Lecture 13 - Three products: insurance, housing finance, and remittances. In this lecture we take a close look at three products: insurance, housing finance, and remittance transfers. We selected these products because they have strong growth potential and are well enough developed that best practices are emerging and growth is under way. | Summary of Last Lecture PRODUCTS FOR THE BOP MARKET THREE PRODUCTS: INSURANCE, HOUSING FINANCE, AND REMITTANCES Introduction In this lecture we take a close look at three products: insurance, housing finance, and remittance transfers. We selected these products because they have strong growth potential and are well enough developed that best practices are emerging and growth is under way. Introduction Yet the field is still wide-open in each area. Vast numbers of clients would be thrilled to have these financial needs served well for the first time in their lives. Insurance The sale of used fleece outerwear is a thriving business for micro entrepreneurs in Kenya’s chilly highlands. Insurance Dozens of vendors in Karatina Market, the largest open-air market in East Africa, borrow working capital from Equity Bank and other lenders to purchase clothing bundles from wholesalers in the city. Insurance If a fire rips through a section of the market, as it did a few years back in neighboring | Summary of Last Lecture PRODUCTS FOR THE BOP MARKET THREE PRODUCTS: INSURANCE, HOUSING FINANCE, AND REMITTANCES Introduction In this lecture we take a close look at three products: insurance, housing finance, and remittance transfers. We selected these products because they have strong growth potential and are well enough developed that best practices are emerging and growth is under way. Introduction Yet the field is still wide-open in each area. Vast numbers of clients would be thrilled to have these financial needs served well for the first time in their lives. Insurance The sale of used fleece outerwear is a thriving business for micro entrepreneurs in Kenya’s chilly highlands. Insurance Dozens of vendors in Karatina Market, the largest open-air market in East Africa, borrow working capital from Equity Bank and other lenders to purchase clothing bundles from wholesalers in the city. Insurance If a fire rips through a section of the market, as it did a few years back in neighboring Kampala, Uganda, a vendor faces a loss that can take months or years to recover. Insurance However, vendors in Karatina have no place to store their inventory overnight except in their open stalls beside the railroad tracks. Insurance This is just one illustration of the vulnerability that is an ever-present threat in the lives of low-income people. Insurance Without insurance, any shock—flood, accident, death, or illness—can send a family into a downward economic spiral. Uninsured shocks can also turn a good borrower into a defaulter, so lenders have a special interest in seeing that their clients are insured. Insurance When entering this market, private-sector insurance providers typically start with the easiest product—credit life insurance—and gradually introduce more complex products that are also more valuable to clients. Insurance Globally, microinsurance programs have come a long way, but compared with the potential market, they are still small, and their experience still .
