Over twenty years in, SAADP looks back not just with pride, but also with a sense of how unlikely and hard-won this journey has been. Since 2003, we’ve walked alongside hundreds of young people who wanted to become actuaries – sometimes mentoring, sometimes pushing, always opening doors. Along the way, we built development programmes that actually stuck and helped shift the face of a profession that once felt closed off to most South Africans.
Breaking Barriers
From zero representation to real transformation.
Two decades ago, there were about 450 actuaries in the country, and nearly all of them – 96% – were white. A tiny fraction were Indian (3%), even fewer coloured (1%), and guess what – zero black.
Fast forward to today, and the picture, while still unequal, looks very different: roughly 74% white, 15% Indian, 9% black, but still low on coloured (2%). SAADP hasn’t been the only driver of that shift, but it would be hard to argue that this kind of change could have happened without its sustained push.
People, Not Just Percentages
Every statistic hides a human story.
Statistics only go so far. What matters just as much are the lives behind them. Some of our alumni now sit at the top of major firms – CEOs, Chief Actuaries, and even Partners. Others have started businesses of their own and some lecture at universities.
Many of them spend their free time mentoring students who remind them of their younger selves. That kind of cycle – one generation reaching back for the next – is where real change takes root.
From Curiosity to Careers
Turning “What is an actuary?” into “I am an actuary.”
At the school level, our outreach programme has been eye-opening, especially in rural and township schools where “actuarial science” can sound more like a riddle than a career. We’ve seen learners’ curiosity turn into ambition in real time.
And yes, many still find the profession intimidating, but at least now the idea of becoming an actuary is on the table for them – something that wasn’t the case before.
The Ripple Effect
When one door opens, many more follow.
The ripple effect shows up in the corporate world, too. Employers who once struggled to find equity candidates in actuarial science now have a pool to choose from. That shift hasn’t just ticked transformation boxes; it has broadened the kinds of perspectives shaping business and risk in South Africa.
Lives Changed Forever
Behind every graduate is a family uplifted.
For SAADP, though, the stories that stick are the quieter ones – the student who was the first in their family to graduate, the alumnus who used their bursary stipend to pull their siblings through school, the families whose lives look very different because someone in their household became an actuary.
Those are the kinds of changes you can’t quite chart on a graph.
The Work Continues
22 years down, the future still ahead.
So as we mark 22 years, we’re celebrating more than milestones. We’re saluting the willpower, the breakthroughs, and sometimes the setbacks that shaped this journey.
We are also reminding ourselves that the work isn’t finished; it has only begun. Building the next generation of actuaries means keeping the pipeline open and fair, so that talent and determination – rather than background or circumstance – decide who gets to succeed.
