Bamburi Cement, in partnership with Sanlam Insurance and Alexander Forbes, has launched a medical insurance solution targeting Bamburi’s retail customers.
Retailers of Bamburi Cement will benefit from this 150-million-shilling medical cover insurance for both inpatients and outpatient services. More than 800 retailers will be benefiting from this medical cover dubbed “Afya ya NGUVU”.
According to Bamburi Cement Managing Director Bruno Pescheux, a survey was conducted which disclosed that 36 percent of their retailers did not have medical covers adding that it was going to reward resellers for loyalty, retention, and growth of market share.
“This is a unique and innovative value proposition which is not being offered by any other cement manufacturer,” said Pescheux.
Though the investment on Bamburi’s end is substantial, Mr. Pescheux noted that it was ultimately self-sustaining.
“Afya ya NGUVU was born out of the realization that, as a cement manufacturer, we need to reward the loyalty of our retailers. We also need to provide additional incentives to sustain good performance and entrench a culture of continual improvement,” said Mr. Pescheux.
Sanlam General Insurance is the underwriter of the scheme to be administrated by Alexander Forbes, which will make available a 24-hour call center and manage the day-to-day operations of the scheme.
The Managing Director also noted that a customized solution was in place for the medical scheme to help verify member details via mobile phone.
Alexander Forbes executive director James Olubayi, urged firms to customize solutions to ease the burden of health costs on their company supply chains, which are critical to the survival of any organization.
“When innovation in product design is applied then one can strike a balance between benefits and price,” he said.
Commenting on the corporate partnership, Sanlam General Manager, Group Corporate Business, Mr. Evans Nyagah described Bamburi Cement’s commitment to the well-being of its stakeholders as trendsetting. The move to secure the general risk of Bamburi Cement’s retail force Nyagah noted, provides a good platform to accelerate insurance penetration in Kenya.
“At Sanlam, we see ourselves as Wealthsmiths as are in the business of creating and protecting wealth. The partnership with Bamburi Cement fits in very well with our corporate mission to provide tailor-made general, insurance products to ensure that your business and stakeholders are protected against the risk you constantly face,” said Nyagah.