Nigerian Startup Myka Makes Insurance Easy for 200M People

In a country of 200 million people, 70% of Nigerians have zero insurance coverage. That staggering gap isn't because people don't want protection. It's because the system never reached them.

Enter Sim Shagaya, the entrepreneur behind e-commerce giant Konga and education platform uLesson. He spent years watching Nigerians struggle to access services that should be simple. Now he's tackling insurance with Myka, a digital platform that just launched with backing from major tech investors including Paystack co-founder Shola Akinlade.

The problem runs deeper than awareness. For years, Nigerians who did buy insurance faced nightmare claims processes and even fake policies. Without reliable verification systems, people couldn't confirm their coverage was real. Trust collapsed, and an entire generation wrote off insurance as a scam.

But 2025 brought sweeping reforms through the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act. The new law prioritizes retail customers and digital infrastructure, creating consumer protections that simply didn't exist before. Shagaya saw an opening.

Myka works like having an insurance shopping mall in your pocket. Users browse policies from 17 different insurance companies, compare coverage for cars, phones, health, travel, and property, then receive their documents straight to WhatsApp. No paperwork mazes. No mysterious fine print.

The real innovation shows up at claims time. Got a cracked phone screen? Myka sends you to an approved repair center where the work gets done without you paying a cent upfront. The platform uses national ID verification and AI tools to prevent fraud while keeping the process smooth for honest customers.

The Ripple Effect

Shagaya isn't stopping at smartphone users. His vision mirrors what agency banking did for fintech, bringing financial services to neighborhood shops across Nigeria. Myka's Structured Customer Referral Program, now in the regulatory sandbox for testing, will let car dealers sell insurance when they sell vehicles. Phone shops can offer gadget coverage at checkout. Insurance becomes available exactly where people make buying decisions.

The model could transform how 140 million uninsured Nigerians think about protection. Instead of insurance being something distant and corporate, it becomes part of everyday transactions in communities across the country.

Nigeria's insurance industry already manages $2.9 billion in assets, but nearly all that money comes from big companies buying coverage for employees. Myka aims to flip that equation, turning insurance into something normal people use to protect what matters most.