Football enthusiast and Sanlam Investments chief human capital officer Sipho Gumbi sees the asset management industry as a catalyst not only for direct employment, but also as a tool for empowering people in disadvantaged communities.
Sipho Gumbi is a football fanatic, but what really draws him to the sport is figuring out what makes a team and its coach successful. “It’s easy to spot a coach built to last, versus one built for just a season,” the ardent Chelsea supporter says.
“In my line of work, I often draw parallels between managing people, change management – and sports coaching. Some coaches are good at turning a team around, and will have a win or two – but are bad at sustaining results over time,” Sipho explains.
“A great coach is the one who gets the best out of each and every talented player, helping them to reach their maximum potential. Similar to our pragmatic environment in investments, the long game is key. Our time invested and our team’s tenure, often determines our success,” adds Sipho.
“I’m very grateful to be the head of human capital for one of the most diversified, black-owned, investment, asset management and financial solutions businesses in Africa,” he says.
Sipho isn’t exaggerating when he says Sanlam Investments is one of the country’s largest asset managers, with assets of just under R1 trillion under its management. It is the asset manager of the Sanlam Group, Africa’s largest non-banking financial services provider.
His current role at Sanlam Investments was particularly attractive to Sipho because he realised early on that in most disadvantaged communities, a career in asset management – a prestigious, impactful and highly specialised sector of financial services – is rarely the first choice when it comes to career paths. It is also one of the most rewarding.
“We are intentional about driving awareness campaigns in disadvantaged communities and at local universities, to promote asset management as a rewarding career path, be it at Sanlam Investments or not,” he notes.
“At Sanlam Investments, we know that investing sustainably means investing in the wellbeing of the communities around us. That’s why we support SDG 2: Zero Hunger – through initiatives that go beyond financial returns. From a sustainable rooftop vegetable garden at our Bellville office to food collection drives and school gardens, we’re invested in helping to relieve childhood hunger. These initiatives are part of how we bring our investment philosophy to life – by creating long-term impact that starts with care and grows into community-wide change.”
Leading in a transformational and impactful business
Sipho went on to highlight that 54 percent of Sanlam Investments’ employees are female, which makes for a great leadership pipeline for the business. Additionally, as a sustainability-led business, the opportunity to make a real impact in the country by investing the retirement and insurance savings of everyday South Africans.
“Impact investing for us, means environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles underpin every decision that is taken. In this way we are able to support the development of healthcare, education, student housing, retail businesses and much more in South Africa. We are reinvesting into the communities who are invested in us. And, our investments are aligned to the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), which means there is great purpose behind the work – and for our employees. That is rewarding for me, in my field of work.”
According to Sipho, while this and other successes in diversity are celebrated, Sanlam Investments does not focus only on leadership development, but on building a pipeline of highly specialised and critical skills in the market. Graduates and young professionals completing their chartered accountancy, CFA, and ESG qualifications are highly sought after and nurtured to build a robust talent pipeline.
Culture and sustainability: the long game
As far as culture goes, it all boils down to Sanlam and Sanlam Investment’s secret ingredients. “Culture is our sauce,” says Sipho. “A culture of care, collaboration, innovation and integrity – at all times.”
While Sanlam Investments is focused on sustainability in investments, it’s also chasing sustainability for industry professionals.
Sipho is passionate about building an environment where seasoned portfolio managers can pay their skills forward to a growing pool of upcoming black portfolio managers. He says that this is in an effort to educate South Africans about generational wealth and why it is important to invest in one’s future and those of their children rather than investing in a short-lived good time.
“The idea is to have well-versed asset managers rather than financial advisors from disadvantaged communities,” Sipho adds. “That’s one person managing assets in excess of R300 million who shares a similar background as you. This makes the industry more appealing to the next person.”
Sipho operates in a specialised, skills-based market niche. As such, attracting and retaining talent requires an equally specialised plan.
“We drive a skills-based strategy for attracting, developing and retraining talent,” he says. “Our EVP is also a key differentiator and states that if you work for us, you will work for a business that is so diversified when it comes to investments that you will be able to learn and grow in different specialised areas of finance and asset management that no other competitor can offer.”
“We also promote the culture of diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion – we refer to DEBI, versus the standard DEI. Belonging means that young professionals can make recommendations of practices they deem are important for their growth, coupled with providing listening forums to know exactly what those skills are,” Sipho continues.
Sanlam Investments is also a champion of talent mobility, or job rotation programmes and continuous staff and executive education – what he likes to call ‘learning on steroids’. “I firmly believe that HR doesn't necessarily encourage internal mobility for career growth as much as it should. We tend to recruit from outside,” Sipho notes. “I think you build a much more robust talent factory if you focus on the current talent that you have. They are already used to the culture and chances of them remaining with the organisation are higher, especially at a senior level.”
While diversified, the business’s overarching aim is ‘Winning as one’ and avoiding internal silos and competition. “We collaborate internally and compete in the market,” he says.
Giving HR a seat at the table
Over and above managing a large and diverse talent pool, Sipho’s key role as CHCO is ensuring that the human capital has a strategic seat at the table by understanding the overall business strategy and how it impacts the workforce, or how human capital enables that strategy.
“One of my key responsibilities is mergers and acquisitions through the lens of human capital, which means ensuring that there is proper due diligence on the businesses Sanlam Investments seeks to acquire or to partner with,” he explains. “Understanding if and how the values and culture of the business we are acquiring or partnering with aligns with our own, is paramount.”
From a technology perspective, Sipho is also tasked with finding ways to optimise the workforce and ensure that it is enabled with technology such as AI, alleviating people’s fears around generative and agentic AI by being clear about what work will be done by technology and what work will be done by people.
Finally, Sipho makes it his mission to ensure that employees deliver work that truly supports strategy execution. Achieving this, he says, requires a continuous shift in mindset, skills and behaviour. “Sometimes people resist change, but as a leader you need to treat them as partners in the business,” Sipho explains.
It was during Women’s Month that CHRO South Africa sat down with Sanlam Investment’s HC leader, a fitting occasion, as Sipho credits his mother for shaping many of the values he carries today.
“She instilled values of respect, integrity and harvesting what you already have,” he says. “Harvesting what I had is what made me move out of journalism and into ‘human potential’. I multiplied what I had rather than chasing after something, which is why I rarely change jobs in this space. I like harvesting.”
Off the beaten track, Sipho enjoys off-road racing and bundu bashing – spending his down time in nature.
