Insurance Institute of Malawi (IIM) President Ruben Kamanga Kawelele has attributed the low Insurance penetration which is currently at 3 percent country wide to language barriers.

Kamanga Kawelele said this on Saturday during the IIM Annual Charter Dinner held at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre where five graduates were awarded with certificates after completing their studies.

According to Kamanga, most of the messages to do with the Insurance are designed in English hence the low uptake.

“Most of our products are designed in the Queens language and this is making the Insurance industry to struggle on the market. To change this narrative, we are changing the language to local especially in the rural areas.

“At the same time, most of our products were centred in the urban areas and now we are moving to rural areas where vernacular language will be used,” said Kamanga Kawele.

Kamanga also hailed some Insurance Companies who have already started designing their products in vernacular language.

On his part, Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Deputy Governor Dr. Kisu Simwaka hailed IIM for its effort in sensitizing the masses on the importance of Insurance.

“The Insurance uptake is very low and this also reflects on our saving culture. If our savings is low it means we can’t grow the economy and therefore it is very important that these products go to as many Malawians as we can,” said Simwaka.

This year’s gala dinner was held under the theme; “Transforming Malawi Through Insurance, innovation, Inclusion and Growth Towards Malawi 2063.”