TIRA to insurance firms: Visit sports sector

TANZANIA Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) has insisted the country’s insurance companies to engage in various investment opportunities found in the sports sector.

This was revealed on Friday in Dar es Salaam by the Acting Director of Supervision at TIRA, Abukar Ndwata during the round table meeting that aimed at welcoming large companies from India like the Life Insurance Cooperation of India (LIC) and the General Insurance Cooperation of India (GIC) both dealing with health insurance to come and invest in Tanzania.

“On behalf of TIRA, I am asking health insurance companies in the country to distinguish themselves in investing in sectors that will be more beneficial to and for the country also by investing in areas that have not been prioritized,” he said.

He also said TIRA invites all the clubs that are in the Premier League to go and apply for insurance as a group so that it is easy for them to get insurance at a low cost unlike if they want to do it individually.

Also, Ndwata said that health insurance is important for players, especially for our country, as many players have been unable to achieve their dreams in football as soon as they are injured and unable to get treatment as in other countries.

“Tanzania has a lot of talent but most of them are afraid and some end up on the road due to the injuries they get and not being able to continue playing,” said Ndwata.

On his side, the High Commission of India in Tanzania Binaya Pradhan said these two companies LIC and GIC will be of great benefit to Tanzania as they will focus on insurance issues, especially in areas that have not been prioritized.

Binaya also thanked the Government of Tanzania for continuing to cooperate with India for a long time now, especially in various investment issues in different sectors.

“So I ask all Tanzanians to take advantage of the opportunity of investment from these two big companies from India.”

It should be noted that Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) and NBC Bank jointly launched a special health and life insurance scheme for NBC Premier League Club players, technical bench members and their respective families.

The Bank is the main sponsor of the Mainland’s Premier League as the insurance service will be provided in partnership with Sanlam Life Insurance Tanzania and Britam.

It is stipulated in the contract that if a club member develops a chronic illness that prevents him from playing football or serving in his team, his benefits will range from 3m/- to +30m/-.

On the other hand, if a club’s members endure permanent disability, resulting from an accident or disaster, his or her benefit will vary from 10m/- to 100m/-.

In the event that a player has a permanent disability resulting from an accident or disaster, the beneficiary will walk away with an amount which varies from 10m/- to 100m/-.

In the event of the death of the person due to an accident or other illness, the next of kin will get benefits varying from, 10m/- to 100m/-.