Finance Careers and World of Work Fair targets rural areas

INSETA’s CEO, Sandra Dunn.

Scholars at the SAADP stand at the Career Fair at Ikhala College, listen attentively to the SAADP’s Executive Director, Nokwanda Mkhize.

When a learner who lives in the rural areas of South Africa was told that people had landed on the moon, she could not believe it. She had never heard that someone had landed on the moon. This, despite the fact that since the 1960s there have been several orbits around the earth, moon landings, and more recently a small unmanned space craft landing on Mars.

“We simply don’t realise how disadvantaged our people are who live in the rural areas,” says INSETA’s CEO, Sandra Dunn.

“Whenever we have the opportunity to raise awareness of what careers are available to learners in the rural areas, we grab it with both hands. When one still hears of a young person in South Africa, who has not yet heard that people have been to the moon, it drives home the urgency to integrate and connect our rural areas into the mainstream of society.”

During April 2015, INSETA, together with BANKSETA and FASSET organised and hosted the Finance Careers and World of Work Fair at Ikhala College in Ezibeleni. The SETAs partnered with Ikhala TVET College and the Department of Basic Education to promote careers in the financial sector to 1200 school learners. In addition college graduates were exposed to workplaces and to create the linkages between the world of work and the rural colleges.

In her speech at the Fair, INSETA’s COO, Sharon Snell said that rural learners do not have the same access to career guidance expos as urban learners. In addition the rural college graduates find it more difficult than their urban counterparts to access opportunities for workplace experience, because of lower levels of economic activity in the area.

INSETA also funded the transport for learners from various schools in the district to ensure that there were no financial barriers to the learners who wished to attend the Fair. INSETA has made R1.1million funding available to Ikhala TVET College to fund their graduates who need to get practical workplace experience in workplaces. The graduates have completed the theory component of their qualification and require 18 months of practical experience to achieve their National Diploma.

The Financial SETAs plan to host two further such fairs in other rural areas during the course of the year. Employer Leadership is also necessary and those who have small offices in rural areas need to turn these into training spaces. There is often a disconnect between the head offices and smaller branches and learners are mostly hosted in the larger centers. INSETA allocates the funding directly to the TVET colleges for the learner stipends and they administer the whole programme taking away unnecessary administrative burdens from busy employers.

Snell pointed out that the various types of occupations in the insurance sector that are scarce and critical and encouraged learners who do well in Maths, Science and English to apply for Actuarial Science bursaries. The profession was growing and had a 0% unemployment rate. In 2015 INSETA has provided R33 million worth of bursaries to 743 unemployed youth studying to towards qualifications like Financial Planning; Risk, Financial and Investment Management; Actuarial Science; Sales and Marketing and IT at universities and colleges.

One of the exhibitors was the South African Actuaries Development Programme (SAADP).The SAADP’s Executive Director, Nokwanda Mkhize provided hands-on assistance to scores of learners who wanted to know about a career as an actuary. In her speech she outlined the SAADP’s programme which has officially been in existence since 2003 when it started off with a mere 19 students in the first year. In 2015 more than 140 students across the campuses of Wits, UCT and UP are in the programme receiving financial and learning support in the pursuit of becoming qualified actuaries.

Mkhize explained that actuaries are business professionals who work in organisations whose success depends on managing financial consequences of risk based on the likelihood of certain events taking place. They use mathematical and statistical skills to solve problems in the future that involve the flow of money. It takes a combination of strong analytical skills, business knowledge and an understanding of human behaviour to design and manage programmes that control financial risk.

There are full time programme managers based at each partner university to ensure that the SAADP bursary holders are taken good care of. They offer and arrange the following for the students: academic and social support; additional tutorials; and mentorship.