General Management Program Launch
The launch of the 2021 General Management Program (GMP) was marked by a rainy day in Johannesburg on the 25th of March. The program previously known as the Insurance Leadership Development Program (ILDP) has been part of the Insurance Institute of Gauteng’s (IIG) education portfolio since 2016, it has been sponsored by SASRIA and facilitated by the Gordon’s Institute of Business Science (GIBS) since its inception.
All COVID-19 protocols were followed at the GMP launch held in the GIBS auditorium in Illovo and due to these restrictions, the event was limited to 55 persons. Each of the 20 delegates was encouraged to invite their mentor, manager or professional support person who would be walking the 14-month journey with them. Other attendees included staff and representatives of the IIG and GIBS as well as the GMP sponsor SASRIA.
The day also signified the first IIG digital inaugural dinner which was planned to take place later that evening to celebrate the new IIG president, Tshepiso Chocho. The IIG who are celebrating 110 years of engagement, education and networking in the insurance industry has chosen “Be the Difference” as the theme for this year. Tshepiso, who was in attendance at the launch, welcomed the 2021 GMP class into the IIG fold, she encouraged delegates to breathe life into the 2021 theme and be the difference as they embark on their new venture.
The lineup of speakers at the launch was notably all female with SASRIA’s Chief Financial Officer, Bajabulile Mthiyane sharing some of her life experiences and a feisty motivation that had the audience enthralled by her straight talk and witty address.
Amanda Bougardt and Bonita Lee-Shaw from GIBS who will be playing integral roles throughout the course gave an outline on what the program entails as well as advising mentors on how best to support delegates to achieve the optimal results for their teams.
Thokozile Mahlangu the Chief Executive Officer of Insurance Institute (IISA), who was also the individual who had initialized the program 7 years ago when she saw the need to educate young leaders in the insurance industry, was able to convey knowledge and motivation to the delegates ahead of them commencing their first session that morning.
IIG faced similar concerns to most companies in 2020 when South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown brought about a new way of interacting. The 2020 ILDP program was reconstructed to incorporate virtual classes in March 2020. Classes swiftly moved from the halls of GIBS to a new virtual world, with the end of the pandemic not yet in sight by the time the applications for the 2021 program began rolling in, the IIG along with GIBS decided to change the program to be better suited to our new normal. The program had several notable changes with the most remarkable being:
- The name of the program changed to General Management Program from the Insurance Leadership Development Program.
- Delegates of the program are now required to be second-line managers, whereas previously the program catered for first-line managers.
- The GMP is now an NQF level 5 qualification based on the QCTO (Quality Council for Trade and Occupations) scale whereas the ILDP was equivalent to an NQF level 6 certification on the SAQA (South African Qualification Authority) scale.
- The required learning hours to complete the course increased to 1500 hours from 1200 hours in previous years.
- Syndicate assignments no longer form part of the curriculum and have been replaced by online quizzes, gamification and additional individual assignments.
- Each delegate will be compiling a portfolio of evidence during the 14-month course to showcase their learnings which will be a new addition to the course.
- The GMP demographics remains in line with the sponsor’s (SASRIA) mandate of transformation within the financial industry.
The enhancements to the GMP have made it a more challenging and rigorous programme to prior years. Delegates will require a lot more diligence and commitment was given that there is a large self-study component. The GMP delegates will be burning the midnight oil for the foreseeable future however this didn’t stop them from ending off their launch with an amazing networking and karaoke evening hosted by GIBS.
This article was written by: Caryn Josephs-Solomons
The General Management Program is proudly sponsored by:
