UAP now targets agriculture, other untapped sectors

Dar es Salaam. UAP Insurance is targeting Tanzania’s untapped sectors, including agriculture in its effort to raise its market share to 15 percent.

The company, which currently controls a three percent market slice, said on Wednesday that it will invest massively in complex areas to achieve its goal.

“We have set a three-year goal to increase our market share,” said UAP’s managing director Nelson Rwihula, banking his emphasis on the firm’s regional financial muscles and the commitment of the UAP Group shareholders.

He was speaking during a meeting with members of staff from Azania Bank.

The meeting sought to equip the bank employees with what it takes for them to sell insurance products through the bancassurance arrangement.

Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (Tira) okayed bancassurance almost two years ago.

With 65 percent of Tanzanians engaging in farming, Mr Rwihula said agriculture offered a great opportunity for insurance companies to grow.

“We have decided to invest a lot of energy in that area by continuing to design affordable products so that everyone can be covered,” he said, noting however that awareness among farmers was still low.

A senior manager for retail banking at Azania Bank, Mr John Lohay, said bancassurance had the potential to propel the growth of the entire financial sub-sector. “Since we started issuing bancassurance services almost two years ago, the commission we earn from the revenue stream has grown by almost 200 percent,” he said without revealing actual figures.