NEW YORK, September 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- Launches World's First Microinsurance Investment Firm in Session with Tony Blair, Dozens of CEOs, Heads of State

Today at the final Special Session of the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, former President William Jefferson Clinton announced the launch of LeapFrog Investments. It is the world's first investment firm to focus on the insurance needs of low-income people. It is also the largest microinsurance initiative in the world, by several multiples.

President Clinton announced that LeapFrog has committed to invest US$100 Million over the next ten years to enable 25 million low income people in Africa and Asia to gain access to affordable, quality insurance and financial services.

"The estimated market size for microinsurance is a billion people. Less than 3 percent of these people now have any kind of insurance," President Clinton said in announcing LeapFrog's commitment. "LeapFrog will enable 25 million low income people to access affordable quality insurance and financial services. 15 million of them will be women and children."

President Clinton added that key focus regions include India, Pakistan, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya.

"We are thrilled to be recognized and supported by former President Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative, and to have the next frontier in microfinance and insurance embraced by so many world leaders," said Dr. Andrew Kuper, Founder and President of LeapFrog Investments. "There is a vast unmet demand for insurance globally; the reality for the insurance industry is that growth will come from emerging markets especially -- where most of the population is low-income. There is a tremendous opportunity to build profitable and sustainable businesses that at the same time protect low-income people and help them escape devastating poverty."

Why Microinsurance Matters

Microinsurance protects poor and vulnerable people by helping them manage diverse risks -- to their lives, homes, property, health, crops, and businesses. Without insurance, they find it difficult to recover from shocks, take business risks to increase their income, build assets and thus escape poverty permanently.

Jim Roth, a partner in LeapFrog and one of the pioneers of commercial microinsurance, said, "LeapFrog offers a true synergy between profit and purpose -- expanding access to crucial financial services for low income people and helping to alleviate poverty in some the world's poorest countries."

Meeting the Vast Demand for Microinsurance

While over 150 million low-income people now have access to credit, less than half that number has access to insurance. Yet this vital financial product is recognized by experts and poor people alike as critical to escaping poverty permanently -- by stabilizing income, enabling people to build assets, and enabling the management of risks in micro-businesses.

LeapFrog's mission is to tap the vast opportunity of an estimated 1 billion person market for microinsurance. Just as leaders such as Muhammad Yunus and Fazle Abed showed the power of microcredit as an alternative asset class, leading to a flood of funds and firms investing in the space, so the leaders of LeapFrog and their partners have pioneered microinsurance, and are now taking the financing of this industry to the next level.

About LeapFrog Investments

LeapFrog Investments is the world's first microinsurance investment firm. The leaders of LeapFrog have a proven track record of managing investments, executing deals, and building successful businesses on four continents. They have established and exited businesses in emerging markets, performed due diligence in many countries, designed microinsurance products, and developed large-scale distribution channels for products sold to low-income populations. Among other accomplishments, they are co-authors of the largest-ever study of microinsurance in 100 countries.

About the Partner Firms

The firm is supported by global partners including several of the world's leading law firms, actuaries and consultants in financial services, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Wiley Rein LLP, Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki, Quindiem Consulting, The Microinsurance Centre, Ashoka, and other experienced global consultants.

The firm's committed financial supporters include institutions such as Accion International and individuals in their personal capacities such as leading Goldman Sachs wealth manager Felipe Medina. LeapFrog's pioneering thought-partners in developing its profit-with-purpose mission have included major development banks such as Germany's KfW Entwicklungsbank.

For more information on LeapFrog Investments, please visit www.leapfroginvest.com.

Web siet: http://www.leapfroginvest.com