InsureTech Startup Una Asurisan: Complement the Government Insurance Programs Through Peer-to-Peer Insurance Platform
Public interest in insurance in Indonesia is still relatively low. According to CBInsights, the overall insurance penetration in Indonesia ranks among the lowest in the world at less than 2%, which provides great potential and opportunities for insurance companies in the market. Among many technology innovations happening in the country, Insurance Technology (InsureTech) is one of the fast-growing sectors with startups developing modern solutions with technology.
As a peer-to-peer insurance technology startup, Una Asurisan is hoping to introduce a new insurance model and provide more affordable options for Indonesians to benefit themselves and their families.
The name of the startup Una Asurisan shows its vision to create a community to protect its members- Una means “one” in the Latin language, symbolizing uniting together and harmony. “Asurisan” is a combination of Asuransi and Arisan, which means “insurance” and “social gathering” in English.
For those who don’t know what Arisan is- it means social gathering, which is very common in Indonesian culture. It is a form of microfinance, and considered as “rotating savings and credit association” in Indonesia, according to Wikipedia.
To learn more about its innovative idea and things that Una Asurisan has been doing with the communities, Inv Asia met with Lily M. Abraham (mentioned as “Lily” below), Co-Founder and CEO of Una Asurisan at her office in Jakarta to talk about the insurance business in Indonesia and the application of the latest technology like blockchain.
Inv Asia: What is your background and how did you come up with the idea for Una Asurisan?
Lily: I grew up in Merauke, Papua. I went to Australia to study and I worked in Singapore for over 10 years in finance with capital markets covering Singapore and Indonesia. I also assisted both startups and companies around the region in their capital raising and corporate development. My expertise is in organizing, structuring, positioning, and marketing projects.
With the size of Indonesia’s population, the potential for insurance business is still wide open. Unlike Singapore, only a very small amount of people in Indonesia have sufficient insurance coverage and protection. Although the majority is enrolled in the government insurance plan BPJS (Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Ketenagakerjaan, Indonesia’s government mandatory insurance system for workers), the coverage is very limited. So there is a gap that we want to use our product to complement.
Back in 2017, my co-founder Zhiqi Ou and I had the same idea. We founded the company in Indonesia and decided to create this P2P insurance platform in Indonesia.
Inv Asia: How does Una Asurisan work?
Lily: Una is an InsurTech company that enables peer-to-peer insurance. We have three characteristics namely “affordable, transparent and reliable.”
Like Arisan, members pay premium into their Una account, through which they contribute to the community pool. Like Asuransi, Una pays out from the pool to the beneficiary of a member who needs it after an accident.
The premium starts from IDR 50.000 (around US$ 3.54) to get IDR 100 million (around USD 7,000) coverage. Each member pays IDR 12.000 (around US$0.85) per month as a membership fee, similar to what people usually do at Arisan (social gathering) groups.
Members pay the insurance premium every month and they can view their balance through our App, similar to checking a saving account through online banking. When any of the members are in need, they can file a claim through the App, the compensation will be paid the insurance beneficiaries (mostly their family members) directly.
In other countries like Singapore, people may get used to the role of insurance agents. But in Indonesia, most people don’t know what it is. There will be no agents in our model. It makes enrolling in insurances easier and also reduces unnecessary fees, which will benefit the lower middle class or the informal worker sectors such as fishermen and farmers.
Inv Asia: How do you introduce Una Asurisan to your target customers?
Lily: We have organized community meetups in several cities. We speak to people and community groups in various cities across Indonesia. We are starting from big cities like Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, and Surabaya and hopefully to expand to more after.
Inv Asia: How do you market Una Asurisan the App?
Lily: We use a lot of offline activities to meet various people in the community, including informal labor, farmers, fishermen as well as SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises) and local governments. We believe the best marketing strategy is to build a good product and brand reputation and pass down by word of mouth. Some communities are inviting us back for more events so I guess they need and like this service.
Inv Asia: Many FinTech companies are trying to solve the insurance problems in Indonesia too and some of them are public companies like Ping An. Do you think it is going to threaten InsureTech startups?
Lily: Ping An has been running insurance business since last year, right? For us, it is not a problem or a competitor because a large number of Indonesia’s population has not been covered by insurance.
Our product is here to complement insurance programs offered by the government or big companies.
