Insurance companies under the auspices of the Nigerian Insurers Association(NIA) have unveiled a platform known as ‘Innovation Lab’ to enhance customers’ experience and digitalise Know-Your-Customer(KYC) for policyholders across the country.
The new initiative is also expected to identify and support startups and scale-ups developing solutions in critical areas as determined by the insurance industry.
While there are expectations that this novel initiative will attract top innovators to tackle critical shared industry problems and equip participants with a deep context on insurance in Nigeria, the platform will also facilitate structured engagement between insurers and innovators and enable collective adoption and investment opportunities by NIA members.
Speaking at the initiative’s launch on Monday, the chairman of NIA, Kunle Ahmed, said the need for increased attention to digital innovations and solutions by insurance companies in Nigeria led to the birth of this innovation challenge, with selected partners pitching digital solutions for some of the processes of underwriters in the country.
“Today, we are not just opening a facility, we are igniting a movement. A movement rooted in innovation, driven by collaboration, and destined to transform the way we protect lives, assets and futures. Innovation is not a luxury; it is a necessity. At the NIA, we have chosen to lead. The lab is our commitment to that leadership. It is a space where ideas will be nurtured, technologies will be tested, and solutions will be born. It is where the future of insurance will be imagined and built,” he posited.
With the launch, he envisions a Nigerian insurance industry that is agile, inclusive, and digitally empowered, ‘one that leverages artificial intelligence, blockchain, and data analytics not just to improve efficiency, but to deepen trust and expand access.’
Imploring the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to work with the association and the tech partners to push them, he urged member companies to invest in this future, adding that, ‘and to every Nigerian: believe in the power of innovation to strengthen the protection of assets and maintain standards of living.’
While presenting the Innovation Lab Framework, Adedamola Oloko, an Innovation Lab Steering Committee member who is also the Innovation Lead at AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, noted that eKYC Infrastructure is presently fragmented across insurers, and a lack of real-time identity systems and duplication of onboarding tools impede policyholders’ onboarding process.
Meanwhile, the chairman, NIA Innovation Committee, Babatunde Fajemirokun said, the eKYC would be a common onboarding framework with shared data fields and APIs for the industry, post-launching of this scheme.
In his paper, ‘State of Insurance Innovation in Nigeria 2025: Insights from the industry’s inaugural Innovation Survey,’ Fajemirokun, who is also the MD/CEO of AIICO Insurance Plc, said that in the inaugural Insurance Innovation Survey conducted by NIA, respondents highlighted recurring friction points across different areas, with the biggest concerns around Customer Acquisition and KYC.
He said customer experience, acquisition, KYC, and distribution rank as the top priorities for innovation, while fraud management, eKYC, and claims exchange emerged as the most promising areas for industry-wide collaboration. He said it is time for the industry to adopt eKYC, which is the trend in other financial services sectors.
