Marjorie Ngwenya

Marjorie Ngwenya is easily one of the most multitalented and multifaceted women you’ll ever meet. Not only has she lived and worked in five countries, she also speaks five languages and boasts a highly varied career, having worked across a number of disciplines including risk management, consulting and reinsurance.

Today she’s a life and executive coach, a consultant, a non-executive director, and The Unisure Group’s new Board Consultant.

Her path to get to this point hasn’t all been plain sailing, but working and studying tirelessly has seen her fill numerous prestigious roles, most notably as President for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (remarkably, under the age of 40), as Founding Executive Director for the Africa Leadership University’s School of Insurance, and, currently, as an External Member of the Prudential Regulation Committee at the Bank of England.

Marjorie grew up in Zimbabwe, but she was born in the UK and returned after high school to accept a place in the London School of Economics’ BSc Actuarial Science programme. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to complete her studies due to the volatility of the Zimbabwean dollar at the time. Not that she let it deter her. She took up a position at Deloitte as a tax associate and later ended up transferring to the actuarial department internally and passing her actuarial exams while she was working.

“It was a tough transition, moving into the actuarial field without the background of having an actuarial degree at first,” she humbly admits, but she says she got to where she is today “through a combination of curiosity and tenacity”.

That tenacity has certainly stood her in good stead, seeing Marjorie complete her Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy at the London Business School, all while handing over one role at Mazars in the UK and later relocating to South Africa to accept a new role at Old Mutual as Chief Risk Officer for their African operations.

It was while wrapping up her Master’s degree that Marjorie started thinking differently about her career, however.

“I’d always had a very corporate and linear point of view for my career growth,” she explains. “But while I was studying, I came to appreciate that there are different ways to move forward in life and to succeed in my career. And so, for the last five years now, I’ve been very happily working in consulting for the financial services sector and being a board member for a select few organisations.”

Inspired by her love of the client-facing work that consulting and working in the reinsurance industry brought her, Marjorie has also followed her passion and studied to become a qualified life and executive coach.

“I love working with people, and especially with clients who are looking for a career and life change. I like to emphasize the importance of finding one’s life purpose, because it was quite a journey for me.”

Like so many predestined moves in Marjorie’s career, the opportunity to join The Unisure Group started with a LinkedIn conversation with Unisure’s Chairman, Dr Graham Woolford, a few years ago.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always been open to invitations for a conversation. I enjoy networking, communicating, and building bridges. You never know where they will lead. Case in point, I certainly didn’t expect my conversations with Graham to culminate in this.”

Marjorie’s wealth of insurance experience, particularly working in both the UK and throughout Africa, will no doubt make her an invaluable asset in supporting the board and helping to grow the Unisure brand.

“I’m looking forward to being a fresh pair of eyes on the challenges and opportunities that Unisure faces, and using my industry experience to help advise on the best ways forward. Ultimately, whether I’m consulting on strategies I’ve seen employed elsewhere or considerations that haven’t yet been tabled, my overarching mission is to support the board and help Unisure to it leave its mark.”

We are honoured that you are partnering with The Unisure Group Board, Marjorie. We look forward to learning from your insights and growing the Unisure brand together.