Limpho Sello
MASERU — Eighteen staff members from the Metropolitan Lesotho sales department were on Friday awarded certificates of proficiency in long-term insurance after completing a short course with South Africa’s Millpark Business School. The course started last year in November and ended in February.
Makhakhe Maliehe scooped the top achiever award after coming out top of the class. The graduation ceremony was held at a local hotel where a Central Bank director, Mokotjo Mphaka, Millpark lecturer Dr Cobus Oosthuizen, Metropolitan Lesotho managing director Nkau Matete and Ismail Sadik director of Millpark congratulated the graduates for completing the course.
Mphaka said he was delighted that Metropolitan Lesotho had embarked on a programme to transform the financial services sector through the introduction of trained, competent and confident individuals that serve insurance clients. “Today we witness a group of 18 qualifiers who will be the pioneers,” Mphaka said.
“In many developed countries certificates of proficiency in long term insurance is a minimum requirement to sell insurance products.”
He added that Metropolitan Lesotho took it upon itself as the leading insurer in the country to start this process with the hope that it will be copied by others. “Hopefully the regulator in future will also consider introducing some standard that will ensure professional conduct and establish ethical behaviour by insurance agents and other players in the insurance industry,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Oosthuizen congratulated the graduates for performing at their best to meet the required standards. “We hope for a brighter future and thanks for the support of your friends, family and facilitators,” Oosthuizen said. “Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy,” he added.
Lieketseng Makoko, head of Human Resources at Metropolitan, told the Sunday Express that “in order to sustain our position in the market we have to know where to increase the standards”. “We are trying to professionalise sales staff so that we can use them for the high market.” She said they have sales staff of about 220 people but they decided to start with 20 students only.
“The course was wonderful and we want to thank Metropolitan for providing us with the course but our challenge was that we had to work and study at the same time,” ’Matiisetso Hatane, one of the graduates, said. “We are paid for the work we have done so it was very difficult for us as sometimes we would have to try to work harder so that our salaries would not be affected,” she said.
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