The chairman of the board of directors of the Fidelidade Ímpar insurance company in Mozambique yesterday advocated a legislative review to bring the informal sector into the market through micro-insurance..

"We need to look at revising the law based on local reality. Yes, we have to respond to international parameters, but we also have to have a very realistic component: our economy is informal," Manuel Gamito told the media on the sidelines of the launch of an insurance campaign in Maputo.

For the president of Fidelidade Ímpar, the informal sector, which dominates the Mozambican economy, generates income and, consequently, its operators are entitled to insurance as part of their activities.

"The revision of the law must take into account that these informal workers (carpenters, fishermen or others) have the right to access banking services in the same way that they have the right to insurance," said Manuel Gamito, quoted by Lusa.

"That the man from the village, with his resources, can get insurance for his fishing motor, his boat or his personal insurance," he said.

Among the main elements that keep informal operators away from the market, he highlighted the existence of a "dispersed legal framework", bureaucracy and the lack of packages that suit financial conditions.

"For example, is it fair that the 'mama' who sells at the market, who has an income and supports her children, doesn't have the right to insurance because she doesn't have a work certificate?" questioned Manuel Gamito, proposing the adoption of "micro-insurance".

The campaign launched yesterday by the insurance company is called "Together We Are Safer" and aims to reinforce the company's policy of inclusion, creating services and products "adapted to the needs of each client".

In December 2021, Fidelidade, which had already been in Mozambique since 2014, announced the acquisition of 70% of the capital of Seguradora Internacional Moçambique (SIM), which operated under the Ímpar brand, in a transaction valued at 46.8 million euros.

The insurer pointed out that the first year of operations under the new Fidelidade Ímpar brand had been positive, highlighting a growth in market share and an increase in the number of employees by 10% to a total of 216.

In Mozambique, the insurer is present in eight provinces and has more than 330,000 clients.

Founded in 1808, Fidelidade is the leading insurance company in Portugal and also operates in Angola, Cape Verde, Spain, France, Macau, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile, as well as Mozambique.