Over the years, I’ve sat across tables with insurance executives, agents, brokers, and policyholders from all walks of life. From the glass-walled boardrooms of insurers in Nairobi and Lagos, to the sun-baked offices of brokers in Mombasa, to the cramped desks of agents juggling stacks of policy papers and handwritten ledgers in dusty market stalls. I’ve listened to their stories, watched their frustrations bubble over, and seen firsthand the deep cracks in the system.
And I keep coming back to this simple, uncomfortable truth: The insurance industry in much of Africa is built on the backs of agents but we’ve built it to neglect them.
Let that sink in for a moment.
We talk about financial inclusion. We talk about digitization. We talk about insurance penetration rates, Kenya’s still hovers around 3%, a figure we’ve waved around for decades like a stubborn badge of honor. But we never talk about the human beings at the heart of this ecosystem: the agents.
These men and women are the boots on the ground. They’re the ones trekking door-to-door in rural villages, negotiating with farmers who don’t trust insurance because they’ve been burned before. They’re the ones explaining policy fine print in Kiswahili or Yoruba or Luo because the language of insurance is often too technical for the average customer. They’re the ones fighting tooth and nail for renewals and battling misaligned incentives that punish them when claims are paid out.
And yet, we treat them like an afterthought.
The ugly truth about the current model
Let’s be honest here. The traditional insurance operating model in Africa is deeply hierarchical. It’s built for the insurer at the top, focused on premium collection, profitability, and compliance. The broker or agency is often squeezed in the middle, expected to deliver sales without the tools or support they need. And the agent? The agent is left to fend for themselves in a system that undervalues their role.
They’re paid late, if at all. They’re given outdated training materials and little technological support. Many are still managing leads on paper notebooks. They’re treated as expendable: easy to replace, often blamed when things go wrong, rarely rewarded when things go right.
The irony is that the success of the entire system rests on their shoulders. Without agents, insurers wouldn’t reach the millions of policyholders across Africa’s informal economies, rural regions, and emerging urban centers. Yet we ask these agents to do more with less, to navigate outdated processes, and to sell products that are often not even designed with the realities of African lives in mind.
And then we wonder why trust in insurance is so low.
The cost of neglect
When we treat agents as dispensable, we don’t just harm them, we harm the entire ecosystem.
- We lose potential customers. Many first-time policyholders in Africa buy insurance because a trusted agent took the time to explain it to them. When agents feel unsupported, they leave. And when they leave, potential customers are left behind.
- We perpetuate low penetration rates. Without agents advocating for insurance at the grassroots level, we can’t expect uptake to grow.
- We miss out on valuable insights. Agents are on the frontlines. They know what customers are asking for, where the gaps are, and what’s not working. When we don’t listen to them, we build products in boardrooms that don’t reflect the needs of the market.
- We build a system that’s unsustainable. A model that sidelines agents is one that will struggle to scale beyond a privileged urban elite.
It’s time to shift our thinking
If we truly want to transform insurance in Africa, we need to start by transforming how we treat agents. This is not just about digitizing processes or launching a shiny new app. It’s about rebuilding the operating model from the ground up, with agents at the center.
Here’s what that could look like:
- Fair compensation models – Agents shouldn’t have to wait months to get paid. They shouldn’t earn commissions that barely cover their transport costs. Let’s build payment models that reward effort, incentivize retention, and promote long-term relationships.
- Access to better tools – Give agents mobile apps that work offline. Give them access to CRM systems that help them manage leads. Give them the data they need to understand customer behavior. Stop expecting them to sell 21st-century products with 20th-century tools.
- Continuous training and support – Insurance products are evolving. Risks are evolving. Why is training for agents often a one-off event? Let’s create systems for ongoing learning, be it online, in-person, peer-to-peer. Let’s empower agents with knowledge, not just tasks.
- Respect and recognition – Agents are not just salespeople; they are educators, community builders, and the public face of insurance. Let’s treat them as such.
- Co-creation of products – Imagine if insurers worked with agents to design policies that actually make sense for the people agents serve. Micro-insurance, funeral covers, agricultural products, agents know what will sell because they know what people need.
The future we could build
If we get this right, if we finally build an insurance model that respects and empowers agents, we could unlock a future where insurance isn’t just a product for the privileged few, but a safety net for the many.
Imagine a rural farmer in Nakuru who can confidently buy crop insurance because an agent took the time to explain it in their language. Imagine a young mother in Accra who feels secure knowing her health cover will actually pay out when she needs it. Imagine an entire generation that grows up seeing insurance not as a scam or a last resort, but as a tool for resilience and prosperity.
But we can’t get there unless we stop treating agents like an afterthought.
It’s time for insurers in Kenya, and across Africa, to rethink their operating models, not just for the sake of agents, but for the sake of the industry’s future. Because if we continue down the same path, we’re not just failing agents.
We’re failing everyone.
