Supporting and championing black actuaries through a new mentorship programme

Those of you who follow this page will know that I am passionate about the actuarial profession and about liberating the best in young actuarial graduates. That’s why I am excited about a new mentorship programme Discovery has launched, in partnership with the South African Actuaries Development Programme (SAADP) and the Association of South African Black Actuarial Professionals (ASABA) aimed at supporting and advancing African Black and Coloured actuarial professionals in South Africa.

The programme has an internal and external component, providing more support to Black actuaries entering and already within Discovery, but also across the country as a whole.

Internally, the programme will provide mentorship and sponsorship opportunities to Black actuaries at various stages of employment in Discovery. This will range from helping newly appointed employees to find a sense of community, to building their confidence and creating clear career and self-development opportunities. Senior leaders will provide guidance to mentees on how to reach their career goals, share knowledge and leadership expertise, and provide further networking opportunities with other senior leaders in the organisation. The programme will also offer access to further training, such as master classes and workshops, to advance actuaries’ career goals.

Externally, we plan to work with the SAADP and ASABA to encourage more ASABA members and actuaries that have graduated through the SAADP programme to qualify. We are also providing financial support to sponsor five additional students for their actuarial studies in university. I will be mentoring qualified African Black and Coloured Fellows of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, and we will also provide networking opportunities and mentorship and coaching by Discovery leaders.

This isn’t just a corporate social responsibility initiative – I truly believe it can change the course of history. At the launch of the programme, I spoke to the Pareto effect we see in organisations and even countries, namely, that a few exceptionally smart and talented individuals can change the trajectory of the future. I am convinced that a few powerful decisions can push entire systems into new positive territories – effecting change in the ‘tail’ of the distribution. This is true of the actuarial profession in particular, given actuaries typically work in sizeable institutions and in an industry with deep financial and capital reserves and capabilities. Actuaries have an incredibly important role to play in our country and society.

That said, it is very, very difficult to qualify, for several reasons. Firstly, it's unclear from the get-go what actuarial science actually entails – as a young matriculant, you really have very little context as to what the profession involves. Secondly, the course is brutal and the testing continues until the bitter end - some professionals are still writing their finals in their 30s and 40s. The material only amplifies in complexity, exam upon exam, and year after year, while in other fields the accumulation of knowledge becomes easier over time. Thirdly, the actual work you do is often more complex than what you encounter during your studies (difficult as they are), which is quite unusual when compared to other professions.

So, it’s hard, harder, hardest – year after year. These issues are particularly challenging for those who come from a disadvantaged background: there is less support, less backup, and obstacles all along the way. And these additional difficulties at every turn make up the difference between qualifying and not qualifying. 

The intention of this mentorship programme is to break that cycle. We offer the Adrian Gore Fellowship Award already, which takes 20 or so of the country’s most promising 4th-year actuaries through a selection programme, with several employed at Discovery in the process, but this initiative takes it one step further. The programme takes into account the feedback we've received from actuaries themselves on some of the challenges they face in qualifying, and offers support to a wider group of individuals, both within and outside of Discovery. It features a buddy system to support new graduates entering the workforce, one-on-one mentorship with senior actuarial leaders, and exam sessions hosted by one of our Chief Actuaries, Emile Stipp. We know that mentorship, sponsorship and intentional networking and relationship building can have a phenomenal and lasting effect on actuaries’ careers and growth.

We look forward to working with ASABA and SAADP, who already do excellent work in this space, and I am tremendously excited about this programme’s potential impact.