Most people might be surprised to learn that insurance dates back over 4,000 years to ancient Babylon, where merchants paid lenders an extra fee to safeguard their livelihoods if goods were lost at sea. Even then, people understood something we must relearn today: that when we share risk, we build stability for ourselves, our families, and our societies.

In Uganda today, the conversation about economic growth and resilience must start at the household level. And that conversation must include life insurance.

Too often, life insurance is misunderstood as a luxury or a “nice-to-have.” To shift this perception, we must reframe life insurance as a practical and accessible financial planning tool. Financial institutions, regulators, and agents must work together to demystify life insurance, through public education campaigns, relatable storytelling, and simplified products tailored to every income level. By positioning it as a foundation for planning life’s certainties—education, retirement, healthcare—and a safeguard against uncertainties like illness or the sudden loss of income, we empower families to see life insurance not just as a policy, but as a practical step toward stability.

COVID-19 made the need for this clearer than ever. The pandemic exposed how financially fragile many households are. But it also showed what’s possible: where life insurance was in place, families had breathing room, a chance to grieve, recover, and plan the next step without falling into poverty. We must now build on these lessons. This means designing policies with flexible premium payments, accelerating claims settlement, and embedding emotional support services in the insurance journey. These are the innovations that turn a policy into a promise—and a promise into a lifeline.

When households are financially stable, the ripple effects extend to the economy at large, employees with insurance are more productive and loyal. Communities with insured families have lower poverty rates. Governments in high-insurance economies spend less on crisis welfare, and more on long-term development. The link is direct: a financially protected household is the building block of a financially resilient nation.