In 2024, AB Entheos celebrated 10 years of operations. The company is the brainchild of Anne Kamau and Barbara Chesire, former colleagues from earlier in their respective careers. Launching and growing AB Entheos was the biggest professional challenge Anne and Barbara have faced. Through this blog series, they explain the challenges they have overcome, their successes and the lessons learned. This is the penultimate instalment in their story of 10 lessons in 10 years, or 10-in-10.

Anne pauses when thinking about their achievements in 2023: this was the year when human-wildlife conflict (HWC) insurance started gaining more attention. But the story behind this starts in 2019, when the scheme’s research and design phase started. By early 2022, the government was ready for implementation, and for this, a committee chaired by Anne was set up that comprised AB Entheos, government officials, the Kenya Wildlife Service and other partners. Recommendations on the scheme were accepted in mid-2022. However, elections in Kenya led to a pause until 2023. By this time, the new government had a different approach in mind. Ultimately, AB Entheos and other parties formed a consortium to bid for the tender.

A pipedream can turn into reality 

This was the year when much of the patience Anne and Barbara had exercised in previous years would start to pay off. Implementing their HWC insurance concept was a key milestone that was borne out of patience. But this was not without its challenges. Until implementation, Anne and Barbara felt like they were chasing a pipedream. It was important that among them, one person carried the dream. Both acknowledged that working with the government is not easy; it requires immense patience and resilience.

Human-wildlife conflict insurance is a relatively new concept. So, what makes AB Entheos’ ideas on this appealing? For Anne, there are several attributes to consider. Among these are shortening the claim validation process, eliminating fraud and standardising payments. Some of these are long-standing problems. Working through a consortium meant that the burden of promoting community education and engagement was borne by all partners. Up to this point, the government had not managed to do this alone. 

We involved the affected communities and created employment opportunities. We hired community verification officers from the very same communities that were on the receiving end of human-wildlife conflict.

~ Anne Kamau

How benefits to the community went beyond just claim payouts

When discussing the benefits to the target communities, Barbara explains that the government was keen for the private sector to develop a beneficial model. For Anne and Barbara, this meant going beyond just paying out claims. One of the scheme’s highlights was an initiative to create jobs for the youth, in line with the government’s agenda. At least 70 community members were hired as verification officers, which fostered greater trust in insurance among the communities concerned.

Scaling the ResilientME! game

HWC was not the only project to see success. ReslientME!, an interactive board game conceived in 2019, has been used to educate over 300,000 target microentrepreneurs by this point. But beyond its application in limited markets, few in the sector knew much about it or its benefits. In June 2023, at the Microinsurance Network’s annual member meeting, several microinsurance professionals were given the opportunity to try the game for the first time. Anne noted that the game offered a refreshing alternative to an otherwise straitjacketed way of communicating. The cherry on the cake was that 10 games brought to the meeting were sold. 

One question that Anne and Barbara mull over is how to get more people to see the value of the game and subsequently use it as a training tool. This remains a gap that AB Entheos openly welcomes ideas on how to narrow. As with insurance products, lowering the barriers to accessibility is key. Using digital tools to create an online version could be pursued. However, given their approach to projects, AB Entheos remains open to ideas on how to get many more people to access the game and improve their financial knowledge.

I  remember being told that this name doesn’t suit the work that you’re doing. One of our partners mentioned that we go way beyond just conceptualisation and writing reports. From this came the need to rebrand.

~Barbara Chesire

“We love the vision. But it’s difficult for us to fund a consultant.”

When Anne and Barbara started in 2014, they quickly had to come up with a corporate identity – in this case, AB Consultants Limited. But by 2023, this was no longer fit for purpose. Barbara explained that there was a need to change their identity as the then-name started to limit the work the company could do. In 2019, one of their partners suggested a rebrand. This was scuppered by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the issue resurfaced in 2023: a new funder could not fund a consultancy.

This prompted Anne and Barbara to accelerate the need for a name change. AB Consulting became AB Entheos, retaining at least part of the initial brand. Where did this change come from? Both Anne and Barbara have remained committed to their core mission: to light new pathways in insurance. This led them to adopt “Entheos”, Greek for “god within”, which also has a strong modern link. Entheos is the root of “enthusiasm”, which Anne and Barbara have displayed in abundance over the years. Without this, it is hardly likely that they might have remained too patient over time to ultimately see early ideas become projects implemented on the ground.