Jubilee Group and FSD Africa MoU Targets Kenya Insurance

In Short

• Jubilee Group and FSD Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand insurance access, starting in Kenya.
• The partnership will use BimaLab, FSD Africa’s insurtech accelerator, to co-create and pilot new products.
• Jubilee says the programme supports its goal to double its customer base across East Africa.

What Happened

Jubilee Group has partnered with FSD Africa to test new ways to reach underserved customers, with Kenya as the first market. The organisations signed an MoU focused on improving access to insurance and investment products, with extra attention on SMEs, meaning small and medium-sized businesses.

The work will run through BimaLab, FSD Africa’s insurtech accelerator (a programme that helps early-stage insurance tech companies build and test products). Jubilee will pilot solutions using BimaLab’s Insurtech-Insurer Partnership Framework, which matches insurtech startups with an established insurer to build, test, and launch products in real markets.

Jubilee plans to execute the pilots through J-Hub, its internal innovation and technology arm. The partners say this should speed up product design, testing, and rollout of digital tools, including AI-powered services, across Jubilee’s operations.

BimaLab-backed insurtechs will compete to work with Jubilee on three areas. These are embedded and bundled distribution (insurance sold inside another product purchase, like adding cover at checkout), SME ecosystems, and health, wellness and engagement. Shortlisted insurtech partners are expected to be announced in August.

Why It Matters

Kenya has high usage of formal financial services, but insurance adoption remains low. The partners cited insurance penetration of about 2.4% of GDP versus a global average of 7%.

For operators and founders in financial services and insurtech, this MoU signals growing demand for partnerships that use distribution, data, and digital channels to close the protection gap. For SMEs, wider access to relevant cover can reduce the impact of health and economic shocks that often push households and businesses into financial stress.

For incumbents like Jubilee Insurance, the bet is that collaborating with insurtech builders can unlock new customer segments faster than relying on traditional sales models alone.