Impact Trash to Resilience: How BimaLab boosted Soso Care’s unique micro- insurance intervention

This case study describes how the BimaLab insurtech accelerator, initiated by FSD Africa in partnership with the Swiss Re Foundation and Nigeria’s National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), supported Soso Care, a health micro-insurance startup in Nigeria. Soso Care provides health insurance to low-income earners who pay premiums using recyclable waste.

• Soso Care, a health micro-insurance startup operating in four Nigerian cities, utilizes a model where low-income earners pay for health micro-insurance premiums through recyclable waste. The company has established partnerships with AXA, AIICO, and Wema Bank for financial and technical support, and a partnership with the Port Harcourt Municipal Government aims to enroll more than 5,000 people in the healthcare insurance scheme by the end of the year.
• The BimaLab accelerator program provides non-monetary support, including training, mentorship, coaching, and policy advocacy, to help startups optimize operations and establish networks. Soso Care demonstrated that such non-monetary support can significantly improve operations even in the absence of substantial financial backing.
• Soso Care promotes gender equality and economic resilience by employing a workforce where 70-80% of its more than 600 agents are women. The company has grown from a 2019 pilot project involving 100 women collecting plastics to serving 7,000 women.
• Insurance penetration in Africa was 2.78% in 2019, which was significantly lower than the global average of 7.23%. Barriers to providing insurance to low-income populations in Africa include limited customer awareness, high premium costs, and a lack of innovative solutions.

APA

FSD Africa (n.d.). Impact Trash to Resilience: How BimaLab boosted Soso Care’s unique micro- insurance intervention. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-Impact-BimaLab-Nigeria-25.09.2023-2.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. Impact Trash to Resilience: How BimaLab boosted Soso Care’s unique micro- insurance intervention. n.d. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-Impact-BimaLab-Nigeria-25.09.2023-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=Impact Trash to Resilience: How BimaLab boosted Soso Care’s unique micro- insurance intervention |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-Impact-BimaLab-Nigeria-25.09.2023-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafricandimpact, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{Impact Trash to Resilience: How BimaLab boosted Soso Care’s unique micro- insurance intervention}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FSD-Africa-Impact-BimaLab-Nigeria-25.09.2023-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }