Sanlam

Sanlam is one of South Africa's oldest and largest financial services groups, providing life insurance, investment and wealth management products from its headquarters in Bellville, Cape Town. Registered in 1918, the company was originally created to expand access to financial services and savings products among a community largely shut out of the country's English-controlled banking sector at the time; it demutualised and listed on the JSE in 1998, and has since grown into a pan-African financial services business with operations well beyond South Africa's borders.

Sanlam's bursary programme is focused specifically on actuarial science, requiring a minimum of 90% for Mathematics (not Mathematical Literacy) in matric, and is open to incoming first-years as well as current first-, second- and third-year actuarial students. Funding covers tuition, accommodation, a book allowance and a monthly allowance, alongside ongoing financial support toward the professional actuarial board exams, vacation work placements and mentoring from qualified actuaries within the business. Actuarial science remains a genuinely scarce skill in South Africa, with only a small number of qualifying actuaries produced each year relative to industry demand, so the bursary functions as a direct investment in the pipeline Sanlam itself needs for pricing, reserving and product design.

Bursary-information sites widely report that the programme includes an employment guarantee on graduation, effectively a work-back arrangement in reverse; prospective applicants should verify the current contractual terms directly with Sanlam's careers team before applying.