LeapFrog Investments, an impact investment
fund, has acquired a majority stake in Ghanaian life insurance
provider Express Life – making it the largest private foreign
investment in the history of Ghana’s insurance industry.

The plans is for Express to draw on LeapFrog’s
capital and distinctive operational expertise and become the
Ghanaian  market leader by offering products often costing
less than US$10 per month,  and thereby serve Ghana’s large
untapped market of low-income consumers.

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LeapFrog said the investment is expected to
substantially increase financial inclusion in this pivotal African
market.

Ghana’s GDP grew at 13.5% in 2011 and its life
insurance industry has grown at 40% annually for the past five
years – yet the vast majority of the country’s 25 million people do
not have access to insurance, according to LeapFrog.

Express Life was launched in 2009 by Obed
Danquah, a Ghanaian entrepreneur whose businesses focus on
financial services for the mass market in Ghana. The company
primarily offers hybrid savings and risk products to individuals
employed by public sector institutions.

Strategic alignment

Commenting on LeapFrog’s acquisition of the
majority stake in Express Life, Danquah said: “Given LeapFrog’s
profit-with-purpose approach to investing and experience in the
insurance industry, they are an ideal partner. This powerful
strategic alignment will permanently alter the insurance space in
the country by setting a new standard for ethical and inclusive
provision of insurance to the mass market.”

LeapFrog invests in companies that serve
emerging consumers with insurance and related financial
services.

Doug Lacey, the LeapFrog partner who led the
Express Life transaction, commented: “Our portfolio now covers five
African countries and includes landmark investments in companies
such as Apollo, the leading insurance group in East Africa, and
AllLife, the innovative South African insurer for people living
with HIV/AIDS.”