By Henry Uche
Following the level of devastation caused by recent floods that impacted Micro, Small and Medium -sized Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country, a call has been made for operators to embrace insurance cover to enable them overcome sudden systemic shocks of natural disasters.
At the 7th Annual National Conference of National Association of Insurance & Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO), now, Nigerian Association of Insurance & Pension Editors (NAIPE), called for urgent need for MSMEs to think insurance cover. According to the call, the serial attacks by killers herdsmen against farmers, terror attacks, pestilence, natural disasters and other unforeseen circumstances which MSMEs suffer over time has made this call more imperative.
At the conference, insurance and pension operators were urged to provide tailored but attractive incentives that would spur business operators in the informal sector to embrace the micro insurance and micro pension plans for the enormous derivable benefits.
In a paper presentation, on “Onboarding MSMEs into Micro Insurance and Pension Space in Nigeria,” the Director General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) Mrs. Chinyere Almona, affirmed that though the insurance and pension sectors have thrived in driving the financial inclusion initiative of the Federal Government, there was still the need to incentivise and encourage those in the informal sector, including the Nigerian Nano, Micro, Small and Medium and Enterprises NMSMEs operators to embrace micro insurance and join the micro pension plan.
LCCI boss called on insurance underwriters and pension administrators to take advantage of numerous opportunities inherent in the NMSME sector, saying, “NMSMEs presents huge opportunity for the micro insurance and pension industry due to the size of the workforce. Other opportunities include large MSMEs employment/labour force, a large number of willing adult population, expanding distribution channels, favourable regulatory environment, mature financial services sector and revolution in information technology as well as digital innovations.
According to her, the total number of employment by MSMEs stands at 61.9 million representing 87.9 percent of the total labor force in the country, adding that the number of employment generated by the informal sector was 16 million while the formal sector generated 7.5 million in 2020.