Why trust, simplicity will shape Africa’s insurance future

DAR ES SALAAM: ACROSS Africa, the insurance industry is growing steadily, but so is the gap between what insurers offer and what many customers actually experience. Awareness about insurance is improving, new products are entering the market, and digital services continue to expand. Yet millions of Africans still remain outside formal insurance protection. Tanzania reflects this broader reality. Despite ongoing market growth and regulatory improvements, insurance penetration remains relatively low compared to the country’s population size and growing economic activities.

According to the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA), insurance penetration in Tanzania increased from approximately 2.01 percent in 2023 to 2.08 percent in 2024, while Gross Written Premiums reached approximately TZS 1.52 trillion in 2024. These figures show encouraging progress, but they also remind us that insurance is still not yet part of everyday life for many Tanzanians.

As Tanzania moves towards the implementation of Vision 2050, the role of insurance will become even more important. A growing economy requires confidence, stability, and protection. Insurance supports investment, entrepreneurship, infrastructure development, industrial growth, trade, agriculture, and financial inclusion. Vision 2050 places strong emphasis on building a competitive, digitally enabled, knowledge-driven, and inclusive economy. In that future, insurance cannot remain a service understood only by specialists. It must become accessible, trusted, and relevant to ordinary people.

In many ways, the future of insurance in Africa will depend less on how many products companies introduce and more on how customers feel when dealing with insurers. Trust, simplicity, accessibility, transparency and relevance are increasingly becoming the real drivers of longterm growth.

Having worked in marketing, public relations and strategic communication for nearly two decades across government and financial services, I have seen how customer behaviour continues to change. Today’s customers are more informed, more connected, and more selective than ever before. They compare services quickly, share experiences online, and expect institutions to communicate clearly and respond faster. Above all, they want services that feel simple, transparent and human.

This shift is not unique to insurance. It is happening across industries globally.

Some of the world’s most successful companies have grown because they understand people, not simply because they offer good products.

Global brands such as Apple, Samsung, Toyota, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Google, Nike, and Airbnb have built strong customer loyalty by making their products and services feel easy, reliable, accessible and relevant to everyday life.

pple simplified technology and built a customer ecosystem that feels intuitive and seamless. Samsung succeeded by making innovation accessible to different customer groups and income levels. Toyota earned enormous trust across Africa because customers associate the brand with durability, reliability and affordability of maintenance.

Amazon and Airbnb transformed industries because they simplified experiences that once felt stressful or complicated. Microsoft and Google became part of daily life because they made communication, productivity, and access to information easier and faster.

Closer to home, Tanzania has also produced strong examples of customer-centred transformation.

Vodacom’s M-Pesa and Mixx by Yas, formerly Tigo Pesa, changed how millions of Tanzanians access financial services. Their success was not driven by technology alone. It came from making services simple, convenient and easy to access through mobile phones. Customers could send money, pay bills and complete transactions quickly without needing to visit a bank branch.

Similarly, NMB Bank and CRDB Bank expanded significantly because they invested in accessibility, digital banking, agency banking and customer convenience. Azam Group also built one of Tanzania’s strongest brands by understanding local customer behaviour and consistently delivering products and services that feel accessible and familiar to people.

These examples carry important lessons for the insurance industry.

For many people, insurance still feels complicated and distant. Policies are often difficult to understand, while claims procedures may appear slow or unclear. In reality, customers rarely remember technical policy wording. What they remember most is how they were treated during difficult moments such as accidents, illness, fire, or loss of property.

A delayed claim, poor communication, or lack of transparency can quickly damage trust. On the other hand, a smooth customer journey, timely support, empathy and clear communication create confidence and long-term loyalty.

This is why customer experience is no longer simply a support function within insurance institutions. It is becoming the real competitive advantage.

Today, insurers are no longer competing only against other insurance companies. Customers compare insurance experiences with the speed of M-Pesa transactions, the convenience of mobile banking, the simplicity of smartphone applications and the responsiveness they receive from global digital platforms.

This changing environment should encourage insurers to rethink how products are designed, communicated, distributed, and serviced.

Insurance communication must become simpler and more relatable. Many customers still struggle to fully understand what insurance covers, how claims work, or why certain procedures are required. Simplifying communication and improving public understanding can significantly strengthen trust and increase insurance uptake.

At the same time, digital transformation presents enormous opportunities for the sector.

According to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), internet subscriptions in Tanzania have surpassed 58.1 million, while smartphone and mobile usage continue to rise rapidly. Customers now expect communication to be instant, services to be mobile-friendly, and processes to be simple and transparent.

For insurers, this creates an important opportunity to align with the ambitions of Vision 2050 by embracing innovation, financial inclusion, and customer-centred service delivery.

Digital tools such as mobile applications, WhatsApp support services, customer portals, AI-powered systems, and digital claims tracking can help insurers become more responsive and accessible. However, technology alone is not enough. What matters most is whether that technology makes life easier for customers and strengthens trust.

Trust remains the foundation of insurance.

Customers must feel confident that insurers will honour promises, communicate openly, and respond effectively when support is needed most. This trust cannot be built through advertising campaigns alone. It is built gradually through consistency, transparency, responsiveness and real customer experiences over time.

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The industry must also recognise the changing realities of African economies. Small traders, farmers, transport operators, youth entrepreneurs, and informal sector workers all face risks that require flexible, affordable and practical insurance solutions. The future of insurance growth in Africa will depend heavily on how effectively the industry responds to these everyday realities.

Ultimately, the future of insurance in Tanzania and across Africa will not be shaped by complexity. It will be shaped by organisations that make insurance simpler, more accessible, more responsive, and more human.

The companies that understand this shift will not only grow their businesses. They will help strengthen financial inclusion, build public confidence, support economic transformation, and contribute meaningfully to the aspirations of Tanzania Development Vision 2050 and Africa’s longterm development future.