How Nigeria’s NucleusIS is building the rails for African health insurance adoption

Nigerian startup NucleusIS is building the technology to deepen insurance adoption, drive access to healthcare and improve health outcomes.

Founded in 2019, NucleusIS has built a robust enterprise technology base for health insurance companies and care providers, which has so far on-boarded seven clients.

The startup is also leveraging this technology to distribute health insurance via distribution  APIs, retail and telco partnerships.

“We have discovered that the health insurance space across Africa is constrained by identity fraud, data, cost efficiency and technology,” Kayode Odeyinde, co-founder of NucleusIS, told Disrupt Africa.

“The most interesting data is that only about seven million of 200 million in Nigeria are  enrolled for health insurance, with about 98 per cent enrolled by their employers. This is  principally because HMOs do not have technology that allows them to access data in a way  that enables actuarial predictions and planning, and as such they cannot scale.”

NucleusIS addresses that, and has seen significant uptake. In its pilot state – Oyo – it has so far provided over 5,000 touchpoints for health insurance enrollment.

“We are looking to replicate across  multiple retail platforms and the 36 states in Nigeria,” Odeyinde said. “We want to provide about 180,000 touchpoints across the country and add over 20 million people to the insurance net annually.”

Recently one of 10 startups from across Africa picked to take part in the Africa Startup Initiative Programme (ASIP) run by Startupbootcamp AfriTech in partnership with mobile operator Telecel, NucleusIS is funded by its own revenues. These come from subscription fees and commissions on plans sold.

“We currently service about 20 per cent of the market and have distribution partnerships with  large retail companies like OPay and Kudi,” Odeyinde said.

“We have deployed to 7 HMOS, and have another six at agreement and commercial negotiation stage.”

Already active in Ghana, NucleusIS plans to expand to five additional African countries over the next three years. Now, it is seeking investment for further growth.

“This will help us hire talents and position our brand better,” Odeyinde said.