During my days as a student at the University of the Free State, I had the honour of meeting an incredible young woman. Halatedzi Ramigo was a rare gem, determined and passionate about making a difference in the lives of others.
Upon graduating, Halatedzi became an actuarial analyst and was in the process of becoming a fully qualified actuary which would add to the number of black female actuaries in SA. Currently the number stands at 51 according to the Actuarial Society of South Africa.
So, when she died on May 22 2021 at the age of 30, we were dealt a big blow as members of the actuarial profession. Not only had I lost a dear friend, but I had also lost an esteemed colleague who was an inspiration to others.
While studying at UFS we shared the same passion of giving back and assisting learners with mathematics which led us to co-found Wesolve4x and become executive members of the Association of South African Black Actuarial Professionals (Asaba).
We might write or speak of Halatedzi’s great work to honour her memory but I believe the greatest tribute to her legacy would be to make sure that we carry on the work of encouraging more women to join the profession.
Limpopo-born Halatedzi grew up at Ha-Rabali village in the region of Nzhelele near Louis Trichardt. Because of her background, she was committed to ensuring that she assists young kids to use education as a way of escaping poverty.
There is an overall shortage of actuaries in the country, but the percentage is even smaller for women and black people. According to the South African Actuaries Development Programme (SAADP), the number of male graduates produced by the organisation between 2014 and 2018 significantly outnumbered female graduates. The SAADP said the number of male graduates stood at 73% while their female counterparts stood at 27%.
“Gender equality in the actuarial profession is an imperative to progress. We need to actively support our female colleagues by correcting gender disparities,” says Yashoda Ram, president of the Actuarial Women Committee and Asaba executive member.
“Actuaries require a diverse skill set and an approach to problem solving that has to resonate with society at large. This can only be achieved by addressing the inequalities our profession currently exhibit,” Ram says.
This requires us to empower women as critical thinkers and problem solvers through investing in them from an early age. It is not that women do not have these talents, but we are doing ourselves a great disservice by failing to make industries more inclusive. Programmes that support Stem subjects like mathematics should be a priority.
It is crucial that we achieve transformation by ensuring that all demographics have fair representation within actuarial science otherwise we cannot claim to be progressive. In a 2017 speech President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised that growing the numbers of actuaries would benefit the SA economy.
The actuarial skills set means that we have an army of thinkers who can assess points of risk and help prepare for the future.
“Untapping this resource must become a national obsession. We cannot think and plan without numbers. We cannot make sense of our present without statistics, and we cannot plan for the future without actuarial modelling,” Ramaphosa said.
Among the millions of young women in this country there are many who are talented and have what it takes to excel as actuaries. It is our job to not only find them and tell them about the possibility of a fulfilling career in this field. Halatedzi gave her life to this cause, and she would have wanted us to continue pushing forward.
• Ngobese is an actuarial analyst and CEO of Wesolve4x
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