Vendors take up insurance schemes

Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) executive director Mr Michael Ndiweni says the group’s members are fast taking up insurance schemes for their businesses to hedge them against losses.

Last month, BVTA partnered with Champions Insurance Company on an insurance scheme to cover possible losses for informal sector traders.

The partnership of the BVTA with the issuance company is meant to cushion informal sector traders from possible risks while doing their business to avoid potential business failure.

To date, 80 members have registered.

Traders contribute between US$5 and US$15 per month for insurance cover.

Mr Ndiweni said the partnership with the issuance company is getting more traction from traders as they are realising the benefits.

“The insurance scheme drive has received very positive responses from informal traders and we are seeing an increase in the number of people joining.

“We are also getting a lot of inquiries after doing a number of outreach activities among our members,” said Mr Ndiweni.

Mr Ndiweni said they seek to train members on risk management and risk mitigation as part of the package of the insurance scheme.

There have been calls for the insurance sector to tailor-make its products to suit the needs of the informal market, which constitute the biggest market share in the general economic activity of the country.

It is estimated that about 80 percent of the country’s economy is now in the informal sector hence the calls for harnessing the informal economic activity into the mainstream economy.

The sector has largely remained un-insured due to high premiums which are beyond the reach of most vendors.

Most vendors have struggled to find their feet after suffering losses of their wares due to fire outbreaks at their workspaces or theft.

However, the growing sector continues to play a major role in the Zimbabwean economy as the sector has managed to employ the majority of the people.

This has also seen the Government mainstreaming formalisation in its strategies so that players can be able to participate in tenders and be able to access some critical services.