A conversation with... Patrick Nyaga

Patrick Nyaga is Group Managing Director and CEO of CIC Insurance Group plc. (Kenya)

Tell us about your organisation? 

CIC Group operates in four countries — Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and South Sudan. We are a cooperative insurer, founded by cooperatives. Our biggest shareholder is the cooperative movement, and our biggest customers are also cooperatives. 

That foundation makes us different from other insurers: because cooperatives are our anchor shareholders, they are very keen on seeing the organisation grow. We provide them with solutions, and they are often the first to adopt them before the wider market. There is a strong, mutual support system: we serve them, and they support us and that mutual commitment is what makes our model strong.

How do you make a difference to your members and communities?

By co-creating specialised products for cooperatives with them. For example, we provide loan guard products, healthcare insurance, and livestock and agriculture cover. These are designed to directly meet cooperative needs. We also invest heavily in capacity building. As an insurance group, we have more access to knowledge and expertise than many cooperatives, so we share that through training. We hold meetings across the country where cooperative leaders learn about risk management, governance, operations, and strategy. 

We also support education through the CIC Foundation, which funds bright but needy students from cooperative families. One of the key criteria is that your parents must be cooperative members. And of course, we share our success through dividend payments to our members.

What about at an individual level?

One powerful example is through our livestock insurance. Many cooperative members are farmers with only a few cows, which are their entire livelihood: food, school fees, survival. If they lose even one cow, the family could be devastated. Our livestock cover means that if an animal dies, we compensate immediately. The farmer can replace the cow and continue their life. It may seem small, but it’s very impactful for families across Kenya.

Another example is credit life insurance. Cooperative members borrow from their savings and credit cooperatives (saccos). If a member dies, the sacco could be left exposed, because relatives may not be able to repay the loan. Our cover ensures that in such cases, the loan is repaid immediately. That protects both the sacco and the family. It keeps households from being pushed into poverty, and it keeps the sacco sustainable.

Why did you choose to get involved with the CM50?

For us, CM50 is about cross-sectoral collaboration. We can learn from others, and they can learn from us. It gives us access to strategic partnerships. Together, we can achieve more than any one of us alone. CM50 can amplify our impact, show data-driven evidence of what co-ops contribute, and strengthen collaboration across borders.

In Kenya, the Ministry of Cooperatives and the Commissioner of Cooperatives work closely with us. They help by creating policies that make it possible to extend insurance to farmers. Their advocacy and collaboration are critical. With CM50, we can do this on an international scale.

How do cooperatives build a better world?

By being close to people, creating solutions for their livelihoods, and making them resilient in uncertain times. That is what we do every day at CIC – but to continue to do this, co-ops must keep providing solutions to evolving needs. We must look at unserved areas and address them. We must continue collaborating, doing research, and preparing for future challenges like climate change, which is already disrupting farming cycles here in Kenya.