Kenyan betting tycoon Ronald Karauri's insurance bet grabs 25% of minibus market

An insurer backed by Kenyan tycoon Ronald Karauri, the chief executive of betting company SportPesa and a member of parliament, now writes about a quarter of the country's insurance for matatus, the privately owned minibuses that are the country's main form of public transport.

Definite Assurance Co.'s share of the commercial public service vehicle insurance market rose to 25.03% in June, from 4.74% a year earlier, industry data show. The Nairobi-based underwriter, whose other backers include Peter Mbugua, owner of the Quiver Lounge & Grill chain of bars and entertainment venues, reached that position about 18 months after it started selling policies.

The gain puts a new name among the two companies that have long split the segment between them. Directline Assurance, in which Royal Media Services founder S.K. Macharia holds a 9.66% stake through Royal Credit, and African Merchant Assurance Co., known as Amaco, have traded the top spot over the past two years. First Lady Rachel Ruto and her daughter Charlene hold 15.83% of Amaco through Yegen Farms Ltd.

A young underwriter

The Insurance Regulatory Authority licensed Definite as Kenya's newest general insurer on Dec. 11, 2024, after its shareholders raised Sh600 million ($4.6 million) in capital. The company set out from the start to focus on matatus.

Registry records in early 2025 showed Kushian Muchiri as the largest shareholder with 30%, followed by Mikaj Topgrains Co. with 25%. Mbugua held 22% through Swingers Skypark Lounge Ltd., and Karauri held 10%. Mbugua invested Sh175 million ($1.35 million) in the venture. Several smaller investors hold the rest.

The partnership was strained soon after the licence came through. In early 2025, Mbugua sought to sell his stake for Sh500 million ($3.85 million), while other shareholders offered Sh195 million ($1.5 million). He remains among the insurer's backers.

A growing market share

The insurer's rise has been hard to track in the regulator's quarterly tables. In July, the authority named Definite among seven insurers that had failed to file mandatory returns, and the company was missing from the first-quarter rankings. Those figures showed Directline with 62.11% of public service vehicle premiums and Amaco with 21%, with GA Insurance, First Assurance and Intra Africa Assurance trailing far behind.

Insurers that filed returns wrote Sh982.41 million ($7.6 million) of gross premiums for matatus and other public service vehicles in the first three months of the year. Motor cover has been a loss-making business for Kenyan insurers. Commercial motor policies paid out more in claims, expenses and commissions than they earned in net premiums in the first quarter, with an underwriting ratio of 110.5%.

Betting boss and lawmaker

Karauri built his fortune as the head of SportPesa, which grew into Kenya's biggest sports betting company in the 2010s and sponsored English Premier League club Everton and Kenyan football. The brand left Kenya in 2019 during a dispute with regulators and tax authorities over a new betting tax, and later returned through Milestone Games Ltd., in which Karauri has interests. The ownership of the brand is the subject of a legal fight between Karauri and Kenyan investors in Pevans East Africa, the original operator.

He won the Kasarani parliamentary seat in Nairobi as an independent candidate in the August 2022 general election.

Mbugua's Quiver chain runs six bars and entertainment venues, four of them in Nairobi and the others in Kenol and Kitengela. He has described the insurance business as a back-up and retirement plan.