An Insurtech with a difference.
BORDERLESS INSURANCE
OUR FOUNDER
Our Mission
The question we need to be asking is how can we provide affordable access to insurance for the 1.7 billion people who are not insured or who have limited insurance?
Technology can obviously play a big part in providing access to customers.
However, there is so much more we can do across the entire valley chain. It is not simply just about smarter processes and enabling technology to do that. We need to think about ways to aggregate and consolidate global risk pools in order to further reduce costs.
Furthermore, we need to look at ways in which we can enhance the value and lives of the customers we serve.
Insurance must include solutions that seek to invest in broad-based economic and social upliftment.
MARC TISON
1FOR500 Founder
Marc has more than 30 years of experience in financial services. He has a special passion for microinsurance and technology.
Previously, Marc was the founder of Alfinanz, which Sanlam now owns. Marc also spent some time running operations for Old Mutuals mass market cluster.
Marc believes firmly that insurance provides a critical safety net, preventing households from falling into poverty by avoiding the damaging costs of emergencies.
It especially helps low-income people to avoid difficult, often devastating risk coping measures such as putting children to work, eating less food, or selling productive assets.
During the last 10 years, Marc spent time in Africa trying to understand the low-income market. He worked as a senior executive at two of the largest South African insurers in their clusters focussed on this segment. He partnered with a major global re-insurer in Sub-Sahara Africa and with financial impact Donors. He sat with agents under umbrellas watching them engage and selling prepaid airtime and electricity to their customers. He met with tribal chiefs in deep rural Africa and engaged with large faith-based affinity groups. He assisted governments in drafting microinsurance policy. During all the time he was listening and learning.
Marc says the greatest lesson he learned in all this time was about finding an alternative way outside the traditional banking system for these customers to pay premiums.
1FOR500 is his latest INSURTECH venture to open affordable access to insurance to more than 2 billion people globally.