Rwanda: When Disaster Strikes, Is the Business Insured?

Rwanda: When Disaster Strikes, Is the Business Insured?

On 10 October, fire tore through GOICO Plaza in Musanze, where about 2,000 traders did business. The Northern Province governor's preliminary estimate puts the value of the goods destroyed at more than Rwf30 billion. The building, valued at Rwf17 billion, was reportedly insured. How many of the traders inside were insured? Nobody can yet say. That silence is the story.

Musanze fire exposes insurance gap among small businesses

The fire that gutted GOICO Plaza in Musanze, destroying goods estimated at more than Rwf30 billion, has cast a spotlight on a longstanding vulnerability among small businesses: many traders operate with little or no insurance protection against disasters that can wipe out years of investment. The blaze, which swept through the commercial complex housing Musanze Market, left traders counting heavy losses and has renewed questions about how prepar…