The National Insurance Commission of Nigeria (NAICOM), recently partnered with FSD Africa, to launch BimaLab insurtech program in Nigeria and provide opportunities to actualise ideation on how to improve insurance in the country.
The program invites promising insurance innovators to apply for an opportunity to contribute to the growth of the sector through contributing innovation within the sector.
To apply, applicants are essentially required to clearly describe and demonstrate how their innovations respond to the challenges in the insurance industry with a strong focus on social impact.
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Who can apply?
The program aims to recruit ventures that have unique and innovative business that brings social and/or commercial value to the insurance industry. It’s a business solution focused on solving a compelling problem, be it economic or social.
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Eligible applicants will be scored against the following criteria:
- Innovation: More than disruption, the platform seeks innovation offering a new value proposition for the insurance industry through innovative use of technology as part of the business solution.
- Inclusivity: Applicants will be assessed on the degree to which their target market includes underserved people and the problem that the startup is aiming to solve.
- Scale Potential: This has to do with solutions that can be sustainable and have a noticeable impact on the millions of financially underserved people. Applicants will be reviewed based on growth model, internal capacity, growth strategy, and total addressable market.
- Traction: This requires applicant to have a working prototype of the solution (at a minimum) that is either in the market or ready-to-launch.
- Leadership: Applicants need to have a set of strong value and a passion for learning and sharing insights for the benefits of entrepreneurs and the wider system who can demonstrate a history of team and partnership working, a strong focus on social impact aligned with principles of financial inclusion, expertise in applying disciplined innovation approaches amongst other strong leadership qualities.
- Time Commitment: The time commitment for the BimaLab is approximately 6 hours per week which covers the time applicants will spend on actively scaling their innovation and participation in the program (e.g., attendance at workshops and training events, working up and implementing sprint plans, providing updates to the BimaLab team, meeting mentors, etc.)
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Benefits of participation
BimaLab seeks to support startups in addressing gaps in scaling capacity through:
- Access to NAICOM expertise and resources
- Business advisory support;
- Technology platform support;
- Access to mentorship from a range of experts and high-profile mentors, representing a broad skills base;
- Connections that can support local investments, networking, navigation, showcasing and critical challenges support;
- Peer to peer support from the cohort group established through workshops, webinars and events;
- Pitch your innovative business solution during the Demo Day
- Pitch for the FSD Africa Grant Fund
Assessment process
Applicants are expected to apply via https://bimalab-nigeria.azurewebsites.net/ as applications will be assessed as follows:
- Screening: The team will screen all applications to ensure they meet the minimum criteria for participation and are complete.
- Shortlisting: Each application will be assessed and scored, and a recommendation made as to whether the application should proceed to interview stage.
