The Nigerian Insurers Association has launched its Innovation Lab, with the first focus being to tackle challenges in the area of electronic Know Your Customer solutions and claims exchange.
The Innovation Lab was launched on Monday at the NIA headquarters in Lagos, attended by insurance industry players.
NIA Innovation Lab is a six-week intensive programme designed to support startups at every stage. The initiative offers participants a unique opportunity to engage with industry leaders, receive mentorship from seasoned professionals, and gain hands-on experience through curated masterclasses and practical learning sessions. The NIA stated that it aims to drive digital transformation and foster a culture of innovation within Nigeria’s insurance ecosystem through this initiative.
In his opening remarks at the launch, the Chairman of the NIA, Kunle Ahmed, said, “Today, we are not just opening a facility. We are igniting a movement. A movement rooted in innovation, driven by collaboration, and destined to transform the way we protect lives, assets, and futures. Innovation is not a luxury; it is a necessity. As Steve Jobs once said, ‘Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.’
At the Nigerian Insurers Association, we have chosen to lead. This lab is our commitment to that leadership. It is a space where ideas are nurtured, technologies are tested, and solutions are born. It is where the future of insurance will be imagined and built.
“The median age of Nigerians is 18 years, indicating that we have a youthful population, the population that will join the workforce in the coming years and who would likely want to be served digitally or at least differently. It therefore envisions a Nigerian insurance industry that is agile, inclusive, and digitally empowered. One that leverages artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data analytics not just to improve efficiency but to deepen trust and expand access.”
Ahmed, who is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of AXA Mansard, added, “As William Pollard reminded us, ‘Learning & innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.’ This lab is our way of bringing new learnings into our preparation for tomorrow.”
The Director General/CEO of NIA, Mrs Bola Odukale, in her welcome address, noted that the new Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act provides a strong case for the adoption of technology like never before.
“This could not have been a better time to do this than now, with the opportunities that NIIRA 2025 is expected to provide for all of us in the years ahead. To start this project, we had a committee called the Digital Innovation and IT Committee. This is a process that is just starting; we are going to see more. There will be pitches, and there will be a lot of interactions as we go on. But today is just to set it up and to whet your appetites for the days that are ahead. For those of us who participated, we also had a survey that went around the industry where we were able to elicit information as per the gaps within the industry regarding technology; all of those things have been put into consideration in trying to come up with this project.”
Sharing highlights from the industry survey, the MD/CEO of AIICO, Babatunde Fajemirokun, said, “One of the key messages here is that the appetite for innovation is strong and the pain points are widely shared, and the moment for coordinated action has arrived.
Some of the key operational challenges that we saw were that respondents highlighted some friction points around customer acquisition. I know KYC includes an availability of quality data, payments and collections, management and talent acquisition. We believe that some of the key insights here represent the pressure points of where innovation has the highest potential to create cost savings, efficiency and customer trust.
“We also saw that improving customer experience and solving for access to insurance products were key. For us, one of the key insights here is that there’s a need to focus on acquisition, onboarding, and customer experiences. One of the big things that came out of this is the willingness to collaborate. The industry is highly open to collaboration. We think that there are opportunities for joint utilities, shared infrastructure, and, of course, collective innovation programmes, which is exactly what we’re doing now.”
Fajemirokun, who is the chairman of the NIA Innovation and IT Committee, added, “In terms of areas of collaboration, executives highlighted fraud management. I’ve seen situations where people die several times in our country, and it’s just baffling that we don’t have any infrastructure where you can just find out that somebody has actually died and really died. You find situations where cars are insured multiple times from different companies, and they burn like 10 times in different companies, and nobody can figure out how that is happening. There are also the eKYC solutions, which, of course, are driven by a need for good and better-quality data. There are challenges here, especially around looking at the micro space. And I think in addition to what we’re doing here, I should say that the commission is very much involved, including the sandbox process, which will allow us to also, you know, stress test what customers require.”
A member of the 12-man committee overseeing the Innovation Lab, Adedamola Oloko, shared the timelines and focus areas of the initiative, which would be a lab on the foundational themes, with a “wild card” category to encourage broader innovation.
“There are two major areas that we’re going to be focusing on for this first one, and the reason is, if you remember the survey, there were mentions around some of the challenges that are common across the industry: claims, fraud and eKYC,” he said.
The programme aims to run pilots with at least two participating insurance companies, with an emphasis on testing quickly and learning fast. This shared infrastructure approach is anticipated to significantly reduce the cost of adoption for individual companies, as costs will be spread across multiple participants. The process will involve in-depth engagements between insurers and innovators, mentorship, and office hour sessions, culminating in a Demo Day. The NIA will provide innovators with physical workspace, fostering a deeper immersion within the industry.
Impact Hub Lagos has been selected as the partner for the NIA Innovation Lab. The organisation also expressed an openness to collaborate with the National Insurance Commission and other stakeholders to boost the performance of the sector.
