Moroke Sekoboto
Alliance Insurance has embarked on an ambitious affordability campaign aimed at promoting financial inclusion and literacy among Basotho.
Dubbed Ska wara, hae turu (loosely translated, Don’t worry, it is not expensive), the campaign began in late May and will run for 12 months, focusing on home and vehicle insurance.
The campaign aims to change perceptions, educate the public on financial literacy, and ultimately increase the uptake of insurance products by making them more accessible and understandable to everyone.
Alliance Insurance General Manager Retail, Lekhooa Montsi, explained to the Lesotho Times that the campaign was initiated to address the common perception that insurance, especially short-term insurance like home and motor insurance, was expensive.
“People believe that insurance is expensive. Our affordability campaign is designed to educate people that insurance is, in fact, affordable, not as costly as they perceive,” said Mr Montsi.
He said the campaign was part of the company’s broader efforts to promote financial inclusion and literacy.
“We are educating people that they can now pay short-term premiums monthly, instead of the traditional lump-sum payments for home and motor insurance. For instance, it’s more convenient for someone to pay a M1,000 monthly premium than to pay M12,000 at a go. The remaining M11,000 can be saved or invested to yield interest or returns,” he explained.
The campaign also aims to teach people about financial management, emphasizing the importance of using money to generate more money.
“It’s crucial for people to understand that money should generate more money. They shouldn’t just allocate it to one place, like insurance, but also consider investments and savings.”
The “Ska wara hae turu” tagline is intended to reassure people that insurance is not prohibitively expensive.
“Home and motor insurance are indeed affordable, and people shouldn’t worry. Many people avoid insuring their vehicles, thinking it’s costly. Often, they buy cars through personal loans or terminated investments. If they don’t insure their vehicles, they risk losing them to theft or accidents, which means losing their investments while still having to pay loan interest to the bank,” Mr Montsi added.
