In just under a month, Nicole Stow will be travelling to the United States with fellow Milpark students Prudence Motha, Nobuhle Moyo and Matthew Vagle where they will compete against other international teams from around the world in the 2023/24 Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge. It is the first time that Milpark Education has entered a team to represent them at this global challenge.
Called the Risk Avengers, these School of Financial Services students managed to land a spot in the top 8 of the competition, being chosen from 38 teams from nine countries. It is something which this business development executive from Johannesburg is very excited about. “This competition has provided an opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios, improving my practical understanding of risk management concepts,” says Nicole.
She has been studying with Milpark for the last seven years, a period which has seen her grow from a Corporate Portfolio Manager at CIB to a Business Development Executive at Marsh, an international professional services firm. As she has progressed along the road of her educational journey with Milpark, as well as the competition, she has seen the benefits not only in her career but in her personal life as well.
“My whole mindset has shifted. I thought I understood risk management, but now I see and understand just how interrelated risk management is with every field, every industry and every decision we make as people,” she says. With a strong interest in personal development and growth, this competition has given her even more motivation to gain additional skills in the industry. After completing her BCom in Short-Term Insurance at the end of this year, she is looking at enrolling for a PGD in Risk Management in 2025.
As team captain, Nicole can’t help but appreciate the deeply rewarding experience of working with her fellow Risk Avengers. She commented, “Considering how different each of our backgrounds, fields and expertise are, it was amazing to see how easily we collaborated our different perspectives into finding new solutions. Everyone has done their part so well.”
She explains, "While the four weeks allocated for completing the entire risk management report were intense, the most significant challenge we encountered was effectively managing our time and balancing work, life, studies, the competition and personal commitments, and not to mention getting all four our schedules aligned.”
Even so, Nicole says working with the Risk Avengers was the best experience she’d ever had with a team, and the spirit of collaboration undoubtedly played a big part in the team’s successful submission to the competition.
Not only do the top three teams receive prize money, but they also gain recognition in the risk management field, meet industry leaders, and get real-world experience over the six months that the competition runs.
In California, the team will present the findings of their report at the RISKWORLD Conference, an event with over 10 000 attendees and 300 speakers, including entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and actress Marlee Matlin. It is a platform to network and get to know more people in the industry.
“It’s an amazing opportunity!” acknowledges Nicole. “If it wasn’t for this competition, I don’t know if it would have been possible to meet so many industry leaders and gain so much valuable insight in such a short period of time. Having the opportunity to engage in face-to-face, meaningful conversations is totally different compared to reading their articles on LinkedIn!”
Reflecting on her time at Milpark, she expresses her sincere gratitude for the lecturers and the level of engagement they fostered with the students. Their active involvement in the learning process made a significant impact on her educational journey. To fellow students who share ambitious aspirations for their future, she offers some valuable advice: "Avoid procrastination! Dedicate the necessary time and effort to complete your tasks diligently. The rewards will be worth it. And most importantly, give it your absolute best!"
Nicole and her fellow Risk Avengers will present the findings of their case study on 5 May 2024, at the RISKWORLD Conference in California.
