Chanty wanted to become his mom's own personal medical doctor, but an encounter with the Discovery Fellowship pushed him into helping people in another way.
THEN
Student
NOW
Actuarial analyst
STRENGTHS
Motivation,
Perfectionist
HIGHLIGHTS
Graduated,
Joined Discovery
From small town scholar to actuarial analyst
Chanty was raised by his mom in Nkowankowa, a township just outside Tzaneen in Limpopo. After finishing matric he was accepted at the University of Cape Town, where a friend’s brother told him how amazing Discovery was. He had never heard of Discovery, but his friend’s passion sparked his dream of joining the team.
Adrian Gore Fellowship Award Programme
In his final year, Discovery presented the Adrian Gore Fellowship Award programme at UCT, which exposed Chanty to a bit more about the company. After being selected to represent UCT, he got to know a lot more about the business and actually fell in love with it because Discovery’s core purpose and values were very much aligned with his own.
Finding his calling
Chanty's passion for medicine was born from a desire to help treat his unwell mother, but because he was uncomfortable with the sight of blood he was driven to find another way.
Chanty only heard about actuarial science when in matric, and learned that it was insurance related.
Like many others, Chanty was discouraged from pursuing this degree because everyone said that it was a very difficult course. However, as Chanty says, “the fact that it was challenging, made it appealing to me."
"I think most times people tend to shy away from pushing themselves because they think that they can accomplish a certain task, but I think if they just jumped in they would be surprised at just how much they could achieve."
Touching lives
Chanty now works at Discovery Life, a field that allows him to experience the difference life insurance can make in people’s lives. He felt the comfort that comes with life insurance first hand, when his father and grandmother passed away, which helps him to relate to every client. "The insurance payout helped us to carry on with life after as a family after they were gone".
Pushing for perfection
Chanty’s approach is simple – he aims for perfection in everything that he does, which means he will always achieve excellence. Every situation drives him to push himself, as he says, “I always try to look at my circumstances as the catalyst for my motivation and not as obstacles.”
His optimism and inner motivation mean he can take each failure as a learning experience and try to do it better the next time around – an attitude that helps Chanty defy gravity.
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