Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
Capital FM Kenya
  • 5 days ago
OVAReact Podcast S05 E05 - Making Insurance Trendy with Mama Bima Kenya

Follow us on:
https://twitter.com/capitalfmkenya/
https://www.facebook.com/capitalfmkenya
https://www.instagram.com/capitalfmkenya

Subscribe to Capital FM News for More: https://goo.gl/um4AGk

98.4 Capital FM
93.0 Western Kenya
98.5 Nakuru and Nyeri
104.5 Malindi
102.7 Garissa
103.9 Meru
106.5 Kitui
104.9 Voi

#CapitalFmKenya #OVAReactPodcast

Category

✨
People
Transcript
00:00welcome to the overreact podcast in a society that tries to put women in a box let's overreact
00:09i'm your host momo hoya it's your girl lash angela and it's your girl angela one boy and
00:14today we're joined by the lovely mama be my kenya and ladies i have a new title now
00:21award-winning mama be my kenya
00:24congratulations wow we talk about insurance and we all think about that guy in a suit blue shirt
00:35coming to sell insurance to you but you're changing the face of insurance what inspired you
00:42why mama be my why insurance and before you even share that who is charlene
00:47yeah so um a passionate i like to say a friendly insurance agent um you are yes um also now beyond
00:59the work beyond mama be my a mom a wife a sister you know a friend a daughter so um beyond the work
01:09also someone in the community doing my part you know to make a difference um but i'm also very
01:15passionate about what i do day to day uh it's not been a journey of five years oh wow and i like to
01:21say five years this year yes no five years last november okay yes wow um and i like to say that how
01:29i got into insurance it was really not like my first um choice of career um straight after high
01:38uh straight after college so i got married i got married to an insurance agent but during that time
01:45i was working in the finance industry so my first uh role was in a stock brokerage company then i moved
01:52to fund management and lastly i was in an investment bank um and along the way you know as i moved through
01:59the different phases of life i became a mom um i would see like my husband's colleagues come to visit
02:06us and they were just so full of life like it would be like on a random wednesday and they feel back then
02:15we were living in kino and they feel our living room and they're just laughing from somewhere deep in
02:22the time and i would be like what the girls would walk into the uh into the living room and then you're
02:29like oh my who's that is that beyonce like they look so beautiful so they glow and they were just
02:37generally happy and i think that started to intrigue me okay i started to get an interest because at the
02:46time i was in a that kind of environment work wise it wasn't like the most um it was a company where i
02:54had gone in uh like a ray of sun sunshine and in about three years or so i had withered down
03:02and just you couldn't even recognize me so i think at the point i was feeling you know new face of life
03:09now i'm a mom big dreams and i was thinking i needed a career change so at the time now i was
03:16looking at these people from the insurance business because you know that little young man
03:20the picture we have of insurance ages yes when you get into the industry that's not really who you
03:25find of course there's there's that part when you're starting off it's hard i think i also started
03:31out like that that little boy who's tamaking on the road yeah chasing after people i was the one chasing
03:38after people like five years ago um but it's a start i remember when i started out i was always on a
03:44border border running like from one meeting to the other you know i could not afford say what an uber
03:50and possibly every time i tried to do my math and think before i take a math three there and get to
03:55town and run you know so maybe that's the starting point for most of us um but that little boy that
04:03young man who's usually tamaking looking really beat up in a year or two you also meet him you're like
04:11wow is that the same when did you get so polished so yes i transitioned into the business in 2019
04:18so your so the first influencer is your husband yes mentor yeah especially um i saw him i saw his
04:27colleagues i loved it i thought they were happy i thought they prioritized friendships um i felt they
04:35had time for each other and i wanted a little bit of that there was a community yes do you think the
04:41whole picture we have around this insurance guy is because we also feel like insurance as a
04:46conversation because as africans we know the insurance needs just take the will and uh insurance is
04:54yes and and you know in the west insurance like it's a very big thing do you think it's the way we
05:01um we consume that information regarding insurance or lack of information that make people look at the
05:09insurance brokers sales people in that light so um the young man who's tamaking on the road and or
05:18at the mall and is chasing after you down you know down the corridors or if they spot you with a child
05:24they run to you and tell you i can sell to you an education plan maybe um it's how most of us
05:32were inculcated into the industry the wrong way um if you get maybe the right mentorship
05:39into the business you'll probably you know handle that just differently um but you'll realize
05:47in kenya harambe has always been our insurance that harambe spirit and i mean it's a big thing
05:54girl but it sometimes needs to stop but for the longest time um harambe was the insurance in our in
06:04our society where if you know if a breadwinner passed away the community would then come together
06:10and figure out how will the kids go to school too good oh yeah and of course over time you know
06:16as we urbanize and everything that spirit now is starting to change yes so we're at a point where
06:24now insurance can no longer be an afterthought in our households it needs to be a necessity yeah
06:29also life has changed challenges are a bit more yes in terms of even i can't always give like i
06:35remember when my when i my aunt moved to kenya she called me and she said you gave me the great tips
06:42but you didn't tell me how i need to have money aside for a wedding for a funeral for a thing and so
06:49you know i i think i can't you can't keep giving and so yes the narrative has to change and as as mo had
06:57rightly put is insurance is really big um in the west and eventually that had to catch up with us you
07:03know a lot more people we're burying a lot more people than than we were many years ago so and then
07:10even health challenges you know you just said five years ago so it means that you started during
07:15covid which we'll get into that in a minute but like um things like covid also made our health
07:22challenges increase hormones are changing you know um who we are as ladies um giving birth is difficult
07:31it's not as easy and there's so many things so i do agree that insurance narrative is at the point
07:39where you you have to you have to consider it just as you would consider anything else like the way you
07:46consider food for your fridge um i think before we even get to the understanding of insurance um i'm
07:55pretty sure it was a challenging time starting during covid and and starting and uh finding a way to
08:04exist through it and after it took us through that so now started out in 2019 i was upbeat
08:13and i was on a race to try and replace my income what i was earning with my previous employer
08:20in december remember i exited in october for my uh formal job in 2018 no 2019 okay and in december
08:30i actually made more than what i was earning in my previous role so i was like lord this is the
08:37sign i've been asking you for like i knew now i'm meant to be like this is it for me then of course
08:45covid happened shortly after yeah like two months because january and february must have also not been
08:51as great then need much damn you know the shutdown but do you know somehow even during covid i don't
09:02know somehow we made it through like i was indoors for what like three months remember i had a very
09:09young baby at the time um maybe a year and a half there about and i was so scared the narrative was if
09:16you go out you'll bring covid back into the house so when i tell you i was indoors for three months it
09:22was like a total shutdown um but do you know that's actually where mama bima was born because now it
09:29became about digital yeah teaching okay because during covid i started just experimenting with using whatsapp
09:38so when i first joined the first thing my husband taught me is to go out and sell so we had a small
09:46office like within kilimani and i would walk like say to yaya center and just move shop by shop by the
09:53way introducing myself and there's one time where i was literally rejected in every business i walked
10:01into and i was so frustrated by the time i got like to the topmost floor went back there's a restaurant
10:07on the ground floor sat there stress ate and of course at that point i was telling myself
10:13you need to figure out a different way of doing this yeah because remember when i was in investment
10:19banking and my formal roles i had never done a sales job yeah so this was the very first time so even
10:26probably even my introduction was all off maybe i was the young man working on the street i was
10:32definitely an agent so yeah when covid hit i realized that one we are indoors i need to reach out to
10:40people say on what on whatsapp so i started broadcasting you know just single messages hey
10:46you know um i can help you maybe with your motor insurance um and i know you currently have a
10:53provider but when it's due for renewal please give me an opportunity to just show you comparative quotes
10:59and we see if i can get you a better you know deal yeah better deal and that's where it started and by
11:06the time now we were getting back to normal quote and put like normal life like i came out and i think
11:13i had gotten a little confidence and i could do some videos and that was actually um the beginning of the
11:19whole mama be my brand and you'd never done any content or videos or anything like that i didn't even have
11:26a social media page you know like i didn't even have a facebook page i hope people can understand it was
11:32okay and clean start if you go for people who've managed to really scroll down to my very first
11:38uh videos especially on facebook especially agents in the industry they like to see where i started
11:45they laugh they can't even believe i would be like on a live like on a facebook live and everything
11:51would just fall like because maybe my phone i i would put it like on a stack of books then it would
11:58just fall i would be kicked out of the live you know so i started from a point of not even knowing
12:03what i was doing but you started just started yeah yes yes and and i think you came such a time where
12:10like insurance was very traditional so i remember at some point we worked with your husband um so for
12:17context yes in 2020 i worked for an insure tech uh startup that was trying to digitize um agencies in
12:25kenya yes so one of your insurance was one of the very first clients that i got on board and
12:32others that you know i got from you guys and uh it's interesting to see what that journey has
12:39mapped or panned out to be like you know from you know um your insurance or your motor car
12:47is due but i'm on the road i'm driving i don't even have like a an sms that told me you know you
12:54need to renew your renew is up to um you know it's up to date or rather your renewal is it's upcoming
13:00so can you talk about how insurance has changed or rather how tech has changed insurance yes over
13:07the years and maybe angela have a question yeah yeah so definitely the insurance landscape is really
13:16going digital um and even us as agents we have to stay ahead of the game if we want to stay relevant
13:25because we've gotten a lot of intratex coming into the business in some three or so weeks i'll also
13:31be launching the mama beamer app and really exclusive exclusive right here so um and where i'm coming
13:42from because we've been working on this i would call it it's been a labor of love we've put in so
13:48much work with a tech team that i'm working with because we wanted it to be differentiated from all
13:55the other platforms that are currently there in the market because you may notice that a lot of people
14:00going maybe into insurtech are more like businessmen and women as opposed to people who are passionate
14:08about insurance so sometimes you'll get maybe onto platform you're like that question that's not what
14:13i'd ask a client typically so i'm keen on bringing an app where you can hear the voice of your financial
14:22advisor you can hear the voice of your agent it feels natural but this is a space that even as agents we
14:30have to really play in because at this point we can no longer afford not to tell our clients that
14:35renewals are upcoming you lose that client you know for for them to be on the road and then it's
14:42a traffic cop you know who's telling them ah you can't even expire you get so um definitely things
14:49are really digitizing now one thing that i love is a lot of my colleagues in the business i really love
14:56agents in the business are also moving to social media for a long time i was like the lone voice there
15:03and i never used to get it like get why people would always come mama bima let's have coffee
15:09we'd have coffee i'd show them how to shoot a reel you know from the basics i'd show them the the
15:16resources like who i learned from like all the youtube pages i would watch to learn but they tend
15:22maybe to mark time a little bit that a year later they'd want like a refresher course like what
15:27like another coffee they're not putting to practice what you're teaching them yes but right now you can
15:32see a lot of agents actually getting into social media becoming really serious about it even hiring
15:39teens to help them you know with that so i think in terms of now leveraging on the resources that are
15:46available either on social media on digital there's that movement towards that and i think also people
15:53are realizing that um with these digital tools you're able to get a very wide reach you know you'll be
16:00able to reach people in kisumu in mombasa and these are really great platforms to educate people
16:06you know because every kenyan is on their phone yeah yeah you get so yeah there's that movement
16:13definitely yes lovely i love your journey thus far you truly are the definition of walk by faith not by
16:18sight oh yeah just hearing what you've done in five years time is amazing so kudos to you
16:23um for anyone out there that might want to be an aspiring entrepreneur we know there's a lot of
16:28challenges and hurdles that you face uh what are the top three words of advice you'd give for anyone
16:34that is trying to pivot from their corporate nine to five into entrepreneurship top three words
16:42master your craft like get into it um when i came in i barely knew what insurance was really um i
16:51couldn't even tell you what i'm oh let me give you a story my very first heartbreak my very first
16:58heartbreak in this business i had gotten a gentleman who wanted motor a motor cover and we met in town
17:05so back in the day i would really try to look like i knew what i was doing but it's my husband behind
17:10the scenes who would be doing for me like the quotations and everything and i'd just send say on
17:15whatsapp on whatsapp so we agreed to meet in town i went with the application form and he filled so we
17:22were seated in a restaurant and he excuses himself for a few minutes and he leaves and he just texts me
17:29i think he realized that i had like zero understanding of what i was trying to do um so he leaves with a
17:36form and he just texted me he's like you know what um the company that you've proposed i have a good
17:41friend of mine who works there so i'll just give them the business oh my lord i cried
17:46but then i'm a crier oh lord i cried in that restaurant but it was a good you know learning
17:56it was a lesson but you have such an amazing support you've come from so yeah right now i can
18:02i can sell motor insurance with my eyes closed you know what because what i learned from that was
18:09master your craft yeah like um invest in learning yeah and i started moving literally from one
18:16underwriter like the insurance companies when i'd hear say this company company x has a training
18:22you'd find me there company y has a training on medical insurance you'd find me there and you
18:28know this training started as early as 6 30 or 7 like our meetings a.m yes and they are physical
18:35meetings okay so i made a point of always showing up to train to upskill so for entrepreneurs you know
18:44someone who's looking to go into business master your craft and there's just something about
18:49consistency you know just be consistent i don't think that as mama bima you know i i think when we're
18:57starting i talked of award winning i think i'm still reeling from the excitement of being recognized
19:02at the akia awards from the girl who was in the restaurant somebody walked out gave someone to
19:08someone on stage receiving awards look at you and being you know uh given an accolade for the number
19:15one medical insurance agent in the country i mean out of what 11 000 agents in the country you're top
19:21and the fourth oh wow yeah can you can you just say that again thank you no no just take that in
19:29like one out of 11 000 plus agencies and number four in life insurance are the the fourth life
19:38insurance agents in the country i mean as i went on to that stage you look at the other agents whom
19:47you have the honor of going with like going on to that stage with nobody does that when you're five
19:53years in the business like you'll find people are have been doing this for 30 years for 20 something
19:58for 17 you know that's when now you get to quote unquote say like your prime in our business so to
20:06be able to do that say in five years it's possibly because you know you're probably going that extra
20:12mile to ensure that you are really learning you know um that you are trying to also look what are
20:19other avenues other than the way insurance has always been done traditionally how else can i reach
20:25more kenyans and i'm also grateful by that i've not done it alone i'm grateful for platforms like the
20:32overreact podcast you know because just by being on this platform then there's someone who's probably
20:40out there who interact with mama bima for the very first time so back to your question angela i don't
20:46know why i keep finding no it's okay we love hearing for the entrepreneur who's considering
20:52you know moving out of their nine to five one just master your craft in whatever field you're going
20:59into be consistent really just keep showing up keep showing up until it you know you know that that
21:07thing of get rich or die trying like just do it keep showing up be consistent with it yeah so beyond
21:13what we know as insurance you know you're cushioning yourself from something unseen right but also
21:20it's become like a different a vehicle for investment and and you know it's changing people's lives for
21:27anyone who is listening in maybe just uh in a very layman's language uh maybe give us a scenario of how
21:35maybe one premium or one package can change one's life so for example mo 29 years old yeah
21:43yeah she'd be 29 she'd be 29 yes do i look a day older than tonight so how can one package or one
21:54you know insurance product i can change on unlock my wealth creation journey yeah so insurance is
22:03diverse of course we have the different types of life uh of insurance i think what you're referring
22:08to is possibly like a high value life insurance policy um and of course this would in terms of how i like to
22:17approach insurance is very in a very bespoke manner like so i've met mo she's 29 what are her needs what is she
22:26looking to secure millionaire so if i'm looking to secure a millionaire you're looking to secure a
22:35million just for clarity i'll be the millionaire to be secured yes so now one thing that a lot of
22:43kenyans have not yet um sort of like connected is that insurance is the protection for the wealth that
22:52you're building so a lot of us are putting a lot of effort in investments insurance is the protection
22:59yes for your wealth pillar okay so a lot of us are putting so much effort in doing investments
23:05in our savings but when it comes to the insurance very little action there so you find you know someone
23:13has you know set aside investments even in a treasury bond say up to what five million right
23:19then they get a health crisis you know they're admitted in hospital and you have to liquidate
23:26your treasury bonds so that you can cover those kind of expenses you get so i keep saying insurance
23:33one should not be breaking your bank okay so insurance is very affordable at 29 even a 5 000
23:43a high value policy if you're paying say 5 000 per month you'd probably be able to secure anything
23:49between 12 to 13 million in us in summer short wow yes and you're probably paying that uh over
23:57over 20 years so that would maybe have you putting in what um 5 by 12 that's 60 12 20 years 1.2
24:06you know and you'll have secured uh possibly a fund of about 12 13 million that is also growing
24:14over time because it has a bonus or an inflation card so by the end of the time it's not even a 12
24:20million estates it's probably 18 and you put in 1.2 and the guarantee that insurance gives you and i
24:27think this is what many people don't realize is god forbid if anything happens to you i like to remind
24:36people insurance is really not passive for you okay especially for the protection of others who
24:43are going to be supporting you your family yes especially if you have people who depend on you
24:49financially yeah you need insurance now just sit down with your insurance agent and figure out and
24:56start from a point of these are my needs and they will show you this is what is available in the market
25:02okay okay then now you narrow in on the right uh solution for your need but yes beyond even now
25:09your personal insurance your assets i i like to say if you value it please insure it okay if you would
25:18go at a financial loss the profound statement yes if you value it yes insure it insure it is your car
25:25insure it yes good comprehensive comprehensively i have tears yes oh you have okay yes story for
25:35another day so even for your own health you know get that medical cover even if it's just an inpatient
25:43policy okay um because sometimes maybe for outpatients you're like you know i'm relatively healthy
25:49i'm able to cater for whatever consultation fee if i need to but for inpatient inpatient can be the
25:57the you know the thing that just devastates you financially so ensure you have that one million
26:04locked in two million worth of coverage from the insurance policy i love that so we are one
26:10illness from poverty yes yes one health crisis are we from bankruptcy wow definitely taking us to school
26:18yes yeah oh wow so much to learn um and of course we because of time we won't be able to exhaust
26:25everything um with what you know now as we come to an end what would you do differently
26:32and also share how people can connect with you because girl this is this is this should be your insurance
26:40i see why you got the awards i see why that your consistency and you've even um taking a fresh
26:49angle using technology especially digital media and you did it at the prime time when we were doing
26:54nothing but watching netflix and scrolling so it was at the right time and you're you're in
27:01you're definitely in the right space yes so what would i and thank you for that lash oh my lord
27:06you're welcome thank you ladies thank you for this type of platform um what would i do differently
27:13to be very honest i really love the journey okay you know uh that i've had over the past five years
27:21so of course the first three years i think i was just lost i didn't know what i was doing for sure
27:26um but i was learning fortunately i was learning i was capacity building um possibly maybe what i would
27:35do differently at that point is probably have more of my colleagues work with more of my colleagues
27:42right now i'm very keen on mentorship um yes i mentor younger agents um in the business and young
27:51is not even an age thing i i even have like uh people in my team who are 50 plus you know but they
27:58are rookies you know they've just left say formal employment they're looking you know they can see the
28:03promising insurance okay so they join my team i would probably maybe a year and a half in i would
28:11probably now start hand-holding uh a few maybe not a few more but more agents because now at this
28:18point you know your mama bima you're also really busy but you find that so many of my colleagues
28:23everyone wants to connect with mama bima everyone wants to have that coffee everyone you know and it
28:28becomes also kind of you know because i'm also trying to sell you know i'm also trying to run my
28:33business but yes i think i would um i would want to just handhold more people even from a year and a
28:41half into the business now how can people connect with me please i'm on all platforms as mama bima
28:48kenya um ig tiktok even tiktok guys linkedin um facebook um yes please let's connect i use my
28:59platform mainly to educate okay okay like today i had this post on motor insurance and i was talking
29:06of the way like most kenyans do not want to add riders like excess protector and um the pvt the political
29:13violence and terrorism rider and i always ensure that my captions are also very detailed or even on
29:20my youtube page i have a youtube page called mama bima kenya i really love to use my platforms to
29:26educate so please let's connect um i love it i try to make it as exciting as possible as we can make
29:32insurance but yes i'm passionate about this and the goal is to ensure that um as i said earlier
29:40the goal is to make insurance a necessity and not an afterthought in kenyan households
29:46mic drop yes thank you for all your nuggets of information and just also taking such a heavy
29:55topic like insurance and making it digestible for the everyday person so and i think everyone keeps
30:01telling you remember at hills connect when you were doing the women and wealth yes a very seasoned
30:06entrepreneurs like charlene continue doing what you're doing educating informing because you're
30:12really very passionate and you're very knowledgeable thank you yeah i i might yeah i'll see you
30:19when you make a 10 yeah yeah to to think about that 29 year old yes who needs to invest in the
30:27million and secure her 12 million plus yes i love it um thank you so much for listening to another
30:34episode of the overreact podcast we've had the amazing mama bima kenya and she shared how you can
30:40connect with her and learn and even just for yourself it's important to learn so that you can
30:45have the right not you might not necessarily need her as an agent but because of what she's teaching
30:51you'll know what to ask your agent so that you can get the best out of what you're putting money into
30:56and that's what this podcast is also about is to get you thinking differently as much as you're
31:02overreacting with us we want you to think differently and we want you to go and elevate
31:06at a higher level so come back again with us next week wednesday same time 10 p.m and we'll be sitting
31:12back in these seats overreacting so ladies i want to invite you to overreact with me ladies let's do
31:18let's overreact
31:24you
31:26you