Insurance penetration in emerging markets has always been startlingly low — not because people don't want protection, but because the products were never designed for them. BIMA was founded in London in 2010 to change that. Its model is built around mobile-first microinsurance: affordable health and life insurance products distributed via mobile operators in markets across Africa and Asia, where smartphone penetration is high but formal financial infrastructure is thin. Customers sign up via SMS, pay premiums through mobile money, and make claims through a simple phone interface. It sounds basic, but in markets where the alternative is no insurance at all, basic is transformative. BIMA has reached millions of policyholders across more than a dozen countries, demonstrating that insurance can be a mass-market product if you design it from the ground up for the people who need it most rather than adapting products built for Western middle-class consumers. In the context of European insurtech, BIMA is a useful counterpoint — a reminder that the most interesting insurance innovation isn't always happening in the markets with the highest premiums.