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Date July 21, 2021
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Every May, Brown students leave the classrooms of College Hill behind to pursue a wealth of transformative summer opportunities — from internships and fellowships to research projects and entrepreneurial startups.

Whitney Terrill: Aligning personal insurance with collective good

As a member of B-Lab — the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship’s summer startup accelerator — Terrill is developing the Reem Company, an insurance carrier that benefits the greater good, as outlined by her Islamic faith.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In the United States, personal insurance is a trillion-dollar industry in which consumers pay premiums that reduce the financial risks that can arise from unexpected events arising as a result of anything from home ownership to health issues, driving a car to owning a pet. 

But for the over 3 million Americans who are Muslim, purchasing traditional insurance poses a moral quandary, said Whitney Terrill, a graduate student at Brown earning her master’s degree in health care leadership.

“When we purchase insurance, we’re essentially asking a large company to take on risk for us so that we have some peace of mind — if you get in a car accident, or if you get sick, they will cover the costs associated with it,” she said. “But many of us may not get sick or get in a car accident. In those cases, we don’t necessarily know where our money goes, or how it is invested.”

This uncertainty about how the insured person’s money is being invested raises concerns from the perspective of Islamic finance, which is how financial transactions and banking are conducted in accordance with the broader legal, economic and ethical considerations of Islam, Terrill said.

“In Islamic finance, investments must mutually benefit the greater good,” she said. “But when we choose a traditional insurance broker, we do not know whether or not they are putting our money into investments that align with our values.”

Terrill is seeking to solve this dilemma with the Reem Company, venture that would direct surplus insurance premiums into investments that align with collective values shared within Islam. As a member of the Muslim community, Terrill knows firsthand the positive impact that the Reem Company could have.

“It would be really wonderful to be able to buy insurance that’s aligned with my faith through and through — from the premiums that I pay all the way to how that money is invested,” she said. “I hope that the Muslim community and Muslim consumers find a lot of benefit in having the option to buy insurance products that are aligned with their values.”

This summer, as a participant in Breakthrough Lab (B-Lab for short) — an eight-week accelerator program for student entrepreneurial ventures based at Brown’s Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship — Terrill has had the opportunity to receive mentorship, survey prospective consumers, and learn from experts working in insurance and parallel industries around the world. These interviews will allow her to create a roadmap for the Reem Company, she said.

“It would be really wonderful to be able to buy insurance that’s aligned with my faith through and through — from the premiums that I pay all the way to how that money is invested. I hope that the Muslim community and Muslim consumers find a lot of benefit in having the option to buy insurance products that are aligned with their values.”

Whitney Terrill Brown Master's Student, 2021 B-Lab Participant
 
Whitney Terrill

“This summer for me is about pushing myself to move beyond market reports and books and articles and just really talk to people,” she said. “I’ve had many conversations this summer. I continue to deepen my understanding of my market, and I understand what my path will be after B-Lab.”

For Terrill, the relationships that she has developed through B-Lab — with industry experts, alumni and faculty mentors, and fellow student entrepreneurs in her cohort — have expanded her vision of what the Reem Company can become.

“The conversations I’ve had have shown me that people outside of the Muslim community could also be interested in having this type of choice in how their premiums are invested,” she said. “It has been both wonderful and exciting to think about how this idea could be bigger than what I first thought.” 

For Terrill, joining the B-Lab community has been an invaluable opportunity to gain real-world knowledge, make professional connections and view her own venture from fresh perspectives — all while demystifying the entrepreneurial process.

“Going into this process as a solo founder, getting to be around other entrepreneurs has been a tremendous gift,” she said. “The program has made entrepreneurship approachable. It’s made it feel possible. And that’s exciting.”

Terrill — who has worked for nearly six years in public health and human services for the state of Minnesota — says that her B-Lab experience has also expanded her understanding of how she can enact social change in the world after completing her studies at Brown.

“I see social entrepreneurship as a way to complement policy work — to accelerate the change that people need to see,” she said. “I would love to be a serial entrepreneur, working to use the tools of business and industry to really sustain social good... For me, it’s all about this idea of doing good. I just want to solve problems and do good.”

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Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship Summer Experiences

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Summer Experiences

Every May, Brown students leave the classrooms of College Hill behind to pursue a wealth of transformative summer opportunities — from internships and fellowships to research projects and entrepreneurial startups.