Are These 7 Types of Business Insurance In Kenya the Most Important ?
Are you a business owner in Kenya who is wondering what kind of business insurance you need? It is important to know what type of insurance you need to have to protect your business against losses and liabilities that might arise while carrying out your business. We are a leading insurance agency when it comes to insuring SMEs.
We shall divide business insurance coverage also called SME insurance products into 3 categories so that (special policy tailored for SMEs) we can identify what insurance is good for what and when:
- Property Insurance
- Liability Insurance
- Life and Healthcare Insurance
These basic types of business insurance in Kenya can be used to cover all business sizes.
Table of Contents
Business Property Insurance
Just like the name suggests, this insurance covers the material aspects of the business such as the building, furniture, fixtures, and fittings just to mention a few. We shall look at the top 3 insurance that we can recommend. This is also referred to as assets commercial property insurance.
Fire and Special Perils Insurance
This kind of business insurance in Kenya protects your business against losses caused by fire, lightning, riots, strikes, explosions, and other calamities. This kind of insurance is highly recommended as fire can lead to major losses and can lead to loss of business and even bankruptcy.
Burglary/Theft Insurance
This kind of insurance provides coverage against losses or damage to the building in the event of a robbery. This cover takes into consideration the damage/loss caused in any of the three ways:
- Damage/loss due to forceful and violent entry or exit from the building/premises.
- Damage/loss within the building as a result of the theft happening as described above.
- Damage/loss of building due to attempted theft.
There are however circumstances under which theft is not covered by insurance companies. This includes:
- Use of key, either original or master key to gain access to the building.
- By use of trick
- If the thief hides in the building carries out theft and exits without the use of force to exit the building.
Business Insurance In Kenya: Liability Insurance
If you have a business, you owe a duty of care and responsibility to several categories of people. These people are your employees, your customers, your neighbors as well as people just walking outside your business premises/building. Due to this, it means that you have to protect your business and investment against liability that might come against your business.
These liabilities can be created as a result of a contract, law, or statutory requirements. Under the law, they say ignorance is no defense, therefore, we shall look into some liability insurance created either way as discussed above.
WIBA (Work Injury Benefits Act)
The government of Kenya, in a bid to ensure employees are owed a duty of care by their employers, enacted the WIBA Act, 2007. This act goes into detail to define who an employee and employer are, and prescribes the benefits that the employee is entitled to in the prescribed/stated manner. These benefits include:
- Death and permanent total disability as a result of a disease or accident while carrying out duties of the employer up to a 96-month salary.
- Weekly payments due to an accident up to 52 weeks in the event of partial disability following injury while carrying out duties of the employer.
- Medical expenses up to the specified limit.
- Last rights expense up to the specified limit.
Find out more about WIBA Insurance here.
Employers Liability Insurance
Business insurance in Kenya will always have the employer in mind. Therefore, it will try to take into consideration what other vulnerabilities is an employer exposed to. In most cases, WIBA is taken together with employers’ liability insurance. This type of insurance will cover for injuries and diseases that arise in the course of the employment that arise out of:
- Negligence by the employer.
- Failure by the employer to provide safe working employment.
- Failure to ensure compliance with the Occupational, Safety, and Health Act.
- Negligence by a fellow employee while carrying out the duties of the employer.
The process of claiming under this insurance is dependent on the employee to prove negligence by the employee by use of a lawyer. This can therefore be expensive and lengthy.
Public Liability Insurance
Business insurance in Kenya is quite wide and different businesses have different insurance needs. However, in this article, we are looking at insurance that would apply across all insurance companies. Public liability insurance is usually due to the general duty of care owed by a business/business owner while carrying on their businesses. Therefore the duty of care is owed in regard to:
- Legal liability to third-party persons due to accidental bodily injury, death, or illness.
- Material damage of property where the business may be held liable during the insurance period.
- Obstruction, trespass, nuisance, or interference of way, light, and water while carrying out business.
The duty is usually owed to visitors, customers, occupiers, and even passers-by.
Business Insurance In Kenya: Life Assurance and Healthcare
Businesses in Kenya provide these options purely from the employment benefits side so as to provide a good corporate image and attract and retain good employees. Some of these insurance options include:
Health Insurance
Health insurance is provided by employers to take care of medical expenses that might arise due to illnesses or accidents. They include benefits such as inpatient, outpatient, maternity, dental and optical benefits. Employers have the option to go the complete insurance way or partial insurance and part-fund to manage costs.
Pension and Retirement Fund
Most employers provide this in preparation for the retirement of their employees. It comes in various options such as defined contribution, and defined benefits among others. The details of these kinds of insurance include a detailed discussion about the cost associated with each and the benefits the employer is interested in having for the employees.
When it comes to choosing business insurance in Kenya, the journey can be difficult and quite confusing therefore, we at Amssurity aim to take away the confusion by providing alternative quotes, simplifying insurance jargon as well as providing guidance on ways to get good benefits and the lowest price possible.
Business insurance in Kenya is wide and varies from one type of business to another. We shall be looking in detail at what various industries and sectors can take in addition to the above covers. This is because these different types of businesses are exposed to a unique risk that insurers have taken into consideration and provided coverage for them.
These types of insurance covers in Kenya are not the only ones available. It is a move from the traditional forms of insurance in Kenya which includes harambees and withdrawal of your savings to help you recover from losses that might happen to you in the event of risk taking place.
Business insurance does have to be complicated therefore, talk to us @Amssurity to provide you with an in-depth risk assessment of your business and advice you on the best coverage for your business. We are in the business of simplifying insurance and risk.