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InsurTech is the combination of “insurance” and “technology”, which helps in reducing costs for customers and insurance companies, improving efficiency, and enhancing customer satisfaction. Any technology that’s used by an insurance company to enhance the efficiency of its operations could be deemed insurance. There are over a hundred insurtechs in Nigeria. In this article, we are going to be looking at one of Nigeria’s finest insurtechs – Curacel. Curacel was founded in 2017 by Henry Mascot, a graduate of Engineering at Enugu State University of Technology. Curacel uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect insurance fraud. Leveraging cloud-based software as a service(SaaS), Curacel is most efficient in helping insurance companies stay head above water in the age of fraud and other related vices. Curacel is no doubt a big player in the insurance world and has international clients to its merit.
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According to Mascot, Curacel’s CEO, the company is set to take on new markets such as Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire. The company’s strategy is to follow its insurance company clients such as AXA Mansard, Liberty Health and Old Mutual into national markets where they have scale. Furthermore, Mascot asserts that reducing insurance fraud in hospitals is one of the goals of his company. Curacel works with over 800 hospitals in Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda, utilizing the power of AI in replacing manual form checking — which is labour-intensive — with automated processes using cloud software. According to Mascot, with Curacel, “Non-valid claims may be filed by hospitals anywhere in the world.” For example, cases such as scantily changing ex issuing claim forms and recycling them as new ones, or creating claim forms for people who never even went to hospital is what Curacel exposes. In the beginning, Henry Mascot founded Curacel as an electronic health information management system for hospitals. Later, the technique shifted to targeting insurers when the company realised the scale of fraud. According to him, boosting fraud detection can propel African insurance penetration ahead. In his words: “If we can reduce fraud, companies will be more profitable and can offer better products.” Only a slight percentage of hospitals file fraudulent claims, he says. “A few bad apples can cost the industry a lot.” In 2021, Curacel extended its reach to Tanzania, Rwanda, Senegal and Morocco. The company, set up in 2017, is also working on a Curacel Capital product that will allow hospitals to get their claims paid faster. The model that will be employed may be a type of invoice factoring, where invoices received are resolved by a third party, who pays most of the money immediately and then obtains the amount from the customer. Featured image: Africa Business Community
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