InsurTech Egypt Launches First-of-its-Kind InsurHack Competition

GIZ’s 'Promotion of Access for Financial Service for Small and Medium Enterprise' (PAFSME) has happily announced the launch of the InsurTech Egypt platform, initiating InsurHack, the first insurance technology hackathon tackling the challenges facing the insurance industry in Egypt. Taking place from November 28th to December 1st 2019 at the American University of Cairo, the competition will conclude with a final Demo Day in association with AUC Venture Labs.

InsurHack is InsurTech’s first hackathon and aims to gather entrepreneurs, techies and designers to create ten teams and develop ten business ideas, each to solve specific challenges over four days. The participating teams will work under a framework developed by insurance industry experts with training and mentorship that cover a variety of topics such as design thinking, agile prototyping and insurance infrastructure, to propose solutions that contribute to a more technological insurance sector in Egypt, and compete for a cash prize of EGP 100,000. The teams will also receive additional benefits such as a flight to Germany, physical space for two months, fast selection to AUC Venture Lab bootcamp and proof of concepts.

According to the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), the insurance industry is estimated to represent almost 0.91% of Egypt’s GDP; it is one of the strongest drivers of economic growth in Egypt. Despite the high investment rate and economic growth, the industry is still facing many challenges such as the lack of digital interference and the difficulty of target audience outreach.

Hence, this competition was created under the theme of 'Innovating the Insurance Sector', to integrate technology and develop sustainable business solutions that can innovatively solve the challenges that are necessary for its growth and to overcome the obstacles that hinder its progress in becoming a significant key player in the country’s economy. 

“We’re pleased to launch the first Insur-tech hackathon in Egypt calling on the participating teams to address four main challenges to transform the insurance industry from developing data analysis tools for insurance companies to transform the insurance agent; for reaching low-income insurance segments, as well as creating a competitive edge for SMEs through insurance,” says Hayder AlBaghdadi, Head of Programmes at the Promotion of Financial Inclusion in the MENA region and SME Finance in Egypt at Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).