Zambia is setting ambitious targets to close its insurance protection gap by harnessing technology and innovation, with government aiming to double national insurance penetration from 2.5% to 5% by 2030.
Technology will be central to reducing the country’s vulnerability to financial shocks caused by climate change, pandemics, and natural disasters.
Acting Minister of Technology and Science, Elvis Nkandu, outlined this vision at the Gralix InsurTech Conference (GIC) X BimaLab Africa Innovation for Resilience (AIR) Conference held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 2nd to 3rd October, 2025.
While the global insurance penetration rate averages 7%, Africa remains at less than 3%, leaving millions without financial safety nets. This gap is especially severe in countries like Zambia, where many households and small businesses lack insurance coverage.
“Closing this protection gap is not only a financial inclusion objective, but also a national resilience agenda that supports recovery from disasters and climate shocks, aligned with Zambia’s Eighth National Development Plan,” Mr. Nkandu said.
Nkandu noted that traditional insurance models suffer from high distribution costs and limited reach, especially in rural communities. InsurTech, he said, offers a chance to bridge this divide by leveraging mobile technology, digital platforms, and data-driven solutions.
Zambia has introduced several frameworks to create an enabling environment for digital insurance. These include the ICT Policy, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, and the Data Protection Act of 2021.
In addition, the government has committed to establishing an InsurTech Regulatory Sandbox under the Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) by 2026, allowing startups to test new products in a controlled environment before scaling.
The sandbox will provide a controlled environment for insurers, brokers, insurtechs, and innovators to test new products and business models under regulatory supervision.
To prepare for this, regulators such as ZICTA and the Bank of Zambia are already collaborating to address data protection, interoperability, and digital infrastructure challenges.
The Minister emphasized that innovation alone will not drive change unless insurers, regulators, and investors work together.
“Insurers must collaborate with startups rather than view them as competitors. Regulators must adopt proportionate regulation and sandbox approaches to avoid stifling innovation. Investors must provide the funding needed to scale promising ideas,” he emphasized.
The government believes that if Zambia achieves its 5% penetration target by 2030, millions more people will be covered, building household resilience, protecting SMEs, and strengthening the national economy.
“The time for action is now. Together, we can unlock the full potential of InsurTech to drive financial inclusion, enhance resilience, and deliver meaningful impact to our people,” the Minister added.
According to PIA Board Chairperson Peter Banda, the sandbox will provide a controlled environment where innovators and insurers can test new products without immediate regulatory consequences.
“Our commitment as a regulator is threefold: promoting regulatory sandboxes, prioritizing financial inclusion, and ensuring consumer protection and trust,” Mr. Banda said.
He explained that the sandbox initiative, being implemented with the support of FSD Africa, would help regulators understand emerging risks while giving innovators space to experiment and adapt solutions to local needs.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the conference, PIA Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Namakau Ntini, said the Authority had made financial inclusion a key pillar of its strategic plan, emphasizing that technology will be central to driving growth and expanding access to insurance products, with the sandbox being the cornerstone of this modernization effort.
“As a supervisor, we acknowledge the fact that the insurance industry is highly regulated in the sense that it is in the financial sector and you need regulations to the market in terms of how they must conduct themselves, but we are also alive to the technology and the innovation that is happening in the market,” she said.
“And so, we do not want to be a regulator that stifles the innovation that can help the market to grow and that is why we have this sandbox regulatory framework.”
FSD Africa, through its BimaLab Accelerator Program, continues to play a vital role in promoting technology-driven innovation and supporting regulatory reform in Zambia’s insurance industry and across the Continent.
Since launching in 2020, the BimaLab Africa accelerator programme has supported over 100 InsurTech startups in 25 African countries, leading to more than 150 innovative solutions that have reached over 4 million customers.
“FSD Africa has emerged as a crucial driver of innovation and market development within Zambia’s highly regulated financial sector, particularly in the insurance space. Its influence is most clearly visible through its pivotal collaborations aimed at boosting financial inclusion and leveraging technology,” said Elias Omondi, Principal Innovation for Resilence, FSD Africa.
In an interview, Omonid said beyond policy development, his organization actively engages with the market through its accelerator program.
“The organization partnered with Actuarial Consulting through the FSD Africa’s BimaLab accelerator program. The goal of this collaboration was to bring more opportunities and showcase a wider range of technical tools to insurers operating in Zambia, as well as to other international insurers who attended the conference in Zambia.This collaborative spirit extended the reach of market development initiatives,” he said.
The overall objective of these efforts—supported by FSD Africa—is to ensure that insurance becomes more inclusive, accessible, and affordable for ordinary citizens not just in Zambia but across the Continent.
Zambia’s Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, officially opened day one of the Conference, with a call on insurers to leverage technology and participate in the country’s economic growth agenda.
The conference brought together various stakeholders including policymakers, regulators, insurers, brokers, fintechs, innovators and supporting partners from over 25 African countries.
The Bimar Lab program, with which FSD Africa is aligned, strives to help innovators move beyond basic product innovation toward creating highly customer-centric solutions. Historically, this program has enabled over 100 innovations across different countries, allowing more than 6 million customers to access services.
