Evolutionary Awards 2025 – ASISA: most promising women-led initiative

Category: Most promising women-led initiative

Describe your evolution:

The ASISA Academy, in partnership with Joint Prosperity, launched the Fezeka Graduate Programme in 2023. This was to address the gender gap in the Investment Management industry.

It provides high potential, black South African female graduates who want to build a career in investment management with the opportunity to participate in a structured development programme which provides a powerful combination of theoretical knowledge, professional development and practical work experience within established top performing Investment Management businesses committed to growing the talent pool of women in asset management.

The programme and work experience is offered in Johannesburg and Cape Town over a 19-month period (previously 15 months) at a competitive salary under the auspices of the ASISA Academy and partner, Joint Prosperity, on behalf of the participating employers.

Graduates have the opportunity to gain experience at three different Asset Management companies over the course of the programme. Successful applicants complete the NQF 7 Financial Markets Practitioner (FMP) Learnership which is based on an occupational qualification that enables successful candidates to attain the designation, Certified Financial Markets Professional with the South African Institute of Stockbrokers. The programme includes the registration fees and exam preparation for the CFA level 1 exams.

ASISA Academy was recently noted as the only accredited learning provider of this qualification to obtain a 100% pass rate on the FMP qualification. Fezeka graduates in particular stood out with average scores above 80% for the two exams.

In addition to these industry-specific qualifications and certifications, Joint Prosperity offers a blend of work-readiness and self-development modules over the course of the programme. These learning interventions are underpinned by regular professional coaching sessions, as well as individual mentorship by senior leaders in the investment industry.

To date, three cohorts have embarked on this journey since 2023. The first cohort of eight have all subsequently been employed in the asset management industry while eight of the 12 graduates from the second cohort have secured employment since the recent completion of the programme. The current cohort has eight graduates who are progressing well in their first work rotation.

Describe the impact your evolution has had in response to its identified challenges and targeted outcomes.

Regomoditswe Moremedi credits her early interest in business and finance to growing up working in the family business in Mabeskraal village, a rural community in the North West Province. “During holidays, I used to work there, as I still do these days. Since the tender age of 15 or 16, I was helping out selling in the pub.” The only child of a single mother who eventually left her job in the corporate world to take over the family business, Rego says “My passion for finance started when I was selling food and drinks in the pub back in the day. Seeing customers come in every day after work and spending R50 or R100 on drinks and food, I asked myself, ‘If they knew about the power of compound interest, would they be spending differently?’ So that’s essentially when I decided I wanted to be in financial services.” After school, Rego was studied a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Economics at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), with a bursary from the Motsepe Foundation.

While she was at UWC, she became a member of the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP), eventually serving as financial director for the UWC chapter. Rego participated in the inaugural Fezeka Graduate Programme in 2023. After completing Fezeka’s intense 15 months of academic and practical work, the 23-year-old says it has been “a journey full of growth and self-development and self-awareness; first and foremost, it has given me a perspective on what the industry is about and the opportunities it presents”.

Of the programme’s three five-month work placements at asset management firms (in her case, at Terebinth Capital, Sanlam Multi Managers and Catalyst Fund Managers), she says: “It has been challenging, but it has taught me a lot about managing challenges and managing myself within the corporate environment.” Even for Rego, who already has work and business experience, Fezeka has been enormously helpful as a transition into the corporate world. “Without Fezeka, it would have been a lot harder. The support we have received from Fezeka, from a mentorship perspective and a coaching perspective, has really helped me to find my feet. I’ve had to find out exactly who I am, to know myself well enough to be able to manage myself.”

The Fezeka candidates also completed the NQF 7 Financial Markets Practitioner (FMP) Learnership and are scheduled to attend the CFA level 1 exam preparation classes offered by the ASISA Academy. Rego says “We are mostly fresh out of university, so we are familiar with the study aspect, but finding the balance with the working aspect has been challenging.” In the rural community in the North West Province that Rego calls home, “there are many socioeconomic challenges like poverty, teenage pregnancies, and drug use”. She says: “I always knew that I wanted to be in finance. I wanted to join the industry to understand how it works so that I could give back one way or another to my community.”

Supporting Documentation >