Gugu Mkhize - Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority CEO

Leading With Purpose

By Fiona Wakelin and Koketso Mamabolo

INSETA is a training and skills development authority entrusted with the responsibility of driving skills development in the insurance industry. This is accomplished through a number of pillars: firstly, research and Innovation which provides intelligence on the skills required for the current and future of the insurance industry - the trends and the changes that are taking place.

Secondly the delivery of learning programmes which entail learnerships, internships and skills programmes for unemployed youth as well as workers in the insurance industry and small businesses. The third pillar is quality assurance, which includes the accreditation process as well as the test certification of all the INSETA programmes.

Recently, together with 4 other SETAs, INSETA launched its first high impact rural programme in the North West in partnership with Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Traditional Authority - a project for 1 200 young people intended to provide skills in insurance, digital skills, fibre processing and manufacturing skills, agriculture and wholesale & retail skills.

Public Sector Leaders met with INSETA CEO, Gugu Mkhize to find out more about the training authority and what she is passionate about. We started out by asking what winning the Standard Bank Top Women Public Sector Award means to the training authority.

We are grateful for the accolade from Standard Bank Top Women because we believe that the work we do not only has an impact in the insurance industry. It is humbling to be recognised for our role as a skills development authority. On a daily basis we impact countless young people, workers in the sector and the industry through our programmes. The sustainability of the industry hinges on the in structured investment current and future skills.

Highlights Of a 20-Year Career

My leadership journey was fast tracked more than a decade ago when I assumed management and senior roles. Having worked in 7 organisations, I am glad that having started from the bottom, my career progressed organically, and I dare say that I was mentored by the very best leaders. My journey has been characterised by resilience, learning and determination to realise the impact of any role that I occupied.

At INSETA, one of the programmes we initiated won an award - the Insurance Sector Student Fund, which we established to assist young people that come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds and lack of access to funds for studying at university or higher education institutions. It is an innovative programme which was conceptualised in 2021 and has attracted 15 industry partners.

This co-funded programme with the insurance industry is a game changer for promoting transformation. Its focus is funding workers in the sector, the unemployed youth in scarce and critical skills. It has also allowed unemployed beneficiaries to progress from bursaries to internships or graduate development programme into employment.

The funding is then split between us so that we can fund these unemployed young people and then immediately after that, place them in an internship programme within the same organisation that has provided funding, with the hope that when they complete their internship, they will be absorbed into full time employment. So, there's a clear cut career path for them. It's a joint investment that the SETA and industry are making so that young people are given the opportunity that they require, based on scarce and critical skills.

Implementing strategies and programmes that change the lives of our programme beneficiaries is my main highlight! - seeing a life change when someone graduates, or completes our programmes and mostly, secures employment! - that for me is our “realised mission”.

The Greatest Challenges

We have worked tirelessly to transition from a manual organisation into automation and that came with challenges of implementing new systems and change management internally and externally. As a response strategy, we have built internal capacity and taken over full control of the systems, and this has contributed to significant improvements in the system. Through collaboration and continuous improvements, we now have fully operational and efficient, which we've been able to develop over the past two to three years.

How Has Technology Changed Things?

The insurance industry is part of the financial services sector, and a major contributor of the country’s economy. As technology continues to advance the industry from a skills perspective, the alignment between current skills and the industry needs becomes most critical. There is a need to continuously capacitate and train workers in the sector as technology directly affects the current jobs. Therefore, the workforce must acquire new skills, be reskilled, be multiskilled to adapt to these changes.

Historically the jobs that required face-to-face contact, have changed with automation and digitisation of service offerings in the insurance products. As technological advances occur in the industry, consumer needs have also changed which means there ongoing need to capacitate the workforce on technical insurance skills and customer-centric skills for improved client value proposition.

We have gone through our own journey of and customising our own cloud-based system managing all our data and automating some of our processes to make sure that we make working with us a bit more efficient and easier instead of the red tape of completing forms. However, because we are a state-owned entity, we still have to align ourselves with compliance. So, there are steps you cannot skip but we have managed to make things a little easier for our stakeholders.

Is Climate Change Impacting The Sector?

Most definitely. The insurance industry continually assesses the natural risks and create mitigation solutions and models. The climate change leads to severe weather events, and it affects insurance companies, customers. Each time a natural disaster occurs, insurance companies reassess risk models and cost of the premiums effectively increases.

INSETA is currently undertaking research on climate change and its impact in the insurance industry. Furthermore, we have identified some key skills interventions for claims managers, assessors and administrators for drone technology training. This programme will be delivered in partnership with the Transport SETA. This programme is intended to equip those employees working in the claims value chain.

It's important from a skills perspective to implement strategies that are responsive to the challenges confronting the industry by undertaking research, identifying the skills requirements, implementing the skills interventions and monitoring the impact of such interventions.

Our contribution to ESG is through research and innovation; INSETA has three research chairs namely the Wits University, Durban University of Technology and University of KwaZulu-Natal. These institutions support our work by embarking on research that creates the body of knowledge on the environment, sustainability and good governance. The outcomes of the climate change research will immensely benefit the industry to align additional skills requirements.

How Does INSETA Contribute To Reducing Unemployment in South Africa?

The unemployment rate is unacceptably high in South Africa, and the balance between the skills supply and demand must be continuously reviewed. It is a fact that our programmes, lead to either employment or self employment opportunities. The inclusion of the work-readiness programme in our skills intervention improve the changes of employment.

Furthermore, one of our performance indicators is the absorption of learners into employment because we are intentional about training for employment or self-employment.

The collaboration with industry role players, is crucial in this endeavour and we have created the employability programme to drive employment through learning interventions. The employability programme is a three-year initiative delivered in partnership with 46 insurance companies who have pledged their participation and support. The uniqueness of the employability programme is that it provides guaranteed employment for the beneficiaries.

Moreover, the programmes which INSETA implements are informed by the industry’s skills forecasts which are aligned to the scarce and critical skills. This is to ensure that the implemented programmes are a close match to the industry’s requirements. We continuously are in pursuit of meaningful skills implementation for broader impact.

What Is Your Why?

Nothing surpasses knowing that I make a difference and contributing positively, whether through my leadership or as a citizen of the country and driving the national mandate of skills development, of which is huge responsibility. I am privileged to work for an organisation that contribute directly to the development of employees in the industry, the youth beneficiaries and businesses we support. Furthermore, to know that our industry stakeholders are as intentional as we are to champion the skills agenda is a true motivator.

An Inspirational Message

Any person whose mission is to make a difference always strives to improve wholistically. The first step is on investing in selfdevelopment in all aspects, which ultimately improves your personal brand currency. I have learnt in my leadership journey that it is difficult to lead others if you can’t lead yourself because selfleadership demands discipline, focus, determination and giving yourself permission to make mistake and learning from them.

In leadership, there are no short cuts, and any investment you make to your growth is always aligned to your future path. There are many leaders, I have crossed paths with who invested their time and effort to building my career. This means that growth does not occur in isolation, we learn from others, we thrive around likeminded people and we experience leadership through the lenses of other leaders. I am convinced that, surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you propel you to greater heights, because such people always challenge you to become better.

One of the most important things is educating yourself, and by education, I am not talking only about formal qualifications - just being well read, understanding current issues, politics, the environment, social issues and other issues of interest. Everything you are, comes down to, the people who are around you. If you are around people who are pessimistic, negative, they are not going to take you anywhere.

But if you surround yourself with people who inspire you, who ask the right questions, and who are not just agreeing to your viewpoint, you will always be on the right track. You are your own brand ambassador, protect your personal brand.

Address: 18 Fricker Road Illovo, Sandton, 2196

Tel: 011 381 8900

Website: http://www.inseta.org.za/