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December 14, 2007
African actuaries take bold steps to unlock Africa’s talent
(Cape Town, South Africa. – 10 December 2007): Actuaries in Africa are coming together to take a leading role in the continent’s capacity building and accelerate access to financial services for more Africans. An Africa Actuarial Task Force has been constituted to work towards developing more actuaries as financial professionals in the continent who in turn will give back by contributing to the development of their individual economies and thus create a sustainable and well regulated financial services industry. The work of the Task Force will be underpinned by the development and promotion of the actuarial profession in the continent. Its work is reinforced in its mission statement:
A special interest group representing a number of African actuarial associations and international organizations to investigate and recommend solutions which support the development and promotion of the actuarial profession in Africa
The Task Force which held its first meeting in South Africa in November 2007 was formed at the Third International Professional Meeting of Leaders of the Actuarial Profession in English-speaking Africa which took place in June 2007 at Nairobi, Kenya. The Kenya gathering which was attended by 35 representatives from 11 African Countries was organized by the International Actuarial Association (IAA).
The Task Force in carrying out its work will engage with the actuarial community across the continent in order to address the homogeneous issues currently facing the profession and come up with Africa-based solutions. It will identify the various challenges facing the profession, identify common issues facing the profession and recommend solutions and lastly, recommend a vehicle for sharing experiences amongst the different National Associations.
The Task Force has identified four main themes for its work under the acronym – NAMES; supporting and facilitating the creation of National Associations, the Marketing of the actuarial profession with emphasis on its relevance to Africa, actuarial Education of African actuaries; establishing and maintaining high Standards of professional conduct.
The key milestone for its work is 29th International Congress of Actuaries (ICA) taking place in March 2010 at Cape Town, South Africa. It is determined to ensure that the ICA 2010 marks a watershed in the development of the actuarial profession across the continent which is vital to the emergence and strengthening of its financial markets and thus on the economic well-being of its people.
Posted by Tom Troceen