The South African Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) was established in April 2019. The goal was to identify relevant policies, strategies, and action plans to position South Africa as a competitive global player in this space. The Commission completed its work in December 2020, and it is clear that significant progress is being made to catapult South Africa into an exciting digital future, despite the devastation brought on by Covid-19. 

The Commission held stakeholder engagements with hundreds of individuals and organisations, delivering two comprehensive reports with key recommendations to get the right systemic conditions in place to enable and accelerate 4IR across the government, private sector, labour, academia, and civil society. It has been gratifying to see one of the systemic recommendations of the Commission come to life with the recent announcement on the intended formation of the Artificial Intelligence Institute in South Africa.

But it is not just in South Africa where we are seeing signs of tangible movement to spark Industry 4.0. Just before Covid-19 struck, the African Union (AU) placed a key focus on 4IR, and it is in the process of developing a continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy. 

The general consensus is that 4IR should be at the centre of economic revival policies given its potential to accelerate GDP growth. 

Among the key national outputs of the Commission’s recommendations is that 4IR presents a unique opportunity for all players, including corporates, to get involved and take the lead to further South Africa’s growth through the power of technology. The findings and recommendations of the commission are not for the government alone. For corporations, this stretches from the need for more financing and procurement spending in 4IR technologies, to how data can be harnessed to facilitate innovation and leverage research and development spending more. 

The world around us is changing fast and organisations need to face this head-on to stay relevant. Disruption is inevitable. It requires a new approach to growth and innovation and the willingness to do things differently. For a big player, this includes breaking down traditional barriers, especially the divide between big business and the start-up community. Experience shows that most start-ups, with their strength in agility, innovation, and speed, die when absorbed into big corporations due to the latter’s often-rigid methods and slow processes. So, the question is, how do we bridge that divide to create real commercial opportunities? 

The insurance sector has been ripe for disruption for some time now, and as a business with a 177-year heritage, Old Mutual has had to rethink its traditional approach to insurance. 

Apart from harnessing the Cloud, machine learning, and AI, the intention is to do much more to shake things up to help realise the benefits of 4IR for Old Mutual’s customers and stakeholders. We’ve had to interrogate how we can do insurance better and drive change that matters through next-generation insurance products and ventures that meet customer needs rather than pushing products. 

It also requires strategic partnerships with non-insurers that enable insurance to be embedded in the customer journey in ways that are relevant, personalised, and add value. 

The future of insurtech is extremely exciting, but progress in Africa must be accelerated to ensure a greater share of this growth. According to the InsurTech Market Research Report 2022-2027, as reported in the Digital Journal recently, the global insurtech market size was valued at USD14.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.36% over the forecast period to 2027.

One of the shifts needed is that smaller can be better – even if owned by a big player. A great example is Next176, a fully owned subsidiary of Old Mutual, set up to create shared value in emerging economies and underserved communities, by delivering disruptive, sustainable growth and innovation based on the rapidly changing needs on the ground. 

Tech is allowing us to include people that have traditionally been excluded from the formal insurance system and an opportunity to break down barriers.

For example, Next176 is embedding digital solutions within the early childhood development sector to deliver quality education across Africa while growing small businesses. ECOWALLA is another innovative platform that leverages technology to help people reduce their carbon footprint, live more sustainably, and be recognised for doing good. 22SEVEN is an insights business offering customers the ability to better manage their finances by budgeting, tracking their spending, and investing for their life goals.

There are many more great examples of innovation in the insuretech space that serve as proof points of the exciting progress being made. For those brave enough in the insurance space, a firm foundation is in place to turn disruption into opportunity. DM/BM

By S’onqoba Vuba, Business Development Manager of Next176, an Old Mutual subsidiary. Vuba is also a member of the Presidential Taskforce on 4IR.

Old Mutual was a strategic partner at the recently held Africa Shared Value Leadership Summit hosted by Shared Value Africa Initiative in Kigali, Rwanda, which saw world leaders come together to discuss equitable solutions for Africa’s challenges. For more information on the Africa Shared Value Leadership Summit and its organisers, click here.