Indonesian insurance firm FWD Life, Founder Institute host FWD Hackathon

  • This is the first hackathon to be hosted by an insurance company
  • Aims to increase insurance penetration with the help of technology

 

Indonesian insurance firm FWD Life, Founder Institute host FWD Hackathon

 

A JOINT-venture insurance company and a member of FWD Group, PT FWD Life Indonesia (FWD Life) is collaborating with Founder Institute (FI), a global entrepreneurship programme for startups to host the FWD Hackathon 2017.

The hackathon aims to increase the penetration rate of insurance by using digital technology and support the Indonesian Financial Authority’s (OJK) goals to educate the community in financial literacy.

According to OJK data, insurance penetration in Indonesia was only 2.7% by 1Q17. This number is low compared to other countries in Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand which have a 5% insurance penetration.

“As a pioneer in digital-based insurance, FWD Life has the responsibility to push the insurance penetration rate in Indonesia with the help of digital innovation,” said FWD Life vice president Rudi Kamdani.

He also said that banks are the typical companies to host hackathons and FWD Life is the first insurance company to host a hackathon in Indonesia.

He believes that innovation in digital technology will accelerate growth in the insurance market.

“This strategic collaboration will become a new embryo in the insurance industry which will make it more competitive. We want to grab this opportunity to encourage young entrepreneurs to utilise technology in the digital insurance ecosystem.”

Established in Asia in 2013, FWD is the insurance business arm of investment group, Pacific Century Group and offers unit-linked insurance, individual & group term life insurance, individual and group personal accident insurance, and group medical insurance through technology driven-distributions such as agency, bancassurance, e-commerce, and corporate.

According to Founder Institute Jakarta director Andy Zain, this is the first time an insurance company has initiated a hackathon with them.

“The FWD Hackathon will create an opportunity for the insurance market to grow with the help of innovation in digital technology. Applicants may create any innovation that is related to insurance such as payment gateways or systems to ease the reimbursement process,” he explains.

Registration for the FWD Hackathon will be open until Sept 11. Applicants who have a background in web design, graphic design, and business development are encouraged to apply.

Each individual will be put into a team of up to six people and will gothrough several programmes before the inauguration day from Sept 22 until Sept 24, 2017.

The winner will receive a four-month scholarship from FI, cash grants of 100 million rupiah (US$7,506) for one startup, and a one-week immersion trip to Sillicon Valley for one member of the winning team.

Rudi also disclosed that FWD Life has invested approximately 500 billion rupiah (US$37.5 million) until 2020 to support digitalisation innovation of the company. [Conversion amount corrected.]

When being asked if the winning startup or team could become “boomerangs” for FWD Life, Rudi thinks that startups will not be their competitors but will instead deliver innovations for customers especially in the insurance industry.

“Instead of making them our competitors, these startups will ease and educate the community to purchase or go with the insurance process. Indonesia has a big market so more players will reach more markets,” he says.

 

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