Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2018 Signed into Law

On 5th July 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta officially signed the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2018. This is a major development for the industry with regard to payment of premiums and addressing insurance fraud. Some of the major highlights are noted below.

Section 156 was repealed and replaced with the following:

156. (1) No insurer shall assume a risk in Kenya in respect of insurance business unless and until the premium payable thereon is received by the insurer.
(2) An intermediary shall not receive any premiums on behalf of an insurer.
(3) An intermediary who contravenes subsection (2) shall be liable to a penalty of one million shillings on each contravention, payable to the Policy Holders Compensation fund.
(4) Any officer or director of an intermediary who contravenes subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence, and upon conviction shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand shillings or to an imprisonment term of three months, or to both.
(5) An insurer shall pay an intermediary insurance commission due within thirty days upon receipt of premium.
(6) An insurer who contravenes subsection (5) shall be liable to a penalty of five million shillings on each contravention, payable to the Policyholders Compensation Fund.

The act also introduced a legal provision creating offences on insurance fraud, including penalties intended to address the problem of insurance fraud that continues to be a major challenge to the stability of the insurance industry in the country. The amendment further ensures that the Act complies with International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) standards on countering insurance fraud.

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Music Streaming Services in Kenya

Thanks to the manufacturers' better understanding of the Kenyan market and the rise of internet connectivity in the country, smartphone use is growing. This means that many services that are generally mobile-first are also finding the Kenyan market more attractive. After all, the internet - especially when in your pocket - is the best way to consume all the general and sports entertainment Kenya and the world has to offer. Still, services like Spotify - the biggest mobile music streaming service today - are not present here. Luckily, there are enough alternatives, both local and international. So, let's take a look at some of the music streaming services that are available in Kenya today.

International

One of the major international music streaming services available in Kenya is Deezer, the company founded in Paris, France, 11 years ago. The service had a very limited catalog at first and only allowed downloads through iTunes (paid downloads, that is). Despite running into financial problems at first, Deezer stayed afloat, secured funding, and continued to grow, becoming a service with more than 14 million active users and 7 million paying subscribers in more than 180 countries, including Kenya.

Another major international music streaming service available in Kenya is - surprise - Apple Music. I say "surprise" because Apple Music is a service available on iPhones only, and only about 3% of the smartphone users in Kenya use an iPhone (according to StatCounter). Student ($4.99), individual ($9.99) and family ($14.99) subscriptions are available here, each one giving locals access to more than 50 million international songs.

Local

"Songa by Safaricom" is a music streaming service available to Safaricom prepaid and postpaid subscribers, in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. For KSH 499 a month, its users can listen to its library of local and international songs (daily and weekly subscriptions are also available), plus the cost of downloading the songs on mobile. Songa also offers users the possibility to download the songs they like most and listen to them offline.

"Mdundo" is another Kenyan music streaming service founded by Martin Nielsen, a Dutch businessman who has moved to Kenya in the early 2010s. Mdundo.com was launched in 2013, later signing a deal with Airtel and Microsoft. Later, they signed with Warner Music, adding more than 1 million songs from major international artists to their library of over 150,000 African songs from artists in 37 different African countries. Mdundo has a free tier - ad supported - and a paid tier that costs KSH 199 a month.

Until Spotify - and its massive library of 35 million songs - decide to enter the Kenyan market (so far, it is only available in South Africa), there are quite a few alternatives to choose from, most of them with a free option as well. Which one do you use?

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List of all Education Insurance Policy Providers in Kenya

An Education Insurance Policy is a type of insurance plan that allows a policyholder set aside regular payments in the form of an insurance premium with a view to funding future school fees needs.

The policy is essentially an endowment insurance policy. Education insurance policies are quite popular in Kenya with a number of insurance companies offering the plans.

The features and benefits differ from company to company. Below is a list of all the education insurance policy providers in Kenya.

​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ Policy/Plan Name	Insurance Company
Pru Super Seven	Prudential Life Assurance Kenya
Elimika ​​ Education Policy​​	UAP Old Mutual Insurance
Premier Education plan	UAP Old Mutual Insurance
Career Life Lite​​	Jubilee Insurance
Academia Education policy	CIC Insurance
Elimu Bora education plan	Britam Insurance
APA Elimu	APA Insurance
Scholar Education Plan	Liberty Insurance
Educator education plan	Liberty Insurance
Bima ya Karo	Madison Insurance company
Usomi Bora education policy	Insurance Company of East Africa (ICEA)
Educator Plan	CFC Life Assurance Ltd
Education Plan with profits	Apollo Life Assurance Limited
Career Life Gold Education Plans	Jubilee Insurance
Madison Uniplan​​	Madison Insurance Company
E-Plus Policy	Britam Insurance
FlexiEducator Plus	Sanlam Life Insurance

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