The World Bank is providing insurance support to taxi drivers in Kenya.

The World Bank has launched a program in Kenya that will see taxi drivers and delivery workers save tiny sums of money and insure themselves against financial shocks.

The majority of these drivers will be enrolled in the Little App, where they will be exposed to Britam’s insurance and financial options.

The platform economy in Kenya is predicted to rise to $345 million (Sh35 billion) by next year, providing a great opportunity to address the country’s growing unemployment problem.

The agreement, championed by the World Bank’s Consultative Group on Poor People (CGAP), is expected to ensure affordability and flexibility in meeting the special needs of small drivers, which was not the case with the old traditionally constructed framework.

Gayatri Murthy, a CGAP finance specialist, spoke at the signing ceremony about the importance of designing tailored financial products that match their particular needs while also making business sense.

Similar pilots are being implemented by CGAP in other countries, including India, Uganda, South Africa, and Nigeria, to provide innovative financial services to platform employees.

Little App’s CEO Kamal Budhabhatti emphasized the company’s attention on platform workers, saying that the drivers on the platform are considered partners in Little’s success.

“Since inception, we have built our services with their welfare in mind. This has resulted in tremendous loyalty from the drivers towards Little. We believe that this new partnership will take our association with drivers to the next level,” 

The cooperation, according to Britam’s director of emerging consumers, Saurabh Sharma, represents a watershed moment in the financial inclusion of platform workers, who are mostly disregarded by traditional financial institutions.

Little App wants to roll out novel products that fulfill platform workers’ unique demands by leveraging CGAP’s global experience and technical knowledge, he noted.

“Our existing partnership with Little has already been very successful with more than 100,000 bite-sized policies sold within two years,’’ Sharma said.