The Opportunities and Challenges of Life Insurance Growth in Ethiopia

Abstract

The study aimed at identifying and analyzing the opportunities and challenges on growth of life insurance business in Ethiopia. It was focused on the growth of life insurance within respect of gross written premium of all life insurance companies in Ethiopia. There are 17 insurance companies in Ethiopia and out of these, out of these 9 were composite insurance companies (offering both Life and general insurance) for the year 2017. The study was focused on 5 registered life insurance companies. Regarding the research methodology, purposive sampling technique was used in selecting respondents. study have been obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The insurance company and staffs are selected from each company and making a total of 100 respondents. A structured survey questionnaire was administered by the researcher. Data were collected from respondents and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics from the result of the study having high number of population and growth of country’s economy were the major opportunities for life insurance business while the culture are depend on religion rather than insurance, having low income and lack of awareness were the main challenge for the growth of life insurance business in Ethiopia. The insurance companies should work hard (on creating awareness, trust and train manpower) and set the reasonable price. This study concludes with a discussion of findings as well as recommendations for further research in the area.