A new name and tagline to reflect our positioning and mission to the poor

Opportunity International started to investigate the possibility of developing microinsurance products in 2002. This special project experienced such rapid growth that the Micro Insurance Agency was established as a separate entity within the Opportunity International Network in 2005. The $24.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, enabled further expansion into new countries and new products such as health and crop insurance.

As we grew to become a leader in microinsurance, we began to ask whether our existing name was best suited to our work, our markets, and our aspirations to serve the poor throughout the developing world. So we conducted professional research into our stakeholders' perception of Micro Insurance Agency, and how a name and tagline impacts on our business and mission. The results strongly suggested that a new identity would prove beneficial to our future growth. Accordingly, we have invested considerable effort into developing a new name that will better reflect and maintain our leading position in the market. We sought a name that is less generic but still connects us the 'micro' insurance market. A name that projects our core values, and adds value in terms of our goal, vision, compassion, safety, and trust. We believe we now have a name that is brief and clear, and removes any doubt about the connotations of the word 'agency'.

With our new tagline, we aim to suggest the key concepts of safety, stability, opportunity, and uplift. Ultimately, our name and tagline must reflect our goal to help lift the poor out of poverty. From here on, the Micro Insurance Agency becomes MicroEnsure. And our tagline is 'Helping the poor weather life's storms'.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $24.2 million to the Micro Insurance Agency, a subsidiary of microfinance leader Opportunity International. The grant will allow the world’s first and only stand-alone microinsurance agency to expand into 11 new nations and provide life, health and crop insurance to 21 million more poor people by the year 2012. The Gates Foundation now has provided three grants totaling $41.8 million to Opportunity International since November 2005.

The Gates Foundation also recently provided $34 million for the creation of the Microinsurance Innovation Facility to assist dozens of organizations in piloting new microinsurance programs and products. The two awards from the Gates Foundation, totaling more than $58 million, represent an unprecedented level of investment in microinsurance.

The full press release can be found here:

The role of weather indexed crop insurance in rural agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa

The Micro Insurance Agency presents past experience and future prospects at Rwandan Agricultural Insurance Workshop

Weather indexed crop insurance that provides protection for poor smallholder farmers against catastrophic drought was a key discussion topic at a Workshop on Agricultural Insurance hosted by the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) on 9 to10 June. The Micro Insurance Agency was a major contributor to the forum, presenting its pioneering crop insurance product developed in Malawi since 2005.

The Rwandan Government has already launched a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the standard of life of the poor such as its programs for transferring conditional grants to municipalities for the purchase of essential health inputs. Health microinsurance schemes have provided an important impetus to these developments, and the Government has supported their continued expansion.

In a separate initiative, the Workshop now brings agricultural insurance firmly onto the agenda in Rwanda. In the face of the world food crisis, managing agricultural risk and providing protection for smallholder farmers has taken on an even greater significance. The Micro Insurance Agency is technical advisor to the World Bank on crop insurance in a number of countries in southern and east Africa. Since 2005 it has been developing and implementing indexed crop insurance products in Malawi aimed at providing a safety net for poor farmers in case of severe drought and as a means to stimulate rural economic development, and is well positioned to take a leading role in extending these products into Rwanda and other sub-Saharan countries.

The Micro Insurance Agency's crop insurance product has been designed to provide compensation to farmers when rainfall during a crop growing cycle is insufficient for farmers to grow and optimize their yields. For this model, drought is not measured by what happens in the field but by measuring the amount of rainfall received. Because it isn't possible to take measurements on each individual farm, rainfall levels are taken at local meteorological stations. Participating farmers within a 20 kilometer radius of a station are assumed to have received the same amount of rainfall and to be affected in a similar manner. In the case of severe drought, all farmers will receive compensation. The mechanism is simple, easy to administer, and payouts are automatic, so there is need for affected farmers to file a claim or an expensive loss verification procedure.

Indexed crop insurance provides a safety net that will prevent poor farmers falling back into destitution in the case of severe drought. But it is as an enabler of microcredit that microinsurance helps the rural poor take another step away from poverty and hunger. Small scale farmers have almost always been unable to access loans to purchase the improved farm inputs they desperately need to increase productivity and raise their living standards. Agricultural lending in areas prone to drought has simply been viewed as too high risk. And few farmers can provide any form of collateral. But with an insurance arrangement that will pay off part or all of the loan in case of severe drought, lenders are becoming increasingly willing to provide loans.

Shadreck Mapfumo, Micro Insurance Agency's Vice President for Crop Insurance, commented, "The Agricultural Insurance Workshop is a valuable initiative to discuss the role and implications of microinsurance in Rwanda. There have been good growing conditions since we introduced our model of weather indexed crop insurance in Malawi and consequently there have been no claims to date. But we have seen a significant impact on the livelihoods of poor farmers there as they have been able to access agricultural loans for the first time enabling them to purchase drought resistant seed and fertilizers. This has produced dramatic increases in yield, often well over 100%, and has also enabled farmers to diversify away from the staple maize into cash crops to supplement their incomes."

"Of course, there are many other factors involved, but we have seen the potential of microinsurance to play an important role in stimulating rural economies. And when drought does return, as it surely will one day, for those covered by insurance, the safety net is in place."

He added, "We are very grateful to MINAGRI for hosting this important workshop and optimistic that positive developments will result in the near future."

The Micro Insurance Agency
The Micro Insurance Agency is an insurance intermediary dedicated to serving poor people with an affordable and suitable range of insurance products. As the world's first stand-alone microinsurance agency, it is well positioned to create and offer scalable, simple and understandable life, credit, health, and crop insurance products. Through extensive market research and insurance expertise, products are designed to be affordable to the poor and sustainable for distributors and insurance companies. Established in 2005, the Micro Insurance Agency is a subsidiary of Opportunity International and currently serves 3.3 million lives in ten countries in Africa and Asia.
For more information, visit www.microinsuranceagency.com

Opportunity International
Opportunity International is committed to solving global poverty. Serving approximately 1.1 million people in 28 developing countries, Opportunity International is a pioneer in offering small business loans, savings, insurance and training in basic business practice to women and men living in chronic poverty. Founded in 1971 as one of the first microcredit lenders, Opportunity international provides small loans, sometimes as little as $50, and other services that allow poor entrepreneurs to start or expand a business, develop a steady income, provide for their families, and create jobs for their neighbours. Opportunity international maintains a network of offices across the globe, with US offices in Oak Brook, Ill. And san Diego.
For more information, visit www.opportunity.org