I realized when I was posting yesterday that I went missing from updating this space for more than 2 months. It dawned on me that it was indeed a hectic last 2 months of the year at work. There was so much going on and was juggling priorities by the minute.
Nevertheless it was still a fulfilling last quarter of 2020 for me.
After so many years being in the takaful industry, finally my dream of introducing meaningful and inclusive takaful products came true – that was the theme for the last quarter of 2020 (+ the last week of September).
Firstly, on 26 September 2020 – a Saturday, on the second day of a Fun(d) For Life camp: special edition at PPR Sg. Bonus (low income flat), we launched our first product for the lower income segment – FWD Kasih.
Finally, we were able to provide a meaningful takaful protection starting from as low as RM2 a month for a RM10,000 coverage, which includes death, total permanent disablement, accidental death (2x basic cover), funeral expense as well as Badal Haj for Muslims or charity for non-Muslims – surely pack of a deal for such a low price point.
When we first launched the product, we were scratching our heads thinking hard on how to get it out there considering it was only available online. We were talking to so many partners, engaged our agency force, forge partnership with universities and reached out to our staff. We initiated discussions with mobile providers to expand contribution collection methods in our efforts of providing more options to increase the take up rate. I would take the chance to promote the product at any speaking opportunity. We did a lot of stuff.
I was worried at first it would not fly.
But when we closed the year meeting our initial target with just slightly over 3 months being on the shelf – I was a happy man. Finally, we made inroads to a segment that everyone calls underserved.
To complete the product offering, somewhere in mid December 2020, we received the approval from Bank Negara Malaysia for FWD Kasih to be part of the Perlindungan Tenang umbrella. This was an important milestone for the product’s future.
With the earlier government announcement of providing a RM50 voucher in April 2021 for B40 individuals to take up Perlindungan Tenang, I’m excited to see how much more people we can get covered with FWD Kasih in 2021.
On top of the product, we had other stuff going on as well.
In early September 2020, we received the final research report titled: “Suitable Takaful Plan and Distribution Channel for B40” from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). The findings from the report helped validated and confirmed that the design of FWD Kasih is in line with the expectations of the lower income segment.
Somehow the report is sentimental to me as I knew the hard work put in by the UUM research team, lead by Prof Dr. Asmadi. When the team presented the preliminary findings somewhere in July, I was already moved. They were a group of passionate researchers who truly believed in the cause.
Another initiative was the special edition Fun(d) For Life program mentioned earlier – it was eye (and heart) opening for me and everyone else who attended. We had 21 youth from PPR Sg. Bonus joining the camp – a good and kind group of young people.
As we get to know them a bit better, we realized that 60% of them were school dropouts. As we probed further, some of them had to quit school as the family was facing financial difficulties after one of the parents passed away – one of the kid’s mum passed away due to cancer a few years back.
Only if we had FWD Kasih earlier and got the family covered, the kid would not have to leave school.
This experience really inspired some of us, especially me and Intan to push through the inclusive agenda at work, the industry and to the world. Both of us ended up writing articles and advocating about it publicly whenever we had the chance.
Closing the year, again together with our financial literacy strategic partner – Arus Academy, we launched another amazing initiative championing this agenda – but this time around, borrowing the brain power of youths.
Over a period of 3 weeks, we had 30 youths divided into 6 teams participating in our inaugural Digital Financial Inclusion Challenge, putting their heads together to solve the problem statement: “How might we reimagine the end-to-end takaful adoption process that caters to B40 needs and ensures long term commitment?”
This particular experience needs a special post of its own – will try find time to write about it.
All these achievements on this important agenda in 2020 was only possible due to contribution from so many people and partners – too many of them to name. But I want to take the opportunity to give a special shoutout to our partners: the team from UUM and Arus Academy.
The road to inclusive takaful is still far – there are still many more people out there who does not have access to takaful protection. But at least we’ve started taking the right steps – one day, we’ll reach there.
Next will find time to write about another inclusive takaful agenda – Part 2: the disabled segment.