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Wotton + Kearney has announced the winner of the first W+K APIG NZ scholarship, a programme which aims to recognise the contributions made by young people to indemnity and financial lines insurance in New Zealand.
The award was taken home by Akshay Subramanian of Delta Insurance for his “significant contribution to the financial industry through thought pieces across multiple risk areas.” According to Wotton + Kearney partner Andrew Moore, graduate programmes and scholarships are vital in encouraging more young people to pursue careers in the insurance industry.
“We recognise the importance of rewarding people who actively contribute to the industry rather than simply do their job and go home,” Moore told Insurance Business. “We’ve come to a point where there are people who have been in the insurance industry for 30-40 years, they’ve lived and breathed insurance and they’ve contributed a great deal to the profession. Now that those people are approaching retirement age, it’s very important to continue to attract new talent.”
Moore says that the insurance industry has a lot of things going for it to make it an attractive career option, but with the rapidly rising technological boom, competition for graduates between sectors is now fiercer than ever.
“With the increased competition, you’ve really got to be selling it,” he explained. “Having well-structured graduate recruitment programmes is important when it comes to getting people into the front door, and it’s also a critical aspect of investing into young people from day one. It provides training and exposes them to various parts of the business, so that they can see what interests them and what they’re good at.
“There are so many different industries that young people can choose to work in, so it’s important to recognise those dynamic individuals that are really are passionate about improving and developing the insurance sector.”
Matthew Francis, Auckland partner and member of the judging panel said the calibre of entries received for the scholarship was “truly impressive” and gave the panel “great confidence in the future of financial lines in New Zealand.”
“The scholarship has given young people the opportunity to think about what they’re doing to contribute to the success of the insurance industry over and above their 9-5 job,” Moore concluded. “That’s really what APIG is about – contributing to the industry through education, career development and thought leadership. The real success is seeing people realise that they can be thought leaders, and can look at ways that things can be done better.”
