The expansion comes at a time when companies across the region are dealing with mounting operational pressures, from climate-related disruptions and cyber threats to supply chain instability and regulatory shifts.

As a result, businesses are increasingly looking beyond traditional insurance coverage and seeking partners that can provide faster response times, sector-specific expertise, and more proactive risk guidance.

Risk landscape

Kenya, East Africa’s leading financial and logistics hub, continues to play a central role in this shift. According to the Association of Kenya Insurers, Kenya’s insurance penetration stood at approximately 2.3% in recent years, remaining below the global average despite growing awareness around risk management and financial protection.

At the same time, Africa’s insurance market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 11% over the next decade, driven by urbanisation, infrastructure expansion, digital transformation, and rising business awareness around operational resilience.

Talent-driven growth

For EIRS, the latest recruitment drive is not simply about increasing headcount. It is about building specialised capabilities closer to clients and improving how businesses experience insurance and risk advisory services on a day-to-day basis.

The expanded team will support faster client response times, stronger relationship management, offer more tailored advisory support, and tap deeper expertise across sectors including financial services, logistics, infrastructure, agriculture, and technology.

“Businesses today are operating in a far more unpredictable environment than they were a few years ago,” said Abhishek Jain, chief executive officer, EIRS. “Clients within East Africa are no longer looking for insurers that only respond after a loss occurs. They want partners who understand their industries, identify risks early, and help them build resilience before disruptions happen. The future of insurance in Africa will belong to firms that combine advisory expertise, responsiveness, and sector intelligence.”

Transforming risk intelligence

Industry observers note that the insurance sector across Africa is undergoing a broader transformation, with firms increasingly competing on expertise and client experience rather than product offerings alone. This shift is also intensifying demand for experienced insurance and risk professionals capable of supporting increasingly specialised client needs.

“Talent is becoming one of the biggest competitive differentiators in the industry,” said Christine Gikunda, principal officer, EIRS Kenya. “Clients expect quicker decisions, deeper engagement, and advisors who understand the realities of their sectors. Building strong local teams allows firms to move closer to clients and deliver more practical, insight-led support.”

EIRS Kenya expansion and investment in the region, which follows the scaling up of operations in Zambia and Malawi, forms part of a longer-term regional growth strategy that includes strengthening specialist advisory capabilities and enhancing service delivery across Africa.

The expansion also comes as East Africa positions itself as a growing hub for technology, trade, and AI-driven innovation, highlighted by major platforms such as GTR East Africa, GITEX Kenya and AI Everything, where conversations around digital transformation are accelerating demand for smarter, data-driven risk and insurance solutions.

As economic activity accelerates across the region, insurers are increasingly being judged not just by the policies they provide, but by how effectively they help businesses navigate emerging risks.

The post EIRS Kenya Expands Team by 60% amid Rising Demand for Risk Advisory Services appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

• Rising motor insurance losses expose cracks in Africa’s risk models
• Middle East capital seen as key to unlocking Africa’s insurance growth
• EIRS warns digital insurance expansion may outpace risk capacity in MEA

As digital insurance gains meaningful traction across Africa and the Middle East, a critical structural gap is emerging, masking a deeper structural risk and one that could potentially slow the sector’s momentum if left unaddressed.

This, analysts say, further highlights the growing need for robust, well-aligned reinsurance support to sustain growth.

According to EIRS, the real constraint is no longer demand or distribution, but access to purpose-driven reinsurance capacity, particularly in high-volume, high-volatility segments such as motor insurance.

Africa landscape

In key markets like Kenya and South Africa, motor insurance remains a cornerstone of the industry. Yet profitability is under sustained pressure.

Rising claims costs, fraud, and aggressive pricing have pushed loss ratios above sustainable levels for several insurers, forcing some to scale back underwriting or exit segments altogether.

At the same time, digital platforms are accelerating policy issuance and expanding access, often without a corresponding evolution in how risks are structured or transferred.

“Digital insurance is scaling faster than the risk frameworks that support it,” said Abhishek Jain, chief executive officer, EIRS Digital Insurance Ecosystem. “In several African markets, particularly in motor, we are seeing growth that is not adequately backed by reinsurance discipline. That creates systemic pressure. The opportunity is not just to grow, but to grow correctly.”

Across Africa, insurance penetration remains low, hovering around 3% to 3.5% of GDP, compared to a global average of 7%.

This signals significant headroom for growth, particularly as mobile-first distribution models gain traction. However, it also underscores the need for stronger risk foundations as volumes increase.

Middle East focus

Across both regions, insurance penetration has remained largely flat below 3%, not due to lack of demand, but due to structural constraints in risk capacity, distribution, and reinsurance support.

However, the Middle East, particularly hubs such as Dubai, remains a center for insurance capital and innovation.

Markets like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have invested and continue to support digital transformation heavily, with insurers deploying AI, automation, and embedded insurance solutions to drive efficiency and scale.

Yet, despite these advancements, the link between Middle Eastern capital and Africa’s rapidly expanding risk landscape stays underdeveloped.

Bridging the gap

“Africa is often labelled high-risk, but in many cases, it is simply mispriced due to lack of local insight,” Abhishek added. “When you combine on-the-ground intelligence with structured reinsurance and access to capital from the Middle East, the risk becomes far more manageable, and far more attractive.”

Reinsurance, long viewed as a backend mechanism, is now being repositioned as a frontline enabler of growth.

Without it, insurers face limits on how much risk they can absorb, particularly in sectors exposed to volatility, such as motor, trade credit, and infrastructure.

As digital insurance continues its rapid expansion, the message is clear: technology may drive access, but reinsurance will determine sustainability.

The post EIRS: Reinsurance is the Growth Engine for Digital Insurance in MEA appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

However, industry analysts indicate that despite the positive outlook, risk literacy remains a persistent challenge.

According to risk management experts, EIRS, this represents a gap that may be holding back the very financial inclusion that promises to uplift these important engines of job creation and innovation across Africa and the Middle East.

SMEs constitute an overwhelming majority of firms in the Middle East and North Africa, about 96% of registered companies and roughly half of employment, yet they receive just 7% of total bank lending, among the lowest globally.

In sub-Saharan Africa, SMEs often find themselves starved of capital, with many reporting limited access to loans or credit lines and enduring high borrowing costs that dwarf those in more developed markets.

Digital finance growth

The digital finance revolution, powered by mobile money, e-lending, and embedded financial services, has unlocked new avenues for inclusion. Digital solutions tailored for SMEs are growing rapidly, with fintech adoption rising across the region with digital platforms designed for business invoicing recording positive uptake in 2024. However, access is only part of the puzzle.

“What we’re seeing is that SMEs can reach digital finance solutions, but many still can’t use them effectively. Risk literacy, understanding credit, insurance, cash-flow dynamics and digital finance mechanisms, is the missing bridge between access and sustainable growth,” noted Abhishek Jain, chief executive officer, EIRS.

This gap has real business impact. While digital payment adoption in some markets is high, for example, 91% of Kenyan SMEs now use digital payments, many still lack the financial and risk acumen to leverage that access into credit worthiness, scalable lending, or meaningful insurance coverage.

Risk literacy is key

Across the region, the potential of SMEs remains high but despite their significant contribution to employment in Africa, they still face a persistent financing deficit. Without risk comprehension, lenders often view these enterprises as high-risk or unbankable.

Even in markets where mobile fintech adoption is strong, understanding remains uneven. Financial literacy enhances adoption with research showing that numerically and digitally literate SME owners are substantially more likely to adopt mobile banking, which in turn, improves their financial outcomes.

This dynamic illustrates why risk literacy, not just access, is the linchpin to inclusive finance.

Financial inclusion and risk literacy aren’t merely aspirational goals; they can concretely improve macroeconomic performance. Based on the IMF analysis, closing financial inclusion gaps could boost annual growth rates by up to 1% over the medium term in SME-dependent regions.

According to Abhishek, the conversation must shift from access to competence. “Policymakers, fintechs and financial institutions need to embed education into the SME onboarding process,” he noted. “When entrepreneurs comprehend risk, and can articulate it, lenders respond with capital, insurers design appropriate products, and ecosystems flourish.”

When risk literacy is elevated to strategic priority, SMEs may finally unlock their potential. And for the millions of entrepreneurs across the MEA region, understanding risk could be the key that turns inclusion into sustainable success.

The post Integrated Risk Strategy is the Missing Link in SME’s Growth Story in Africa appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The Africa-headquartered insurance and reinsurance brokerage, which operates with hubs in the UAE and the UK, will be represented by two of its senior executives, Nolwenn Allano, chief commercial officer and Manu Ram, chief product officer, who will contribute to high-level discussions on digital transformation, reinsurance and customer trust.

“Digital Insurance MENA provides a powerful platform to exchange ideas that have the potential to shape the future of insurance across high-growth markets,” said Abhishek Jain, chief executive officer, EIRS Digital Insurance Ecosystem. “Our goal is to share practical, need-driven insights from the field and contribute to building more resilient, inclusive insurance ecosystems.”

Showcasing reinsurance as a growth catalyst

On January 20, Nolwenn Allano will deliver a keynote case study and an interactive panel discussion titled ‘How Reinsurance Serves as a Growth Enabler for Africa’s Digital Insurance Economy’ and ‘Winning Customer Trust in Digital Africa: Opportunities & Strategies’, respectively. Drawing on more than 25 years of international experience across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Allano will explore how innovative reinsurance structures are accelerating digital insurance adoption and enabling insurers to scale sustainably in frontier markets.

Driving digital transformation conversations

Manu Ram will bring a technology-led perspective to the conference during the panel discussion ‘Digital Transformation in the African Insurance Sector: Opportunities, Challenges, and Key Technology Trends Shaping the Future’.

At Digital Insurance MENA, he is expected to unpack how data analytics, automation and embedded insurance models are redefining access to coverage in underserved markets, while also addressing regulatory and infrastructure challenges slowing adoption.

Strengthening regional thought leadership

By contributing to multiple high-profile sessions, EIRS is positioning itself as a bridge between African and Middle Eastern insurance markets, sharing lessons learned from both mature and emerging economies.

EIRS’ participation underscores its growing influence as a thought leader in emerging insurance markets, particularly across Africa and the Middle East, where digitalisation is reshaping distribution models, risk advisory services and customer engagement.

The post EIRS: How African Market Expertise is Influencing Global Insurance Strategy appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.