Earlier this month, ICMIF member CIC Insurance Group (Kenya) presented its inaugural Sustainability Report and introduced its new six-year Sustainability Plan. The plan, which spans from 2025 to 2030, is structured around four key pillars—Environmental Stewardship, Social Responsibility, Economic Resilience, and Responsible Governance—marking a formal commitment to sustainable practices within the organisation.
The Sustainability Plan includes several measurable targets for 2030: expanding microinsurance to represent 25% of CIC’s policy portfolio, achieving gender balance across the workforce, and allocating a higher percentage of revenue to social investment.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Patrick Nyaga, Group Managing Director and CEO of CIC, said: “Our sustainability strategy is deeply rooted in the cooperative values that shape who we are as an organisation. We acknowledge that our sustainability efforts need to support our customers who include cooperatives, to achieve affordable and sustainable risk management. Our solutions are therefore geared towards innovating products that address emerging risks such as climate change and tailoring them to fit the needs of different audiences.”
Dr Nelson Kuria, Group Chairman, CIC Group added: “The Group facilitated 40 training sessions to the senior management and board members of various co-operatives on risk management, digital lending and emerging trends, financial wellness and cyber security.”
‘’CIC Group has continued to insure agriculture growing premiums significantly and keeping our word by paying claims thus derisking farmers on losses suffered due to adverse weather related events,’’ added Nyaga.
CIC’s sustainability initiatives align with international standards, underscored by its membership of the UN Global Compact Network Kenya and its commitment as a signatory to the Nairobi Declaration on Sustainable Insurance. Actions CIC has undertaken so far include investing in low-carbon technology, converting office lighting for energy efficiency, and installing a solar-powered water pump for the Ushirika Gardens housing project.
Initiatives in community resilience and insurance solutions
The Sustainability Plan also supports the development of tailored insurance solutions for communities. CIC’s offerings include Co-opcare, a health plan for cooperative members in Kenya; Uganda’s Kameeza, a low-cost funeral cover; Malawi’s Abwenzi, a health product designed for women and families; and Kenya’s Seniors Mediplan, which provides health insurance for citizens over 60. In addition, CIC’s Foundation has conducted 40 training sessions on risk management, financial wellness, and cybersecurity for cooperative leaders.
Targets for 2030
CIC’s sustainability strategy sets ambitious goals for 2030 including:
- Encouraging community development through CIC Foundation
- Supporting local entrepreneurship
- Fostering sustainable practices
- Promote diversity, equality and inclusion
- Improving employee engagement index
- Enhancing customer engagement
Under the six broad goals, CIC Group has developed specific targets to be achieved by 2030 including: Increasing microbusiness policies proportion at CIC to 25%, reducing waste diverted to landfill by 25%, reducing Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 30%, achieving gender balance across the workforce, achieving a representation of people with disabilities (PWD) of at least 1% of the total workforce and improving customer satisfaction index to 90%.
CIC Insurance Group and ICMIF
As an ICMIF member, CIC’s approach reflects broader efforts by cooperative and mutual insurers to integrate sustainability into business practices, an objective shared by many ICMIF members around the world.
In March 2024, CIC Insurance Group was announced as a winning applicant for a share of the UNDP ICMIF Insurance Innovation Challenge Fund (IIC). This is a partnership between the UNDP Insurance & Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) and The ICMIF Foundation which aims to help mutual and cooperative insurers scale up innovative, affordable and inclusive insurance products which specifically serve the needs of underserved households and/or micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), with a particular focus on women, in developing economies.
Photo shows: (Left to right) Dr Nelson Kuria, Group Chairman at CIC Group; Patrick Nyaga, Group Managing Director & CEO at CIC Insurance; and Judy Njino, Executive Director and focal Point of the Global Compact Network Kenya during the launch of the inaugural sustainability report.
