Beginning of December 1997, I got my big break and started
my insurance career as a Trainee Underwriter at Eagle Insurance Company in
Harare. After completing my A Levels majoring in science subjects, I thought I
was destined for a career in sciences. Early 1996 when A Level results
came out and I did not qualify for any science degree at the University of
Zimbabwe I was really depressed. In 1996, the government was still sponsoring university students
giving them generous grants and it did not matter much what program you
enrolled in because just by getting into UZ was a ticket out of poverty. I would have given anything to go to the University and study for any program. The
next logical step was enrolling at a government funded teachers’ college for two
years and train either as a science or mathematics teacher. A few who were fortunate were also given Presidential scholarships to study at University of Fort Hare.
I had a few options, I could also rewrite my A Level exams in order to improve my
grades so as to try to enrol again at UZ or the new National University of Science at Technology in Bulawayo the following year, I
could go to South Africa and enrol at universities there, enrol with Unisa for
an Accounting degree or do a professional course. All these options needed
money and my mother could not afford this from the meagre government widow’s
pension she was getting. After my father had died in 1990, he nominated me and my
mother as beneficiaries of a life insurance policy. As a minor then, my portion of the inheritance
was being administered by the Master of High Court in Harare and every January my
mother and I would visit the Master of High Court with receipts of school fees
and uniforms. Those funds had run out beginning of my A Level final year and
the rest of my school fees for that year and examination fees was paid by the Department of
Social Welfare. So it was time to look for a job in order to fund for my studies
as well as to help my mother to look after my four siblings and my nephew. At that time some UK universities were awarding free scholarships for nursing courses and I did apply but I did not pursue the avenue further. I never thought I would ever leave Zimbabwe.
I started looking for work as a temporary teacher at primary
school level and I visited many education district
offices as well as the provincial offices. Later on when my A’Level certificate
came out I started looking for vacancies at secondary schools. In the middle of
1996, I was given an appointment letter at the provincial offices in
Marondera to go and relieve a teacher who was going on annual leave at a school in Chivhu. My
mother had to borrow bus fare from neighbours and I reported to Chivhu
district education offices and the district education officer told me the vacancy had been filled. I applied to banks and building societies for trainee positions and I never got any response. I also applied to the Air Force of Zimbabwe for the pilots training program and I was requested to come for the selection process at Manyame Airbase. The selection process went well in the morning when I wrote the first few tests. In the afternoon, we had to write a test in Physics and I became unstuck as I had done Biology instead of Physics. The next day I was supposed to come back for more exams and knowing how badly I had done in the Physics paper, I did not bother to come back again the following day.
Beginning of September 1996, I visited the Kotwa education offices about 20km from Nyamapanda Border with Mozambique. I was immediately employed as temporary teacher at Chimukoko. I would teach building studies, mathematics and geography. I was about 220km away from home and I would only come home after two months. I learnt that I had missed an opportunity at the Department of Roads, a telegram had come looking for me to report for an interview where they were training technicians in some diploma in civil engineering. It was a few years before cellphones came out. In November 1996, I was moved to Chifamba Secondary School and the school was a walking distance to the Nyamapanda-Harare highway and it was a bit closer home. I met a guy by the name of Nathan who was the Agriculture teacher. This guy had graduated with a Bsc Agricultural science (Hon) degree from the University of Zimbabwe and here he was teaching in the rural areas. I thought to myself this guy must have seen himself as having been achieved after A Level enrolling at the university and after all those years, he now found himself teaching in the rural area and because he did not have a teaching degree he was not considered as a full teacher. Also my A Level Mathematics teacher had also graduated with an Economics degree but ended up teaching.
Nathan gave me advice during our drinking and smoking sprees that I took to heart. He asked me what I wanted to do and I told him I wanted to be an Accountant. And he advised me that when I got an opportunity to be employed in any industry, I should get a qualification in that industry so that I would have a base to fall onto and after that I would pursue what I loved. Some of my colleagues were going to start training at teachers’ colleges in January 1997. I had no interest of training as a teacher as being a teacher was not my dream and I never applied to any teachers' college. I had now settled on studying for an accounting diploma with Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA UK). In January 1997, I got an open ended contract as the sole building teacher at Kambarami Secondary School just outside Murehwa less than 90km from Harare. This suited me very well as I now stayed at Murewa town centre at a house that had electricity. I had connected and was paying for a landline telephone line at my mother’s house. Almost every day I would phone home to find out if there was any letter for me from employers. Every weekend, I would go home as it was only 90km away.
Beginning of September 1996, I visited the Kotwa education offices about 20km from Nyamapanda Border with Mozambique. I was immediately employed as temporary teacher at Chimukoko. I would teach building studies, mathematics and geography. I was about 220km away from home and I would only come home after two months. I learnt that I had missed an opportunity at the Department of Roads, a telegram had come looking for me to report for an interview where they were training technicians in some diploma in civil engineering. It was a few years before cellphones came out. In November 1996, I was moved to Chifamba Secondary School and the school was a walking distance to the Nyamapanda-Harare highway and it was a bit closer home. I met a guy by the name of Nathan who was the Agriculture teacher. This guy had graduated with a Bsc Agricultural science (Hon) degree from the University of Zimbabwe and here he was teaching in the rural areas. I thought to myself this guy must have seen himself as having been achieved after A Level enrolling at the university and after all those years, he now found himself teaching in the rural area and because he did not have a teaching degree he was not considered as a full teacher. Also my A Level Mathematics teacher had also graduated with an Economics degree but ended up teaching.
Nathan gave me advice during our drinking and smoking sprees that I took to heart. He asked me what I wanted to do and I told him I wanted to be an Accountant. And he advised me that when I got an opportunity to be employed in any industry, I should get a qualification in that industry so that I would have a base to fall onto and after that I would pursue what I loved. Some of my colleagues were going to start training at teachers’ colleges in January 1997. I had no interest of training as a teacher as being a teacher was not my dream and I never applied to any teachers' college. I had now settled on studying for an accounting diploma with Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA UK). In January 1997, I got an open ended contract as the sole building teacher at Kambarami Secondary School just outside Murehwa less than 90km from Harare. This suited me very well as I now stayed at Murewa town centre at a house that had electricity. I had connected and was paying for a landline telephone line at my mother’s house. Almost every day I would phone home to find out if there was any letter for me from employers. Every weekend, I would go home as it was only 90km away.
During the April school holidays, I stayed in Harare with my
aunt Mrs Maphosa and her family and I was visiting the CIMA library everyday. I
intended to write my stage 1 exams at the end of 1997. My uncle who is
now late was a captain in the Zimbabwe army told me about the impending
recruitment for Officers Cadets in the army. I had no intention of joining the
army nor the police like my father. I had responded to an interview for
printing apprentices at NCR Zimbabwe and went for the interviews during the
holiday. Around June 1997, my uncle would phone the school offices and leave
messages for me that I needed to call him back. Thank god there were no
cellphones at that time. I did not phone him back as I had no interest of joining
the army. Beginning of July 1997, I got the position to train at NCR systemedia
to train as a printing apprentice for 4 years. I left my temporary teaching job immediately
and I really wanted to be in Harare for my accounting studies. I started
staying with the Maphosa family and I would walk to work in Southerton Industrial area from Sunningdale.
As a teacher I had earned around $2 600 Zimbabwean
dollars and as an apprentice the salary was $800 plus overtime. I could no longer
afford to pay my CIMA examination fees which where payable in British Pounds. I
was supposed to go to Harare Polytechnical college for 1 year as part of my
apprentice programme in January 1998. I wrote a letter to the human resources
director at NCR requesting if they could fund my CIMA studies and the answer
was no. I told my aunt that I did not see myself lasting long in the printing
industry. Towards the end of the year, I responded to an advert in The Herald
newspaper for trainee underwriters. I almost missed the opportunity luckily on
Fridays we finished around 1pm and I went straight to the recruitment agent. He
interviewed me on his way out and slotted me for the last interview with the human
resources manager at Eagle insurance company.
I knew a bit about the insurance industry from the Commerce
subject that I had done at O’Level. I borrowed a jacket from my uncle Mr Maphosa and reported to Eagle House and waited for my
interview with the Human Resources Manager after 5pm. I was then invited for
another interview with the two heads of department Mr Nedziwe and Ms Pat
Saukila. I was on night shift that week so I visited Insurance Institute of
Zimbabwe offices at First Mutual offices in Harare and started to research more
about the industry. On the day of the interview, I was well prepared. I remember Mr Nedziwe when he told me I had been hired and I could not believe it. I knew it was the start of something big. In November 1997 the Zimbabwe dollar collapsed against major
currencies and it meant I could no longer finance my CIMA studies. In December
1997, I started the job at Eagle insurance company. My uncle who was in the
army died towards Christmas and I had to take unpaid leave to go to our village
in Murehwa to attend his funeral.
As part of the training we were supposed to also pass The
Certificate of Proficiency offered by Insurance Institute of Zimbabwe. My A’Level
Mathematics studies especially the probability and statistics option that I had
taken came in handy in the insurance studies. The fundamental concept of
pooling of risks was easier to understand because of my mathematics background.
In March 1998, I was granted study leave and I went home to Marondera to study.
I would visit my old library at Dombotombo to study for the exams. I wrote the
exams and passed. In the insurance industry for one to be promoted into
management one needed to qualify as an Associate. There were two routes either
through studying with Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) or Chartered
Insurance Institute UK (CII) and both required payment in forex. My employer
was offering study loans and I enrolled for IISA and wrote my first exam in September
1998. I was still not sure that Insurance was for me but I remembered the advice I had been given by Nathan two years earlier when I was still teaching.
Since we were on training, we did not get any salary
increment in 1998 and the cost of living kept on increasing and the Zimbabwe
dollar kept on losing value. After paying for my studies in South African Rands
I was battling to make ends meet. I persevered as I knew how important my
studies where. After paying for my study loan, I had very little money left. I once visited the house of a workmate in Zengeza who had bought nice furniture on credit. I could not afford to take any credit. 1998 was very tough for me, every lunch hour I went to a bakery closer to the Railway station and bought buns with coke and life was very hard. I worked hard at work and I will never forget the day Mr Alouis Mautsi one of the senior underwriters told me that he was impressed with my training and in his opinion, I was ready to work on my own as an underwriter. I was then moved to claims department.
In January 1999 our group of trainees was first given a salary increment of 20% and when we complained we were then given 40%. In May 1999, I got a job at Diamond Insurance company dealing with Personal Lines Claims. By July 1999, I was earning 3 times of what I had earned at Eagle Insurance company in December 1998 and that was after I had got another job at CGU on the day my three months probation ended at Diamond Insurance, I was called back to Diamond Insurance after and I was given a counter offer and I went back to work for them. In April 2000, I joined American International Group in the farming claims department. I continued with my studies and I had good incentive at AIG Zimbabwe because everytime I passed the exams, they would write off my study loan. I got informed by the insurance institute through the principal officer that I had won the book prize in Reinsurance. The company paid for the hiring of our taxedos and I went to collect my book prize at the Insurance Institute's annual dinner at Sheraton Hotel with our then principal officer Mr Joe Hwacha who is now late.
Around 2001 one of the junior managers Dumisani who reported to the Motor Insurance Profit centre managers resigned and the job came with a Nissan Sunny box and the job was advertised internally and I also applied and went for interviews. The feedback I got was that I should remain in claims as one of the claims managers would be leaving and I would be considered for that position. Towards the 2002 Presidential election war veterans invaded commercial farms and the violence was beamed throughout the world and AIG made a decision to stop insuring farming business and the company had to retrench about 40% of the staff. By that time I was now doing Corporate Insurance claims and this helped me with my studies as I could apply what I was learning in Marine Insurance, Business Interruption, Reinsurance, Property Insurance, Motor Fleet etc.
Around September 2002, I was informed of a junior manager position at Zimbabwe Insurance Brokers. I went for the interview and I did very well in the interview as they were asking technical insurance questions and at that time I was about to complete my Associateship exams. I started my position as an Account Executive in the Personal Lines Department. Normally Account Executives reported to Divisional Managers but in the case of personal lines, it did not make financial sense to have a Divisional Manager in a team with only 6 people and a smaller budget. So by default I became the section leader reporting directly to the General Manager -Retail Broking. In short term Insurance section there were two Divisional Managers and so by default, I became part of the interview panel and I would be involved in the recruitment process for the two companies I worked for as a manager until I left Zimbabwe in August 2007.
At the end of 2003, I passed my Associateship examinations and on the 1st of January 2004, I joined Zimnat Lion Insurance company as an Underwriting Manager. At the end of 2005, I passed my Fellowship exams and joined the Society of Fellows at the Insurance Institute of Harare. I briefly enrolled for an MBA programme and abandoned it after I could not raise the British Pounds required. In April 2006, I was transferred to Bulawayo and became the branch manager. In mid 2007 with economic situation in Zimbabwe continuing to deteriorate, I applied for a quota work permit at the South African Embassy in Harare and the process was quicker for me since I had a South African qualification, I did not need to get SAQA evaluation. A week after I left Zimbabwe, I got a job and I started working in South Africa in September 2007. I found South Africa to be very different, there was no emphasis on qualifications like in Zimbabwe and the big insurance companies that required professional qualifications rarely employed foreigners like my self. I decided to change careers by finally studying for an Accounting degree. After I graduated with my degree, I enrolled for CTA course and looked for a position as an articles clerk a requirement for one to qualify as a Chartered Accountants. After 1 year of applying, I gave up decided not to continue with the CTA.
In South Africa even though my career did not grow as I anticipated, however I got to work hard and earn a decent salary and this assisted me to study further and be able to afford many things that I could not afford back in Zimbabwe. I managed to dream and finance a number of projects and experiment with entrepreneurship.
Looking back 21 years ago, I had no idea it would turn like this. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to join this profession. I appreciate all the mentors that I have had along the way and they helped to shape my life. I have met and continue to met very important people due to this profession, I have visited the places that I have and also sat in the boardrooms that that I have due to the profession. By mid 1999, when my career began to take over, I came to a realisation that it was a blessing in disguise that I did not end up at university studying for a science degree otherwise, I might have missed all the fun that I have had along the years.
http://kanyokad.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-i-have-learnt-in-my-21-years-of.html
In January 1999 our group of trainees was first given a salary increment of 20% and when we complained we were then given 40%. In May 1999, I got a job at Diamond Insurance company dealing with Personal Lines Claims. By July 1999, I was earning 3 times of what I had earned at Eagle Insurance company in December 1998 and that was after I had got another job at CGU on the day my three months probation ended at Diamond Insurance, I was called back to Diamond Insurance after and I was given a counter offer and I went back to work for them. In April 2000, I joined American International Group in the farming claims department. I continued with my studies and I had good incentive at AIG Zimbabwe because everytime I passed the exams, they would write off my study loan. I got informed by the insurance institute through the principal officer that I had won the book prize in Reinsurance. The company paid for the hiring of our taxedos and I went to collect my book prize at the Insurance Institute's annual dinner at Sheraton Hotel with our then principal officer Mr Joe Hwacha who is now late.
Around 2001 one of the junior managers Dumisani who reported to the Motor Insurance Profit centre managers resigned and the job came with a Nissan Sunny box and the job was advertised internally and I also applied and went for interviews. The feedback I got was that I should remain in claims as one of the claims managers would be leaving and I would be considered for that position. Towards the 2002 Presidential election war veterans invaded commercial farms and the violence was beamed throughout the world and AIG made a decision to stop insuring farming business and the company had to retrench about 40% of the staff. By that time I was now doing Corporate Insurance claims and this helped me with my studies as I could apply what I was learning in Marine Insurance, Business Interruption, Reinsurance, Property Insurance, Motor Fleet etc.
Around September 2002, I was informed of a junior manager position at Zimbabwe Insurance Brokers. I went for the interview and I did very well in the interview as they were asking technical insurance questions and at that time I was about to complete my Associateship exams. I started my position as an Account Executive in the Personal Lines Department. Normally Account Executives reported to Divisional Managers but in the case of personal lines, it did not make financial sense to have a Divisional Manager in a team with only 6 people and a smaller budget. So by default I became the section leader reporting directly to the General Manager -Retail Broking. In short term Insurance section there were two Divisional Managers and so by default, I became part of the interview panel and I would be involved in the recruitment process for the two companies I worked for as a manager until I left Zimbabwe in August 2007.
At the end of 2003, I passed my Associateship examinations and on the 1st of January 2004, I joined Zimnat Lion Insurance company as an Underwriting Manager. At the end of 2005, I passed my Fellowship exams and joined the Society of Fellows at the Insurance Institute of Harare. I briefly enrolled for an MBA programme and abandoned it after I could not raise the British Pounds required. In April 2006, I was transferred to Bulawayo and became the branch manager. In mid 2007 with economic situation in Zimbabwe continuing to deteriorate, I applied for a quota work permit at the South African Embassy in Harare and the process was quicker for me since I had a South African qualification, I did not need to get SAQA evaluation. A week after I left Zimbabwe, I got a job and I started working in South Africa in September 2007. I found South Africa to be very different, there was no emphasis on qualifications like in Zimbabwe and the big insurance companies that required professional qualifications rarely employed foreigners like my self. I decided to change careers by finally studying for an Accounting degree. After I graduated with my degree, I enrolled for CTA course and looked for a position as an articles clerk a requirement for one to qualify as a Chartered Accountants. After 1 year of applying, I gave up decided not to continue with the CTA.
In South Africa even though my career did not grow as I anticipated, however I got to work hard and earn a decent salary and this assisted me to study further and be able to afford many things that I could not afford back in Zimbabwe. I managed to dream and finance a number of projects and experiment with entrepreneurship.
Looking back 21 years ago, I had no idea it would turn like this. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to join this profession. I appreciate all the mentors that I have had along the way and they helped to shape my life. I have met and continue to met very important people due to this profession, I have visited the places that I have and also sat in the boardrooms that that I have due to the profession. By mid 1999, when my career began to take over, I came to a realisation that it was a blessing in disguise that I did not end up at university studying for a science degree otherwise, I might have missed all the fun that I have had along the years.
http://kanyokad.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-i-have-learnt-in-my-21-years-of.html
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