Jihan Abass, the entrepreneur democratizing insurance in Kenya

Jihan Abass, a young Kenyan entrepreneur, is known for innovating in Kenya’s insurance. She founded « Lami Insurance Technology » to increase insurance penetration in Africa, as well as « Griffin Motor Insurance » to redefine car insurance in Africa. Recently, The New Africa magazine ranked her among the 110 outstanding African Women in 2022.

Jihan Abass left her successful career in finance, in London, as a trader, to set up her company to improve insurance access in Kenya by leveraging digital technologies. In 2018, she founded « Lami Insurance Technology ».

Born in Mombassa in Kenya, she graduated with a Bachelor in « investment and financial risk management, finance » from Bayes Business school in London and an MBA from Oxford. She started her career in trading in London and worked as a commodities future’s trader for a couple years. She traded, namely on the New York and London sugar markets. But after a short experience in finance, she felt unfulfilled and decided to embark into entrepreneurship in insurance.

The idea of setting up an insurance company came to her, when a waiter told her once in a conversation that they did not have medical insurance. After some research, she discovered that less than 3% of people have access to an insurance in Africa, due in part to the lack of infrastructure to facilitate insurance distribution. In 2018, she started « Lami Technologies » in Kenya, an insurance company aiming at democratizing access to insurance to millions of low-income people in Africa. By digitalizing the entire insurance chain, the company aims at facilitating the process of getting an insurance and increasing the insurance penetration in Africa. The company also offers solutions to the entire insurance ecosytem, by allowing businesses sell the coverage customers need. In 2021, she acquired the Kenyan « Bluewave insurance agency » with the goal of reaching other African countries.

Jihan Abass is also the founder of « Griffin Insurance » in 2020, a digital car insurance which allows, through a platform, to have an insurance within 2 minutes. It processes claims in a week ; gives customers the possibility to pay in installments or to stop their insurance when travelling abroad.

Due to her commitment to improve insurance access in Africa, she was ranked recently among the 110 outstanding African women by the New Africa magazine.