Micro Insurance Company and Lofte Kesho to partner for Digital Solutions

By Edlyn Cardoza

Micro Insurance Company (MIC) and Lofte Kesho are partnering to offer digital solutions to livestock farmers to improve their economic well-being. Lofte Kesho, an integrated FinTech and AgriTech player, was created to help farmers collateralize animals as assets for financial benefits such as loans, working capital, cow replacement loans, and investment loans. They have also created unique systems for animal identification as well as the process of tokenizing animals using blockchain.

Lofte Kesho is partnering with Micro Insurance Company to strengthen their mission of helping farmers to unlock the financial benefits associated with their livestock. By partnering with MIC, farmers will now be able to ensure their livestock, which gives them access to credit opportunities – as they will now be able to use their insured livestock as collateral. This will help improve the financial state for many farmers. Furthermore, MIC is also offering a life and hospitalization cover to the middle and low segment Livestock farmers to safeguard them against many of the risks they face, so when the unexpected happens, they can bounce back swiftly.

Ms. Wairimu Njoki, Country Manager, Micro Insurance Company, said, “We are pleased to be partnering with Lofte Kesho as they improve the inclusivity of livestock farmers for enhanced access to financial solutions. Farmers have always held assets through their livestock but are often locked out of financial access because historically, financial institutions have not considered livestock as a good form of security. By MIC insuring farmers’ livestock, it has enabled financial institutions to get on board with accepting livestock as a secure asset, and thus, feel confident in accepting it as collateral.”

“Our farmers are faced with multiple challenges. According to the World Bank, by the year 2050, food demand will increase by 70%. So what does this really mean? We need to support our farmers – both our Crop and Livestock farmers. This is why Lofte Kesho Kenya Limited acknowledges that our livestock farmers are not necessarily poor but lack a supportive ecosystem that properly promotes and unlocks animal identification, valuation, insurance and animal collateralized loans. As a result, Lofte Kesho is excited to partner with Micro Insurance Company to further our aim of providing value-added services to livestock farmers in the areas of animal health, nutrition, and productivity. Our partnership with MIC will further enhance our ability to offer peace of mind to livestock farmers,” said, Bernard Njathi, Co-Founder of Lofte Kesho.

MIC and Lofte Kesho join forces to address both the financial and insurance inclusivity against the marginalized – using the FarmTrek platform as a route to access these services. This partnership combines Lofte Kesho’s knowledge of livestock along with MIC’s expertise in product design to ensure optimal product consideration and adjusted premiums.

Founded in 2018 with headquarters in Kenya, Lofte Kesho is an integrated FinTech and AgriTech player offering an animal identification and traceability platform. In partnership with InfoCorp Technologies, Lofte Kesho has rolled out FarmTrek, a solution that brings inclusive financial services to the livestock industry in emerging markets via its blockchain-based platform. Lofte Kesho works with smallholder farmers to unlock financial benefits associated with their animals.

Micro Insurance Company (MIC) is a global insurance platform delivering technology, underwriting, policy management, and distribution. MIC provides insurance to platforms, micro & small businesses, and to the 4 billion people on the planet that are currently unserved. Whereas most insurtechs seek to improve existing monoline products and markets, we follow the concept of straight through processing. We do this to create highly relevant insurance products that we can offer globally at a very low cost via our platform to support people in their local communities. Micro Insurance Company is the world’s first global end-to-end digital microinsurance platform that combines reinsurance capacity, in-country insurance licenses, world class distribution, and market leading AI functionality.