The Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA)

15 March was a happy day for IISA and the pupils of Masitake Secondary School in Matsulu Village and Sitintile Secondary School in Kanyamazane. Both schools are situated in areas that are rural, in the Mpumalanga Province.

There is a very important partnership that exists between IISA and the schools in question. Last year, IISA undertook to supply both schools with Maths and Science textbooks for their grade 10, 11 and 12 classes. In keeping with this noble commitment, the IISA delegation comprising of the company CEO Thokozile Mahlangu and the Executive Manager: Finance and Operations, John-Ross Headbush visited the school and shared with the learners about various careers in insurance. Jubilation and broad smiles were the order of the day for the beneficiaries - school authorities, teachers and especially, the learners who are the actual recipients of the textbooks. For many of the learners, owning textbooks is a dream come true. This is so not only because they are from poor families, but also because rural areas in general are not as exposed to abundant funding/sponsorship opportunities, as urban areas are. It was by virtue of this factor that IISA chose to allocate their resources to a rural impoverished community.

There is evidence of marvellous and amazing results due to the intervention that IISA is a part of. The endeavour has equipped the learners to up their marks from as low as 33% to 68% at Masitake. This is a phenomenal double-digit increase. This is a truly stalwart job done by all parties involved - IISA, other sponsors, teachers, trainers and the learners. It is very impressive and heart-warming that this improvement is in an academic field that is so critical to the country. South Africa, like most countries in the world needs more engineers and scientist, and Maths and Science are prerequisites to fulfilling this need.

"We are delighted to be associated with Sitintile and Masitake Secondary schools in this manner. CSI is our way of giving and caring. It is our way of joining those who are committed to making a positive difference to our country. We are particularly thrilled that we are positively impacting the children - they are the future of the country. When we decided to embark on this initiative, we looked at the picture holistically. What stood out for us was the immeasurable benefits for the learners and the country. Landing a helping hand in this area means kick starting meaningful careers for the learners and laying a solid foundation in this regard. These small and humble beginnings could culminate in paving paths that could lead them well into being participants in the commercial activities, in future. As far as the country is concerned, this initiative will be a feeder to bridging the gap in the Maths and Science orientated skills - a definite driver of the Gross National Product (GNP) growth," said Thokozile Mahlangu, IISA CEO.

Thokozile continued: "The insurance industry is one of the biggest industries in South Africa, as such it is imperative that it begins to build relations with stakeholders that not only have a business impact in terms of generating sales, but also stakeholders that can help support long-term business objectives of the industry. This is in terms of how we would like to position the industry, build awareness and increase the industry's visibility. The industry's operations are also hamstrung by real issues. One being to attract good talent to work in the industry. In a labour market that has a shortage of skills, we need to be considered as a real alternative. The underlying drive for carrying this out is for us to start building relationships that matter, beyond our usual customers.

A big thank you to our training partner in this all-important initiative, Tlou Institute. They are a people focused Educational Consulting firm that empowers schools, educators and learners to reach their full potential by integrating technology and data driven methodologies towards their development. They are passionate about what they do. They have a remarkably strong legacy in this field. We are convinced that they are in this for the long haul. Without them, we would not achieved this much. IISA will forever be grateful to Tlou Institute."