WOMEN’S MONTH FEATURE
31 August 2020
‘I didn’t choose insurance, it chose me’
S
enzile Ndlozi has been Business on new business and chased new Development Manager at Allianz accounts – we had to get in front of Global Corporate & Specialty the client and sell. When you’re a big Africa for three years. It’s a role, she corporate, that’s an easy thing to do says, that has allowed her to grow in as you have the backup, the logo and leaps and bounds. “Sometimes people the systems. Imagine being a midsay ‘I didn’t chose insurance – it chose sized broker, promising to deliver me’, and to be honest, I fell into the better service. We did just that – and industry,” she adds. I found that I really enjoyed business Just after finishing high school, development.” she was invited to attend the IMF’s Three years later, Allianz knocked Future World Leaders Conference in on the door. “It was one of the scariest Washington, D.C. as a representative opportunities of my life! I told them of South Africa. “It was a fantastic, that I needed to think about their eye-opening experience for me. offer and slept on it. I then decided On my return to SA, I was given that it was what I needed to do – and the chance to work I took the opportunity for Alexander Forbes PUTTING MORE that essentially Financial Services. changed my life.” WOMEN INTO I debated whether or Her role means that not I should take this she has to travel a lot LEADERSHIP opportunity or whether and she’s seen most of POSITIONS IN I should study. I decided the African continent. SA STARTS WITH “Allianz has bought that I would work, as well as study at UNISA 13 entities in Africa, EQUALITY via correspondence.” outside of SA. In 2019, The company wanted her to make we opened up Allianz in Nigeria her way through most of its divisions and that was a fantastic experience. to understand what products it sold Every now and then we also travel to and how it looked after its clients, and Munich in Germany where we meet for 24 months she did exactly that our colleagues to share ideas.” under the mentorship of Stuart Cox. In the sixteen years that she’s “Eventually, I found myself in the been in insurance, Senzile has seen client servicing division where I had more women enter the industry – an to engage with clients on matters of industry that is still male dominated. insurance and risk management. I also “I’ve sat in many boardrooms where spent time with Emerald Risk Transfer, I’ve been the only woman. I’ve had one of the biggest underwriting the experience in meetings where managers in SA. I went on my first site my voice wasn’t heard. I had to visit with Chris Potter to MonteCasino learn to be confident in who I am when it was being built.” and feel as though there’s a purpose Senzile then had the opportunity to and there’s a reason for me to be in work for a mid-size brokerage. “My that boardroom.” boss and mentor at the time, Tony Women, she says, are definitely Webster, presented me with a task moving into the industry. “This that enabled me to find my passion is fantastic – the industry has for business development. I worked progressed when it comes to gender
transformation, as far as I’m concerned.” Senzile credits the men that have been in her life to provide support and mentorship. “As I mentioned earlier, I was mentored by Stuart Cox at Alexander Forbes. He was my inspiration. When I moved to the mid-sized broker, it was Tony Webster. At Allianz, I moved in to join a team that included our CEO Thusang Mahlangu.” Putting more women into leadership positions in SA starts with equality, Senzile adds. “I believe that first and foremost, women need to be treated as equals. We can also do a lot more in terms of supporting women with young families who may need to leave work to attend events like the school’s sports day or ballet recitals, amongst other things. That should be allowed. Fortunately, Allianz is very open minded about things like that and very much in the 21st century.” In the past she wasn’t open to mentoring, because she believed that she needed to do and learn so much – but that has changed. “I’ve reached a point where I want to engage in conversations, especially with the younger generation, to understand their challenges and how to assist them. We need to get people to move away from being one dimensional about their careers. Not everybody is going to be a CEO or CFO. There’s a lot that people can achieve within the financial services sector without always chasing the top two positions.”
She believes that young women considering a career in insurance should seize all opportunities. “Don’t only think about the administrative side or the client servicing side. Think about things like risk engineering. I toured sites with risk engineers in my career and what I saw was spectacular. The insurance industry attracts doctors, accountants, just about anybody. It’s a wonderful industry to be part of.”
Senzile Ndlozi, Business Development Manager, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Africa
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