Dear Stakeholder

One of our key objectives is to create desperately needed employment opportunities for Black graduates who want to pursue a career in the savings and investment industry. We do this by bridging the gap between tertiary education and the skills required by employers. Our internship and graduate programmes have proven very effective in achieving this over the years, with around 80% of graduates receiving permanent employment offers upon completion of their internships.

One of these programmes is the ASISA Academy IMACS@TSiBA Internship, which has been delivered since 2011 in partnership with TSiBA, a Cape Town-based not-for-profit higher education institution.

With the support of the programme sponsors, we took a leap of faith with the current, 13th IMACS@TSiBA Internship and scaled the programme from around 10 students a year to more than 40 students. We are grateful to the following sponsors for making this possible: Allan Gray, Coronation Fund Managers, Foord Asset Management, Intembeko Investment Administrators, the JTC Group, M&G Investments, Prescient Investment Management, RGA, Sanlam and Taquanta Asset Managers.  

I would also like to thank the nine investment firms that have agreed to host a total of 15 TSiBA students in their final semester. However, we would like to assist the remaining students as far as possible to find a host employer who would be willing to host them in any administrative role for 16 weeks. Without completing this practical work element, these students will not be able to graduate. I would, therefore, like to appeal to companies able to host students from August to November 2024 to please get in touch with us.  The IMACS@TSiBA Internship qualifies as a category B on the Learning Programme Matrix.

With so many students looking for places this year, we are expanding our appeal beyond our industry. We encourage you to share this with companies who might be interested in placing one of these promising final-year Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) students and providing them with a small stipend, mentorship and guidance for four months.

Our internships and graduate programmes have the power to fundamentally change the lives of Black South Africans by providing job opportunities and setting them on career paths that might have been out of reach otherwise. To illustrate just how powerful these interventions can be, we will share a series of personal stories with you over the coming months, starting with Denver van der Bergh. Denver has courageously agreed to share his deeply personal story in the hope that it will inspire others to dream the impossible and encourage more companies to sign up as sponsors or host companies for interns, or both.

Denver’s story really is an example of the magic that can happen when a big company is prepared to look past the many reasons not to give someone a chance. After 25 years of battling immense personal struggles, Denver decided to turn his life around. In only four short years since making this decision, he has completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Finance degree at TSiBA by successfully completing the IMACS@TSiBA Internship and landed himself a two-year graduate internship with Coronation Fund Managers. I would like to encourage you to read his story here.

Denver van der Bergh and his siblings celebrate after he completed the 2024 Two Oceans Marathon.

NEWS FROM OUR GRADUATE PROGRAMMES

Financial Markets Practitioner Learnership

All 18 delegates participating in the 2023 Financial Markets Practitioner Learnership (FMP) have qualified to take the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA) in May. This is a very proud moment for them, as well as all of us at the ASISA Academy. Should they be successful in the assessment, which is set by the South African Institute of Stockbrokers (SAIS), they will earn an NQF 7 Financial Markets Practitioner qualification.

The group includes eight candidates from the Fezeka Graduate Programme, an ASISA Academy graduate programme for high-potential, Black South African female graduates interested in a career in asset management.

The FMP Learnership is an NQF Level 7 learnership registered with the Finance and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Fasset). It provides a learning pathway to a higher qualification, such as an honours degree or an NQF Level 8 postgraduate diploma.

The 18 delegates who are participating in the 2023 Financial Markets Practitioner Learnership.

RETIREMENT FUND TRUSTEE EDUCATION

• In April, we presented 19 Retirement Fund Trustee Education (RFTE) workshops to 402 trustees and principal officers.
   
• The inaugural Advanced Course for Trustees was attended by 25 trustees, some of whom aim to complete the Principal Officer qualification further down the line. 
   
• We hosted training workshops for 42 union representatives, who represent workers on the boards of pension funds. These workshops, delivered in partnership with Atleha-edu, covered death benefits, the two-pot system and investment fundamentals.

Trustees from the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) who attended workshops delivered in partnership with Atleha-edu in April.

BESPOKE CAREER DEVELOPMENT COURSES

We delivered the final session of the M&G Investments Career Development Course in April. This bespoke course, which kicked off in February, was aimed at early-career employees and employees not directly involved in the investment side of the business. The sessions were delivered at M&G Investments in Claremont, Cape Town, and included employees from their Namibia offices, who participated online. I was pleasantly surprised to see the names of a few IMACS@TSiBA alumni on the list of delegates and felt encouraged by the continuing development of those who graduated from our internships.

Employees from M&G who attended the Career Development Course, including the three ladies from their Namibia offices.

The ASISA Academy regularly presents career development courses to junior employees of ASISA member companies and final-year university students preparing to enter the world of formal employment. These courses can be tailored into bespoke courses that meet the unique requirements of individual companies, covering a wide scope of topics, ranging from work readiness and understanding the financial services environment to personal effectiveness skills and career development. The courses will be developed and hosted by Grant Cloete, who recently joined us as programme champion taking charge of Career Development Courses, University Work Readiness, and Industry Overview Blitzcamps.

SPRINTS

At the request of the ASISA Claims Standing Committee, we piloted two three-hour interactive online Sprints for Senior Life Insurance Claims Assessors. The standalone Sprints covered the following:

• Sprint 1: Financial assessment of claims
• Sprint 2: Dealing with complaints (including complaints to the Long-term Insurance Ombudsman)

A big thank you to industry experts Doug Rix, Swiss Re Head of Underwriting, and Susan Gonnerman, Hollard Senior Claims Manager, who presented the respective Sprints, and our programme champion, Phumla Motsa, who anchored the sessions.

We also delivered Investment Sprints for employees at both Momentum and Ninety One during the course of the month. These two-hour interactive workshops on individual topics are hosted online by our team of expert presenters.

Delegates from Ninety One who attended the Investment Sprint sessions.

UPCOMING COURSES IN MAY

Limited spaces are available on the online Equity Analyst Short Course scheduled to commence on 16 May. With the help of a diverse group of highly experienced guest speakers, this course supports new investment analysts within investment management firms or stockbrokers. Please click here to enrol.

There are also limited spaces available for the online CFA Level 1 Exam Preparation workshop on 22 May. Facilitated by Professor Francois Toerien, the workshop will cover Ethical and Professional Standards and Quantitative Methods in preparation for the CFA Level 1 Exams taking place in August 2024.  This is the first in a series of CFA 1 exam prep sessions aimed at preparing candidates who will be writing in August.

The RFTE Learning Calendar for May 2024 is available here and includes:

• Death Benefits
• Investment Fundamentals
• Infrastructure Investing

LEARN WITH US

The ASISA Academy is recognised as a Level 1 B-BBEE Qualifying Small Enterprise, with more than 75% of the Academy’s beneficiaries being Black South Africans. This means employers can claim 135% of their skills development spend with the ASISA Academy. Please get in touch with us to discuss how we can support your skills development requirements.

For a complete overview of learning opportunities, please visit the ASISA Academy Learning Calendar. Please visit our website for more information on our many learning opportunities. We also invite you to interact with us on LinkedIn.

Best wishes

Alicia Davids
ASISA Academy CEO

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