Cameroon’s microinsurance market has gained a new player with the arrival of Gabonese insurer Samb’a Assurances.
The company announced May 21 in Douala the launch of Samb’a Assurances Cameroun SA, which it describes as the country’s first company fully dedicated to microinsurance.
According to the company, the new subsidiary will operate in the non-life insurance segment and has capital of more than CFA615 million shared among 59 shareholders. Samb’a says it wants to make insurance products more accessible to populations that remain largely outside traditional insurance systems.
The company plans to offer coverage starting at CFA3,500 per month. It will mainly target low-income customers and distribute products through mobile money services, community networks, and microfinance institutions.
Its first partner in Cameroon is Financial House. Through its expansion into Cameroon, Samb’a aims to replicate a model already introduced in Gabon, where the group has operated for more than a year. The company plans to rely on local distribution channels to broaden access to insurance in a region where insurance penetration remains low.
Several analysts believe this type of model — combining microfinance, insurance, and digital tools — could strengthen competition and improve financial inclusion. The African Center for Economic Intelligence and Monitoring (CAVIE) says the arrival of such players could help reshape the local market.
Microinsurance itself is not new in Cameroon. In 2015, local insurer Activa Assurances launched a microinsurance product with Orange Cameroun. A year later, AXA Assurances Cameroun also expanded into the segment.
Despite those earlier initiatives, microinsurance has struggled to scale up in the country. Industry observers nevertheless continue to point to the sector’s strong long-term potential.
As early as 2014, Jean Claude Ngbwa, then secretary-general of the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets (CIMA), said microinsurance could eventually generate revenue several times larger than the current size of the insurance market.
Samb’a’s arrival could revive interest in a segment that remains largely underdeveloped. The key question now is whether a model built on low premiums, digital distribution, and microfinance partnerships can finally turn microinsurance into a mass-market product in Cameroon.
BRM
