Digital car insurance launches in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast has got its first 100-percent digital car insurance with the launch of an online service seeking to make headway in a country where only 20 to 30 percent of drivers are insured.


Baloon, the subsidiary of a French startup, offers drivers coverage via their mobile phones or through the internet “in three minutes”, said founder Bertrand Vialle as the service launched on Thursday night.

“They take three pictures with their mobile phones (driver’s license, identification card, registration card), choose their options and pay with mobile money. And that’s it. You’re insured.”

Vialle, who wants to expand his company to Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon, said the idea is to make it easy for people to get insured. “To my knowledge, (online insurance) doesn’t exist in France or in Africa. We are the first to offer such a service”.

The West African country boasts about 480,000 vehicles in circulation, the biggest in the region ahead of Senegal.

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