The Nairobi Dressmaker

Picture leaving your home to visit another country for the first time with your family, and at a time before the internet made easy access to information on your destination. Now imagine losing your child on that family holiday abroad and being left with $200,000 in medical debt. Although the G1G story begins on this somber note, the result of this tragic experience defined G1G's mission to help travelers when they need it the most. The G1G story beings over 30 years ago and since then we have brought trust, accountability, and customer advocacy to an industry devoid of those qualities.

In 1983 the innovative and vibrant founder of G1G, Zain Jeewanjee, trekked halfway around the world from the Indian subcontinent to the United States of America. Already having lived in 3 different continents by age 16, his next journey to the Americas was his first overseas trip with his wife and two children. Unfortunately, the youngest was diagnosed with a rare muscular disease and required immediate medical treatment shortly after arrival in Palo Alto, California, where Mr. Jeewanjee had a family whom he was visiting. Months of intense care and efforts from the doctors were unsuccessful and the Jeewanjee family lost their newborn son. In addition to this heavy loss, Zain was misled to believe that his son's procedure would be covered under his travel health insurance policy, which was not the case. He found himself with an overwhelming $200,000 in medical debt. He was forced to leave his extended family and entrepreneurial endeavors back home on the Subcontinent and begin anew on the other side of the world, this time not by choice but to pay off his extensive medical debts.

Throughout his childhood, Zain was groomed and mentored for business by his father, who in turn was taught by Zain's grandfather, Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee - a politician, merchant, journeyman, and philanthropist who helped develop modern-day Kenya. Inspired by the legacy of his grandfather Zain was determined to follow in his footsteps and make an impact on the world for social good. He was determined to create a company that served customers first.

Using his tragic and life-altering experience with travel insurance he created G1G in 1985. With his fundamental understanding of the insurance industry - whose jargon is even challenging for native English speakers - Zain vowed to propel the travel industry forward and ease the burden on global travelers by offering quality travel safety and protection services people could rely on. Since day one, G1G has offered only the best products curated by a multi-point benchmark assurance system. Additionally, he did not cut corners on costs and provided 24/7/365 service, post-purchase customer care, claims assistance, and honesty throughout the whole travel insurance purchasing process. This allowed G1G to educate customers about the reality of how travel and visitor insurance works, preparing travelers for the unexpected.

Zain Jeewanjee Insure-tech

Serial Entrepreneur, Speaker, and Philanthropist. Zain speaks about giving, hiring, insurance, and enterprenuership.

San Francisco Bay Area

G1G.com

BeyondPublishing.net