DURBAN - The launch of the Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (GIFS) in Johannesburg is a significant milestone for South Africa’s Financial Services Sector.
The institute is a re-brand of Masifunde Training Centre (MTC), a multiple award-winning boutique, financial services education provider that has served the insurance and banking industry with distinction over the past 14 years.
"The Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences continues with MTC’s deep commitment to spearheading sustainable, positive change in South Africa by mobilising the power of education to bring about socio-economic advancement," said Kershen Pillay, Chief Executive of the Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (GIFS).
He added, "This is embodied in the GIFS mission to build a better Africa for others to inherit. We are whole-heartedly devoted to using education as a tool to tackle unemployment and poverty in the continent,” explains Pillay, who was named the TYI Top 100 Young African Innovator of 2018.
Attended by the financial services elite and heavyweights from SA’s corporate-sphere, the launch of the Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (GIFS) at the Zulu Nyala Country Manor signalled one of the most anticipated events in the country’s higher education calendar.
As GIFS spreads its wings globally and refines its specialist range of tailored, private education offerings, the brand refresh is aligned to the company’s vision of creating the next generation of trailblazers, ground-breakers and market leaders within the financial services industry. To this end, it has expanded its national footprint to include corporate offices in KwaZulu-Natal (Durban), Gauteng (Sandton) and the Western Cape (Durbanville).
"We believe that the future of Financial Services Sector, and indeed any sector, lies in the hands of agile individuals who are not afraid to carve new pathways for the greater good, and we are committed to moulding the minds of such passionate individuals through quality education," said Pillay.
For Pillay, who nurtured the GIFS predecessor from its fledgling roots on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal into a specialist national educational powerhouse, the birth of the Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (GIFS) is the culmination of 14 years of established credibility, goodwill and good standing within the industry.
GIFS has vowed to continuously evolve its training experience through a combination of innovation and insight. This includes new offerings within its accredited and non-accredited programmes, an international exchange programme between South Africa and The Netherlands, creative engagements on multiple-layered interfaces to generate awareness of the Financial Services Sector and attract passionate role-players, and plans to tap into the unrivalled skills and expertise of its exclusive database of MTC Alumni that comprises some of the most progressive minds in South African banking and insurance.