claims processing, and with a very unique approach to insurance product marketing, improves insurance literacy level and value proposition.

We are of the firm belief that by demystifying insurance concepts and completely automating the entire insurance process, we can increase insurance penetration in Africa.

Godfather is primarily focused on providing access to safety nets for the 58% of Nigerians that are just above the poverty line, to prevent them from falling into poverty.

Our solution is majorly targeted at middle and low-income earners, as well as Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) that are largely uninsured owing to the lack of simple and affordable insurance products that meet their specific need for protection.

The result of our conducted survey shows that about 72% of respondents within our primary market segment are uninsured for two major reasons; poor understanding of the concept of insurance due to its complexities, and the unavailability of affordable insurance products. Thus, they consider insurance a luxury product rather than a necessity.

Our digital platform uses AI to provide access to a wide range of compatible insurance products; with a focus on microinsurance products that are simple and affordable for people within our target population.

Our solution to an inclusive digital economy is one that brings access to fast, simple, and affordable risk coping mechanisms that provide the much-needed safety net for Africa and Africans. The most vulnerable individuals in a digital economy are those without access to insurance solutions. The backbone of most African economies are the small and medium scale enterprises, and these businesses operate under harsh and uncertain business conditions. by leveraging technology, we are providing access to perfectly curated insurance solutions for small businesses and low-income earners to thrive in an African economy.

So far, we have developed a minimum viable product (MVP) for proof of concept of our solution, and it is currently undergoing testing. Regular updates of additional features and improvements to provide a better experience for users are ongoing. We are also in progressive talks with the management of our school -the University of Lagos, and those of other tertiary institutions for potential partnership opportunities that will enable us to run a pilot scheme across these tertiary institutions. We believe such a strategic partnership will give us the potential to acquire over 10,000 customers in our first year of operation.

What makes our solution so innovative is that it offers users
access to insurance policies using a recommender system based on the data collected, all from the comfort of their mobile phones or through a web application. This system quotes available insurance products that best meet the needs of potential policyholders.

Our innovation provides users with more access to affordable insurance products as it aggregates available policies for them, provides a faster claims process system, and better product knowledge of insurance products to enhance value adoption.

We are building Africa's first fully digital insurance ecosystem that provides seamless access to insurance solutions to protect Africans against poverty.

We are currently in the development testing stage and as such our solution is yet to be deployed. However, by the first quarter of 2022, we are looking to have our product pilot launch. We are also in progressive talks with the management of three tertiary institutions to facilitate a strategic partnership that will allow us to deploy our solution within these school communities in the pilot phase. This strategic partnership will enable us to serve about 50,000 people in our first year of operation.

From our projections, we believe we will be serving about 300,000 active customers.

3 Co-founders working full-time

1 legal advisor working part-time

2 software developers working on a contract basis

1 AI expert working on a contract basis

Our founders are grounded in both theoretical and practical knowledge of concepts of the insurance business. The larger team is made up primarily of university students with valuable skills ranging from legal, product designing, finance, and strategic marketing.

The team leverages the founders'  track record of delivering entrepreneurial solutions to the most challenging problems within the school community and their knowledge, research, and frequent consultations with both members of the academia and insurance industry leaders to deliver on this unique solution that reduces the risk of a vast majority of Africa's population falling into poverty.

Our team is also in a strategic position to make groundbreaking partnerships to meet our first target market, thus, opening the door for more viable collaborations that will enable us to deliver a sustainable solution to Africa's insurance problems.

As the internet becomes increasingly embedded in the lives of individuals, communities, and commerce. It becomes critically important to ensure digital literacy for everyone. Our solution not

only provides insurance policy for businesses and individuals but addresses digital literacy and increased access to technology. In Africa, there’s a lot of work to be done in bridging the gap in digital inclusion. One of these ways is digitizing critical services such as insurance to drive huge transformation among individuals. A popular reference model is how the digitization of the banking sector has largely driven digital inclusion within the financial space. Most importantly is our commitment to eliminate institutional and structural barriers to access compatible insurance policy.
This means that Individuals would be able to access affordable insurance regardless of location, or educational status. Through our initiative, our solution not only provides access to critical services through digital technology but also creates a platform that will drive digital integration for users in the financial space.

Africa today, very few technologies are readily incorporating Artificial Intelligence systems into their solution. This is mostly due to the lack of exposure to resources and materials needed to integrate such high-level technology. Our solution regardless of these barriers works primarily with Artificial intelligence at the core of its operation. With the use of ethical Artificial Intelligence, we are able to provide insurance policies that are best suited to meet the needs of our clients. This innovation is the first of its kind in the western African region. The integration allows us to quote insurance premiums to our clients by predictions made on the basis of historical data from both our clients/users and the insurance companies. Furthermore, this integration empowers clients with the ability to organize insurance policies, add or remove elements from policy contracts, manage monthly premium payments, and track claims processing. These features are powered by our use of Artificial Intelligence in the build of our product. Our true purpose is to build Africa’s smartest insurance ecosystem.