One-stop shop for advisors

Michelline Nawatises Marizaan Davids is a proudly born and bred Namibian. She studied accounting in South Africa and embarked on her journey to become a chartered accountant. “I started out my working life as an auditor and later on a financial manager for a retail store before joining the insurance industry as an advisor and now as a vesting specialist, the position I hold at Sanlam,” she says. Davids adds that being very passionate about people and business, her biggest struggle was finding a career that will give her this ideal balance.Her job entails appointing, training and vesting new advisors for Sanlam. “In layman’s terms, it is my responsibility to make sure that all newly appointed advisors become successful in building a long-lasting career within the insurance industry as a financial advisor,” she says.Being the compassionate person that she is, Davids says her biggest challenge is seeing her advisors fail. “They are like my children and to see them fail pains me,” she says. On a personal level, Davids says her greatest accomplishment thus far is reaching management level in such an influential company as Sanlam at such a young age. However, on a more professional level, her greatest accomplishment is seeing her advisors succeed and make a good living for themselves while providing excellent advice to clients, she says.Her day mainly consists of management meetings, ranging from strategic to operational aspects of the business, or meetings with her advisors. “Everything from training to assisting with clients, I do it all. Seeing as we are here to service clients, my job also never stops at 17:00 when I leave the office. When a client or advisor needs assistance, whether over the weekends or after 17:00, I am always ready to help,” she says proudly.Davids is a very driven and competitive person, so she is always striving to be better than she was the previous day. “But my husband and children are definitely great motivators. They always inspire me to be the best that I can possibly be. They are my rocks,” she says.The advice she would give to aspiring young people out there is as cliché as it sounds, never give up on your dreams. “The world truly is your oyster, so never let anyone cause self-doubt. As long as you are willing to work hard every single day, you can achieve anything,” she says. “Also, it is okay to not know exactly what you want from life and a career. Test the waters and make sure you actually like what you are doing. It will make all the late nights, hiccups and setbacks worth it,” she says.On a personal front, Davids wants to be the best wife and mother she can possibly be. Meanwhile, academically, she would like to do her MBA and move up the ranks and become a general manager or CEO of a company.

One-stop shop for advisors

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Republikein 2025-08-04

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One-stop shop for advisors

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Republikein 2025-08-04

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