Naya Jeevan (a 'new life'): Inclusive Insurance for MSMEs

Large corporations are always looking for market-based solutions to improve the performance and yield of their value chains, both on the supply (inputs) and retail/demand creation (outputs) side. 

Over 600 million low-income lives are formally or informally linked to corporate value chains (suppliers, distributors, MSME retailers, factory workers, etc.) and remain excluded from mainstream asset protection (e.g. health, life, livestock insurance), financial services and digital service delivery (telemedicine, tele-pharmacy, etc.).  

Naya Jeevan's comprehensive solution consists of the following components:

(i) Mobile-enabled health, life and livestock insurance coupled to tele-veterinary care, tele-pharmacy and telemedicine (including telepsychology)

(ii) Empowerment of women via entrepreneurship (last-mile MSME retailers who are connected to corporate supply/distribution chains)

(iii) Inclusive employment of women (community-based Female frontline workers who also serve as last-mile MSME retailers and (digital) financial service agents)

(iv) Financial inclusion - all participating beneficiaries automatically have mobile banking accounts opened up for them, with all insurance payments made digitally into their accounts within 24 hours of their claim. 

(v) Capacity-Building: beneficiaries are provided with group-based training on financial service products (e.g. savings, loans, insurance.) as well as preventive health/hygiene education (vaccinations, hand-washing, prevention against dengue and other infectious diseases, chronic disease management, etc).

The Naya Jeevan health & wellbeing plan services low-income workers who are formally or informally linked to corporate value chains (suppliers, smallholder farmers, distributors, MSME retailers, factory workers, etc.). The plan also benefits these workers' families (spouse + children), including both parents). 

The target population lacks access to financial services (financial inclusion)  and products/services that can protect their income-generating assets (e.g. health and livestock insurance). In addition, the target population is semi-literate and semi-skilled. It requires a lot of hand-holding and capacity-building in terms of education about insurance and financial products/services.

The Naya Jeevan inclusive insurance plan provides the target population with the following benefits which address their unmet needs: (i) Financial inclusion, (ii) Capacity-Building, (iii) inclusive employment of women (remotely-located female healthcare providers), (iv) promotion of women's entrepreneurship (female financial service agents, female frontline health workers and last-mile MSME retailers) and (v) mobile-enabled asset protection (health, life, disability, crop and livestock insurance).  

The Naya Jeevan team's leadership all speak the local dialect. They are from the same country (Pakistan), and have lived in the same environment as the community-based beneficiaries for the previous 13 years. Several team members are from the same ethnic groups as the beneficiaries, which helps establish rapport with the target population.  

The Naya Jeevan team has familiarised itself with the unmet needs of the target population by immersing itself in the target population as part of a  Human-Centred Design (HCD) process. 

The target communities have been frequently surveyed for unmet needs - in a sample community, access to mental health services was assessed to be a major unmet need during COVID-19 and community beneficiaries requiring support were offered 12 weekly sessions of trauma-informed therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

To catch a glimpse of one of our HCD journeys in the field, please watch the following video:

https://www.facebook.com/watch...

75000+ . Over 300,000 lives have been positively impacted by the Naya Jeevan inclusive insurance plan with over 75,000 active members enrolled in either health or life insurance (or both).

One of the major barriers to working in a frontier market (Pakistan) is access to growth capital. We're hoping that if this solution is chosen to be an MIT SOLVER, it will help shed some light on our inclusive business model and help it to raise sufficient growth capital to meet its immense potential. 

In addition, several of our mid-level managers require capacity-building and mentorship, and we're hopeful that this is something that can be achieved by joining the SOLVE community. 

As a 'kaizen' organization that practices 'continuous learning and improvement,' we seek to share insights and key learnings with a network of like-minded entrepreneurs to benefit from one another. A true 'win-win.' 

The kaizen philosophy also helps promote network effects enabling Naya Jeevan to leverage an emerging corporate-social enterprise ecosystem. By proactively seeking partnerships with corporations, Naya Jeevan is positioning itself as an integral part of this ecosystem.  

The Naya Jeevan solution is innovative in combining intangible services (health, life, livestock insurance) with tangible services (telemedicine, televeterinary care, digital financial services, etc.) to create a compelling value proposition for the target population. 

In addition to the above, multinational (MNCs) and national corporations co-finance these programs as market-based customer loyalty, retail incentive, supplier quality-control or workforce retention/performance programs. This greatly increases the affordability (and accessibility) of these programs by low-income communities who have historically been excluded from access to corporate insurance models.  

1-Year Impact Goals:

• Inclusive Insurance: 150,000 low-income beneficiaries enrolled in health insurance plan (output)
• Inclusive Employment: jobs created for 200 remotely-located female healthcare providers (HCPs) 
• Women's Entrepreneurship: 20% relative increase in monthly income levels of financial service agents (last-mile MSME retailers)

5-Year Impact Goals:

• Inclusive Insurance: 1.5 Million low-income beneficiaries enrolled in health insurance plan (output)
• Inclusive Employment: jobs created for 2000 remotely-located female healthcare providers (HCPs) 
• Women's Entrepreneurship: 50% relative increase in monthly income levels of financial service agents (last-mile MSME retailers)
• Positive Health Outcomes: 30% relative reduction in infant mortality in target population

Key Performance Indicators:

• Inclusive Insurance: Number of low-income beneficiaries enrolled in health insurance plan (output)
• Inclusive Employment: Number of jobs created for remotely-located female healthcare providers (HCPs) 
• Women's Entrepreneurship: % change in monthly income levels of financial service agents (last-mile MSME retailers)

Human, technological and financial resources (collectively the 'inputs') are combined to generate enrolment in inclusive insurance and mobile banking accounts (collectively the 'Outputs'). These outputs are generated via enrolment drives ('activities') and sharing of relevant data between the employer/aggregator and the insurance underwriter. The outputs lead to improved outcomes, e.g. 20% reduction in child mortality and a 30% increase in financial inclusion for the target population, ultimately leading to the (social) impact we seek (e.g. full economic citizenship for women). 

Our technology consists of a proprietary digital health platform that includes the following components: 

• Automated Claims Management System
• Telemedicine/Videconsultation system
• Electronic Health Records (EHR) system
• Member Access Portal

In addition, we are planning to integrate AI-enabled predictive analytics into our pricing strategy to enable more accurate forecasting.

Naya Jeevan’s core team is a multidisciplinary group of entrepreneurs, doctors, MBAs, design thinkers and UX experts who represent the wide diversity of ethnic groups that comprise its target population. 

Sixty percent of Naya Jeevan's Senior Management Team (SUMMIT) is women, while Fifty Percent of the board is women. In addition, 80% of Naya Jeevan's extended workforce (contract workers) are also women. 

In terms of equity, women receive a special car allowance to enable them to come to work (culturally speaking, very few women ride motorcycles in Pakistan).

Naya Jeevan is handicap-accessible and proactively hires people with disabilities. Ten percent of its workforce is currently comprised of workers with some form of disability. 

Naya Jeevan achieved positive cash flow in 2018 and has generated a surplus of ~ 20% at the net unit economic level. Approximately 60% of every $1 underwrites the cost of the inclusive insurance products/services that are offered by Naya Jeevan to its target market. Twenty percent (20%) covers the overall operating costs of the venture, yielding a net surplus of 20% which is re-invested to help scale the business. 

In terms of market opportunity, Naya Jeevan has just skimmed the top of a very large iceberg – over 87 Million MSME-affiliated workers are linked to corporate value chains (including agri-value chains) in Pakistan alone. The vast majority of these workers remain uninsured and vulnerable to financial shocks.  

Naya Jeevan achieved positive cash flow in 2018 and has generated a surplus of ~ 20% at the net unit economic level, i.e. it has been financially sustainable over the past 5 years. Naya Jeevan generates its operating revenue through its core business model of selling inclusive insurance products/services to its target market. 

Naya Jeevan is currently generating about $2.25 Million USD in annual revenue.  Naya Jeevan has bootstrapped its way to profitability over the past 10 years but is now well positioned for exponential growth as it has established the necessary market trust that is necessary for the hockey-stick-like growth of an emerging fintech/insurtech.  

A Series A round investment of ~$6 Million will enable Naya Jeevan to expand its physical presence across all major cities of Pakistan, while upgrading its impact on its beneficiaries. 

Naya Jeevan achieved positive cash flow in 2018 and has generated a surplus of ~ 20% at the net unit economic level, i.e. it has been financially sustainable over the past 5 years. Naya Jeevan generates its operating revenue through its core business model of selling inclusive insurance products/services to its target market. 

Over the past 10 years, Naya Jeevan has raised over $2.5 Million in capital ($200,000 of Founder seed capital while the rest is in the form of R&D innovation grants) including notable grants from (i) USAID, (ii) Grand Challenges Canada, (iii) VISA Foundation, (iv) abc* Foundation, (v) GSMA - UKAID, (v) Google and (vi) ILO (UN). 

Naya Jeevan is currently generating about $2.25 Million USD in annual revenue.  Naya Jeevan has bootstrapped its way to profitability over the past 10 years and is now well positioned for exponential growth as it has established the necessary market trust that is necessary for the hockey-stick-like growth of an emerging fintech/insurtech.