IIG 79th Annual Dinner
19 November 2021
Sandton Convention Centre
True to IIG Tradition the 79th Annual dinner was a great opportunity for the Insurance Industry to engage, connect and grow. Held at the Sandton Convention Centre on the 19th of November 2021, 500 insurance delegates came together to celebrate another year of great learning, development and growth in our Industry.
The evening was set to the theme for the event ‘A touch of Seshweshwe’, and guests arrived looking dashing in their beautiful gowns and handsome suits. Some have said it was a fairytale evening, that reminded us of the 110 years that the IIG has been serving the Insurance Industry. Guests witnessed the many pages that has been turned in 2021 and the exciting new chapter that we look forward to in 2022.
The night opened with Rianet Whitehead giving grace and the loyalty toast to our country followed by our very own Roots and Wings graduate, Kholofelo Hope Sengani, singing the anthem.
President Tshepiso Chocho told the IIG’s 2021 story, her presidential speech congratulated the IIG council and highlighted the institute’s initiatives throughout the year. In summary #YourIIG,
In Education:
The GMP programme is progressing very well and is still under way with 19 delegates. This programme is run by Gibs and has been since its inception. The change from ILDP to GMP took place in 2021 and the course was structured differently. The course has 4 blocks of 13 days each, and has 24 unit standards. The delegates need to submit their POE’s and sit for an exam in order to qualify. It was tough as the method is self study, however, we are confident that the delegates will make it.
You will have seen through our social media posts that we are moving this course to Henley and it will once again be called the ILDP. It’s a bitter sweet moment as we are said to be leaving GIBS, however, we are excited about the change – as they say, a change is as good as a holiday. – actually I read a chalkboard at the entrance of the BP garage on Jan Smuts that said, …….
We are encouraged by the keenness of our people to upgrade themselves through studies, we are looking to register 25 delegates for 2022 – the interviews will take place later this month.
We thank Sasria for their continued sponsorship of this course, which makes it very affordable for our delegates to receive premium education with prestigious institutions.
With Insight Sessions
This year we held 21 insights sessions, including Industry Outlook. All of them held virtually and all of the CPD accredited. A total of 3732 industry professionals attended our insights sessions, with only 2 sessions having less than 130 attendees. These did not take place without strain to the edu team. We thank them for their service and commitment to bringing high caliber speakers to engage with our industry on significant topics. We thank the many sponsors that worked with us to bring quality information to the people.
We introduced a new programme which we called Upskill Industry Competency Training
We introduced the programme in June. This was in collaboration with the IISA to bring Critical Thinking, innovation and Problem Solving. The programme attracted 5 CPD points. 15 professionals attended this 2-day virtual session, though it was meant to be face to face, we had to adjust the format due to the 3rd wave and tighter lockdown restrictions. Feedback from candidates confirmed that the course helped them to think about things differently. We thank Hollard, Sasria and Mel J for sponsorship
Impact & Transformation
The graduation ceremony for our Class of 2021 and the Roots and Wings Programmes were a wonderful success.
There were 28 delegates in the Class of 2021 and they were once again split into 2 classes (or tribes) – The Saiyans and Ad Astra
These 2 groups of young people really lived the Be The Difference theme for 2021. While the modules of the programme assisted them with personal and professional growth, they were also tasked as part of their charity responsibilities, to chose a school of their choice from a previously disadvantaged area and raise money and donate time. They had to work closely with the schools to determine their needs.
Ad Astra had a target to raise an amount of R 102 075.00 they have thus far managed to raise R 108 500.00 towards the school and held a career day where learners of Fon Luminus High School in Diepkloof Soweto were introduced to the short term insurance industry, career streams as well as leadership opportunities.
Saiyans had a target to raise an amount of R 120 500.00 they have thus far managed to raise R 49 794.00. Over and above the funds raised they donated 8 Seater Boardroom tables | Cabinets |1.2m Carpet | Chairs | Stationary 900 blue pens| 900 HP pencils | 900 rulers | 900 erasers | 450 scissors | 450 glue and Pots for the school feeding scheme.
This group developed a close relationship with Maphutha Secondary School in Thembisa and held a very successful career day in August. We are thankful to Sasria, OMI, Emerald, Discovery Insure and Constantia for their sponsorship of this programme
Our Roots & wings programme ran very well this year. With a total of 26 mentees and 25 mentors. It is through this programme that we see the commitment of the insurance community to developing its people. To have over 20 senior industry professionals volunteer to be mentors is incredible by any standard, and we salute the mentors.
The team also introduced our first Motivational Monday to spread motivation to others in our industry through all of our social media platforms.
We thank our generous sponsors Discovery Insure, Emerald, Sasria and Constantia. We also thank Linda Cloete and Associates for their efforts and heart in running these 2 programmes.
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The IIG Academic programme continued with the 2020 class and that programme has come to its end in September 2021. This programme had registered 44 learners, however, 42 completed. It is a Short Term Insurance Level 5 SAQA qualification and the curriculum has been applied toward FSCA fit and proper requirements to support employment needs in the Financial Services Sector. With covid and working from home, some of the learners struggled to get grounded, however, the team at GIFS was there to give them extra support throughout.
(IST Programme slides and also the feedback below.)
The IIG IST (Information Science and Technology) graduate programme is a new addition to our programmes. This programme aimed to close the gap between insurance knowledge and technology. For this pilot, we took fairly new entrants in the IT or related areas and put them in front of industry leaders who shared their experiences in a classroom format. This programme is internationally benchmarked and is set at an NQF level 7. We had 24 delegates on the programme, it is still underway and delegates will complete at the end of this month. The feedback for the delegates speaks for itself.
For these 2 programmes, we thank Sasria for their support. We thank GIFS for their masterful delivery of our programmes.
These programmes are meaningful to us as the industry is we encourage you to be involved in any which way. You can expect us to engage with you on them soon.
Other Networking events
In March we had a hybrid launch of my year as President of IIG. The Inaugural Dinner took place in a studio setting in Midrand were only 20 guests were at the venue and most of them joined us online. We thank Sasria, Discovery Insure, Santam, GIFS, Emerald and IToo for their support and sponsorship.
In May we held the president’s Golf day at the Randpark Golf course. Golfers are always keen to be out, we didn’t need to ask them twice.
In June we held a very Covid controlled Youth Day event with the idea of allowing the youth of our industry to plough back into the youth of Gauteng. This was when we could only have 50 people in a room. We worked with the Insurance Young Guns on this initiative and invited 30 learners and unemployed youths from Soweto and Tembisa. We provided them with transport to and from the venue, breakfast and lunch packs were provided. At this event which was coordinated by young people, we had ensured that our speakers and panellists are young leaders from the industry. We also had a career expo where the learners and unemployed youth could learn more about the industry and learn of the different opportunities that exist.
The third wave hit round about this time at the end of June & a decision was made to return online and cancel everything that we couldn’t do online. This resulted in the cancellation of the Industry Expo as well as the Exclusive Golf day.
In June we hosted the Broker leadership forum with Sasria and as usual, we were in collaboration with the FIA where the brilliant Ayabonga Cawe facilitated a discussion with the panellists. This event was a virtual event and carried 2.5 CPD points.
All of this as we panicked to become POPIA complaint in July.
And while the IIG celebrated its 110 birthday in August, GWII and IIG came together once more and produced an exceptional Womans Day with the theme of Uyikho konke – you are everything. 274 people attended the event which was filled with comedy and motivation and loads of prizes.
In September we went back to live events, and we kicked this off with the sponsors cocktail evening in September – I must admit, this was probably too soon, not many people had vaxed by then but we had a great time learning the Jerusalem with those who were there.
The CEO Roundtable sponsored by Munich Re was also a great success. Our keynote speaker – Kuseni Dlamini spoke to our esteemed guests on leading through uncertainty.
Past President luncheon was a beautiful afternoon spent with all those that came before me at Bryanston country club
The industry connected again for a night of golf at the end of October.
President Tshepiso expressed huge thanks to all the institute’s sponsors for 2021 who allowed us to deliver on our mandate and achieve objectives this year. The IIG theme for 2021 was #BeTheDifference.
The evening continued with a delicious three-course plated meal set at tables done up for only the very best, insurance captains of industry, hinting at a touch of blue Seshweshwe on the tables. Custom entertainment made up a live band with 4 members who dazzled for hours. 2 vocalists who sang beautifully, and 8 dancers who rehearsed specially choreographed sets dressed to the evening’s theme telling a story of the struggle in our country which led to a modernised rise as the flash mob took over the venue doing the Jerusalema, even some of the guest joined in the dance! Thereafter DJ Scott made sure everyone danced the night away.
Congratulations to the Long Service Award winners who received the honour on the evening, these captains of the industry have served in insurance for more than 20/40 years, we thank you for your loyalty, service and dedication.
In the 20-year award category:
Olivia Smith
And in the 40-year award category:
Charmaine Davids
Sollie Stols
Meritorious Awards were also awarded to IIG Past President / Treasurer, Carla Jordan, and IIG Immediate Past President, Darryl Grater. We thank you for your important contribution to the industry.
Sponsors pulled out all the stops and everyone’s entertainment and experiences were enhanced by all the sponsor activations.
Thank you to all #YourIIG Sponsors and Supporters who hosted activations and competitions.
Activation Stands were hosted by:
Class of 2021 – Silent Auction
Discovery Insure – Registration booth, DJ and dance floor
Emerald Africa – Arrival Drinks
Genasys – Photobooths equipped with props and a memory to take home
GIFS – Entertainment Segment
King Price – Lego Walk of Pain
Lucky Draws created so much excitement for the night,
Fulcrum | Mulberry | Swiss Re – Lucky Prize for 3 people: Random Name Draw – Proudly SA Hampers
To our insurance industry family, thank you for helping us be the difference in 2021 and here’s to an exciting 2022, remember that it is YOUR IIG – engage, connect, grow!
An extra big and special thank you to our sponsors for this event, without whom it would never have been possible!
Main Sponsors: Discovery Insure | King Price
Co-Sponsors: Bryte | Emerald | GIFS | IUM
Partner Sponsors: Genasys | Global Choices | Munich Re | Santam | Tracker
Contributors: Fulcrum | Mulberry | Swiss Re
Link to the gallery here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.233231582259069&type=3
