Belinda Ofori, Head of Direct Business and the Activ’Lady Programme at Activa International Insurance Ghana (AIIG), has called for stronger and more sustained industry efforts to bring insurance within reach of market women in Ghana’s informal economy, warning that trust and affordability remain the two most stubborn barriers to progress.
Her remarks came following a direct engagement with market traders, where Ofori said the company was focused on understanding how women in informal commerce think about risk before attempting to sell them products.
“Building confidence among market women will require sustained education and consistent demonstration of value across the industry, rather than one-off campaigns,” she said, adding that collaboration between insurers, regulators, and community groups would be critical to meaningful change.
AIIG’s focus on market women is an extension of its Activ’Lady Programme, launched in October 2019 in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. The programme, designed specifically for women entrepreneurs, offers coverage against fire, flood, burglary, and accidents, alongside financial literacy support and career pathways for female insurance advisers. Since its launch, over 100,000 women have benefited from the programme in various ways.
Despite those gains, Ghana’s insurance penetration remains among the lowest in Africa, hovering near one percent of gross domestic product, with a slight dip to 0.63 percent in 2024 under revised accounting measures. Ofori acknowledged that reaching the informal sector at scale would require insurers to go beyond awareness campaigns and design products that genuinely reflect how market traders earn, spend, and absorb shocks.
Ghana’s National Insurance Commission (NIC) and the United Nations Development Programme’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility established the Inclusive Insurance Steering Committee in 2025, a cross-sectoral body specifically tasked with expanding coverage to smallholder farmers, market women, microentrepreneurs, and informal sector workers. Ofori’s engagement with market traders feeds directly into that broader national push.
She emphasized that the sector cannot afford passive approaches, and that the insurers making real inroads will be those willing to show up in the marketplace, listen first, and adapt their offerings accordingly.
