Amanda John-Ncube will tell you plainly that her journey into financial services did not begin with a career plan. It began with an example.

Growing up, she was surrounded by people who led by showing up fully, who believed in building something larger than themselves, and who treated solving real problems as a basic responsibility rather than an aspiration. Parents, teachers, mentors in early corporate life: the pattern was consistent.

“It’s hard not to catch that kind of fire,” she reflects. And she caught it early.

Financial services arrived almost by accident during university, in an era when accounting, law, and medicine were the expected destinations. But the more Amanda explored the sector, the more it held her. Insurance sits at the intersection of risk, trust, and human consequence. It is about designing products that protect dignity and unlock opportunity. That combination of strategic depth and real-world impact pulled her in and never let go.