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Smooth operator

Michelline Nawatises



Zaskia Joubert has been part of the Sanlam family for more than five years.

She joined the company immediately after the successful completion of her studies.

I was excited by the challenge and very fortunate to find a position that offered me mentorship and guidance to develop myself and gain experience in a variety of areas of business,” she says.

She adds it is a privilege to still be with Sanlam and to share in its achievements.

Joubert manages the actuarial systems control department.

“We’re responsible for maintaining and developing the back-end of the policy administration system and offer support to the business in areas such as reporting, data analysis and specialist user interventions,” she said.

When asked by Careers what has been one of her biggest challenges, she mentioned that about a year after starting at the company she was involved in a system migration project.

Sanlam was moving its policy administration system and product platform to a completely new innovative and advanced system.

This spanned multiple years, with a steep learning curve and many hours of hard work and sacrifice.

“I gained invaluable experience during this time. I appreciate the impact this system migration project had on my personal and professional growth,” she said boldly.

According to Joubert, there is strong strategic focus in their department.

On a typical day, she ensures that while her teammates attend to daily tasks, the main focus remains on achieving their strategic goals.

She engages with different business units regarding system development requirements and acts as a liaison between the business and system developers, where necessary. Joubert also coaches and guides her team when they require support.

She loves analysing a problem to identify a solution that doesn’t just work, but is efficient and effective.

“I love challenging the status quo, because I believe in the value of change,” she says.

Her family also plays a major role in inspiring her and constantly motivates her to be the best version of herself.

The advice she would give to aspiring young people out there is to identify and acknowledge their shortcomings and work tirelessly on improving those areas.

“You are responsible for your growth and development. If you do the right things, for the right reasons, the right people will notice.”

Joubert is keen to learn even more about the business. According to her there’s always room to make an even bigger contribution. Her greatest fear is becoming complacent and stagnate.

“If you do something for a long time, you become blind to inefficiencies, you forget to question things and you become resistant to change,” she said.

The best phase in her life was becoming a mom. It allowed her to view both her personal and professional life from a completely different perspective.

She said it gave her patience she didn’t know she had and made her more aware of the value of time. If she had an opportunity to change something in the world, she would enable people to respect the opinions of others, even if they do not agree with them. One thing she says she has become very good at, is to make 24 hours last a little bit longer.