This year, the national theme for Human Rights Month is “Three decades of respect for and promotion of human rights” in honour of the sacrifices made in the struggle for democracy in South Africa. Meanwhile, the IWD 2025 campaign theme is 'Accelerate Action', as a call to action for us to collectively accelerate gender equality.

These themes have meaningful synergy that we can reflect on for our industry. We celebrate those who have led the way in transforming financial services and fostering greater socio-economic equality in all aspects of our society since our nation’s birth in 1994. Transformation is an evolutionary process for everyone, and we stand with the investment managers in South Africa who share similar aspirations of wanting to leave the investment industry in a better state than when we entered it: more accessible, more diverse, more transparent and more transformed.

As we look over the last three decades of significant challenges faced and encouraging progress made in our industry, we’ve also been reflecting on our own 30-year milestone, back to when we established our local business as democracy dawned in South Africa.

We’ve experienced and learnt so much along the way, and I’d like to share five key insights from our own transformation journey that might resonate with you on yours.

1. Having a clear purpose drives change and progress
While we are part of M&G plc, a large global investment manager with operations in 28 countries, we have a clear purpose in our local business, which is to help protect and grow the savings of South Africans, ensuring they can retire comfortably with dignity. It’s what drives us to deliver excellence in everything we do, and it’s what makes up our South African soul.

While our primary focus is on our clients, our commitment to transformation also encompasses the meaningful development of our people, our stakeholders, and our communities to build a sustainable future for generations to come. With this clarity of purpose, we inherently understand and believe in what we are collectively working towards.