African insurtech aYo Holdings has made two key C-suite appointments as it looks to accelerate its ambitious growth plans across the continent and into the South African market.

The company has named Ivan Welch as its new Chief Customer Acquisition Officer and Miles Bloemstein as its Chief Operating Officer as part of its vision of becoming the largest insurance technology platform in Africa. 

Welch, who has already been with aYo for four years, will be responsible for driving new customer acquisition through various distribution channels, with a specific focus on digital marketing and sales. His position will also include a commercial legal remit and administrative oversight, and support of the company’s subsidiary operations.

A 20-year veteran of the African insurance sector, Welch defines success as a world where every customer with a mobile phone has an aYo subscription, which would have been obtained through a simple few clicks or button presses on a mobile device. While approximately 46% of Africa’s population has access to and uses cell phone services, insurance penetration remains below 5% in most markets, except South Africa. 

“The industry has so much scope for development, as it is massively underserved in Africa. With aYo and our shareholders, MTN and Sanlam, I believe we have the right offering, platforms and ability to scale to serve this market,” he said.

Bloemstein joined aYo in July 2021.  He also has more than 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry, specifically in IT operations and related functions.  His new position will include him overseeing the day-to-day operations of the business, working closely with executive and product teams to grow the platform and its system and channel capabilities.       

“We must constantly find ways to keep our clients engaged and be able to have access to insurance. Due to low disposable income levels, insurance adoption and trust in insurers, we are being challenged to produce ‘out of the box’ solutions to keep our clients engaged and active,” he said.  

aYo Group CEO Marius Botha said Welch and Bloemstein’s expertise are key to the company’s drive to enable the distribution of affordable financial services products to people who have never had the opportunity to engage in financial services before. 

aYo launched in January 2017 in Uganda and has since expanded its operations across Ghana, Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, with plans to launch operations in Nigeria and South Africa imminent.