Adelaide Odhiambo is a leading insurance expert who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bluewave. She boasts vast experience in designing, developing and managing both conventional and micro-insurance products.
She has developed her 15 years of expertise on Insurance-related issues having worked with top brands including Airtel, Jubilee Insurance, APA and Barclays globally.
Bluewave offers micro-insurance solutions to underprivileged members of the public across a number of African countries. Here is Adelaide’s story as narrated by WoK.
Background & Education
Adelaide holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Nairobi. She also attended the
She is also a
Career
Adelaide launched her career in the insurance industry working for Jubilee Insurance Company, Kenya. She worked as a project coordinator between August 2007 and September 2010. She was promoted to the role of supervisor – Customer Services Group, a position she held till December 2011.
She learnt a great deal by shadowing her bosses in meetings.
“The experience I gained as an employee has helped me run the business. At Jubilee Insurance, I was shadowing two CEO’s so every time they went for a strategic meeting I would be with them.
It demystified running an organization, for instance, I realized that simple decisions were sometimes sufficient to move forward the largest insurance company in the country,” she told sheleadsafrica.com.
Joining Apollo Group
After a while, Adelaide went to Apollo worked as head of products then landed a prestigious position with Microensure as country manager.
She then went on to join the Apollo Group as a group product development manager in January 2012 and served until December 2013.
From January 2014 to June 2015, Adelaide joined .
Founding Bluewave
An inherent creative, Adelaide founded Bluewave insurance in 2016, a start-up Insurance company that creates innovative Micro insurance solutions for the mass market that are accessible and affordable. It leverages mobile technology to reach the underserved population.
By providing Microinsurance products accessible through mobile technology, Bluewave is disrupting the Insurance industry and serving underserved markets that have yet to be addressed by insurance companies because they tend not to focus on low-income earners.
As a result, Bluewave seeks to play a key role in improving Insurance uptake and penetration in Kenya, then Africa which is currently at 3 and 6 per cent respectively.
In February 2022, insurance technology company, Lami, acquired Bluewave with the aim to continue democratizing insurance products and services for low-income Africans.
Following the acquisition, Adelaide continued to serve as CEO of Bluewave and joined the Lami team as Director of Commercial Partnerships. Lami seeks to grow its base, utilising the widespread network of low income Africans, Bluewave has reached across several countries including; Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Since its founding, Bluewave has invested in building cutting-edge technology for its online platform that enables its clients to access micro-insurance products through diverse channels such as USSD, SMS, WEB Applications, IVR, telemedicine, mobile application support medical business among others.
Lami planned to integrate and repurpose Bluewave’s technology into its core technology platform enhancing its B2B2C capabilities for partners and customers while introducing features such as USSD, WhatsApp bots, and claims dashboards.
“At Lami, our mission is to ensure Africans from all walks of life have access to affordable insurance products that allow them to build financial security. That is why we are making this investment to continue to support Bluewave’s customers and reach more partners across the continent and in-turn enabling us to provide more people with the policies they require. We are very excited to work with Adelaide Odhiambo to revolutionize insurance products through technology and innovation,” Jihan Abass, Founder and CEO, Lami Technologies said.
“Africa has an ever-growing need for insurance solutions to help reduce the huge impact on the risk of the lack coverage creates by sinking its people into huge financial burdens. By joining forces with Lami, we look forward to moving faster in software development, marketing, expansion, and fast-track delivery of the most needed insurance solutions. Jihan is incredibly talented, brilliant, and exudes confidence and charisma qualities that are excellent for strong leadership, I am indeed so excited to be joining forces with the team to solve a problem our continent so desperately requires.” Adelaide Odhiambo added.
