Pula Advisors

Pula is an insurance and technology company with a radically different approach: Pula targets people who have never bought insurance before, starting with smallholder farmers. The company develops, and distributes insurance products and tailored agronomy advice that protects these farmers from risk and grows their incomes.

Project Description

Pula is bundling agricultural inputs with insurance and agronomic advisory services to cover the risk to smallholder farmers, while also increasing their ability to improve yields. The product uses remote sensing technology and utilises an adaptive learning process to better serve farmers.

Key Innovations

This project is innovative in four aspects:

• Technological: using technology such as remote-sensing data, drones, etc. to refine the yield insurance products as well as increase the cost efficiency of the business model.
• Client acquisition: integration of insurance with agricultural inputs, i.e. a “pull product” that farmers actively demand and purchase through technology enabled and incentivised rural trusted agro-dealers, thus overcoming challenges of distribution and client acquisition.
• Adaptive learning: rather than pushing SMS agronomy, advisory based on farmer needs, focus on behaviour changes through adaptive learning and provides location and farmer specific climate and agronomic circumstances.
• Business process: yield index insurance; i.e. departure from weather index and indemnity based insurance, enhanced through technology.