The $21 million reason not to change your bundle.
Open the My Econet app. Look at your data bundles. The difference between two packages is one dollar. One of them is insurance.
Source: IPEC Life Assurance Sector Reports 2021–2025. "Never activated" means a policy was issued but the subscriber never completed the process or maintained cover. See the full data table below.
Three products. Three distribution mechanisms. Fifteen years. The IPEC data from 2021 to 2025 is the first time we can quantify what the model produces across five consecutive years of regulatory reporting.
Every year, Econet Life collected premiums from hundreds of thousands of policyholders who left before making a claim. Here is what five years of regulatory data shows.
| Year | Premiums Collected | Collected From Those Who Left | Share of Industry | Left Without Claiming | Industry Average | Never Activated | Econet's Share of This Problem |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | ~$12.2M | ~$486K | 8.23% |
8.92%
9 in every 100
|
8.40% | 279,568 | ~95% |
| 2022 | ~$7.8M | ~$620K | 8.82% |
28.00%
28 in every 100
|
17.31% | 112,355 | ~98% |
| 2023 | ~$5.1M | ~$1.28M | 5.5% |
78.92%
79 in every 100
|
44.27% | 646,638 | ~98% |
| 2024 | ~$9.16M | ~$2.31M | 5.23% |
35.00%
35 in every 100
|
19.00% | 9,520 | ~85% |
| 2025 | ~$15.7M | ~$1.88M | 5.52% |
27.39%
27 in every 100
|
11.24% | 22,070 | ~89% |
| 5-Year Total | ~$49.9M | ~$6.6M | — | Avg 35.7% | Avg 11.2% | 1,070,151 | — |
In every single year, more Econet Life policyholders left without claiming than the industry average.
"Collected from those who left" is a conservative estimate. It assumes policyholders held their policy for about 3 months before it ended, and about 1 month for policies that were issued but never really activated. Average monthly premium is derived from total revenue divided by policies in force each year. The real figure may be higher.
How many policyholders left without ever making a claim
A "lapse" means the policy ended without a claim being paid. The higher the line, the more policyholders left empty-handed that year.
Source: IPEC Life Assurance Sector Reports 2021–2025. USD equivalents calculated using RBZ interbank rates disclosed in each report. 2021–2022 under IFRS 4 (GPW). 2023–2025 under IFRS 17 (Insurance Revenue). Direct year-on-year comparison should be treated with caution. Figures cited are annual except 2025, which uses Q4 annualised data as disclosed by IPEC. Hover column headers for definitions.
A lapse is not a cancellation. The subscriber did not call to cancel. They did not opt out. They bought a different bundle next month — one without the EcoSure component — and the cover disappeared silently.
The premium for the months they were enrolled? Already collected. Recognised as earned revenue. Non-refundable. The insurer provided coverage during that period. The subscriber had the right to claim. In most cases, they did not know they had that right.
Under insurance accounting, this is entirely normal. Earned premium belongs to the insurer. What makes Econet Life's numbers unusual is the scale — and the consistency across five consecutive years of regulatory reporting.
Based on the $1 premium increment visible in the My Econet app as of April 2026. Adjust the inputs to estimate your EcoSure premium history.
Your bundle details
"Market conduct" is regulatory language for consumer protection. When IPEC uses it in the same sentence as a named insurer, it is a signal — not yet an enforcement action, but a documented concern on the public record.
In 2023, IPEC data shows that revenue from policies that were issued but never used — ZW$31.08 billion — was almost equal to Econet Life's total reported insurance revenue of ZW$31.34 billion.
If taken at face value, virtually the entire year's revenue came from policies that were never genuinely activated.
There are two possible explanations. The first is that 2023 genuinely reflected a year of near-total policy failure to activate — consistent with the 78.92% lapse rate and the industry-wide economic disruption from Zimbabwe's currency crisis. The second is that the IFRS 17 transition, which changed how insurance revenue is recognised and timed, created an accounting presentation that makes the figures appear more extreme than the underlying economics.
EcoSure funeral cover is a genuine insurance product underwritten by a registered insurer supervised by IPEC. If you hold an active policy and a covered event occurs, you are entitled to claim. The question is whether you know you hold one.
If you buy the $4 bundle one month and the $3 bundle the next, your EcoSure policy may lapse silently. There is no notification. There is no refund. The premium for the months you were enrolled has been earned.
In Q4 2025, 47.6% of Econet Life's lapsable policies lapsed in a single quarter — the highest rate in the industry by a significant margin. The industry average was 11.2%.
A policy gets created — sometimes without the subscriber realising — but it never becomes a real working policy. In most years, Econet Life accounts for over 85% of all such policies across the entire Zimbabwean life assurance sector. 9 in every 10 policies that were issued but never used belong to Econet Life.
The most direct consumer consequence of the lapse model is not financial — it is informational. Families who lose a member covered under an active EcoSure policy are entitled to a funeral benefit. But only if they know the policy existed.
IPEC's 2025 sector report names Econet Life directly and states that lapse treatment is receiving attention "from a market conduct perspective." This is the regulator's first public use of market conduct language in relation to this specific company's lapse data.
Data sources: IPEC Life Assurance Sector Reports 2021, 2022, 2023 H1, 2024, 2025 Q4. Zimbabwe Supreme Court: Econet Wireless v Trustco Mobile [2013] ZWSC 43. World Bank Zimbabwe consumer protection review (2014). Techzim reporting on EcoSure auto-enrollment (2019). My Econet app screenshot (April 2026).