Insurance Skills Body Drives Rapid National Expansion of DigiHub Programme

The Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority is accelerating the national rollout of its flagship digital skills programme, signing a landmark partnership with Capricorn TVET College just seven months after launching its first facility in KwaZulu-Natal.

The memorandum of understanding, signed on Monday by INSETA chief executive Gugu Mkhize and college principal Lekau Mamabolo, brings the Insure DigiHub programme to Limpopo province and signals the authority's intent to establish a presence in all nine provinces by 2030.

The expansion follows the demonstrable success of the inaugural DigiHub at Coastal KZN TVET College in Durban, launched in July 2025. That facility exceeded expectations within months, training 986 individuals including 574 unemployed youth, 232 TVET lecturers, and 180 college staff. Women comprised 63.3% of participants, reflecting INSETA's commitment to gender equity in technology.

The DigiHub programme targets historically disadvantaged communities with practical, implementable training in the technologies reshaping the modern economy. At a time when fears mount that artificial intelligence will displace workers across industries, INSETA is taking a different approach: equipping learners with the very skills that make them indispensable in an AI-driven workplace.

"The insurance sector is undergoing a profound digital transformation. Specialised skills in areas such as insurtech, data analytics, and artificial intelligence are increasingly in demand, and we cannot continue to source these skills from abroad when we have the talent right here in our communities," Mkhize said.

"The Insure DigiHubs serve as a direct response to the national call for digital inclusion: placing cutting-edge technology directly into the hands of young people in townships and rural areas, giving them the tools to compete and lead in the global digital economy."

Rather than training people for jobs that may vanish, the programme positions learners at the forefront of the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions, ready to fill roles that insurers, brokers, and fintech firms are desperately seeking to fill.

The Polokwane facility will house extended reality simulation laboratories, AI-powered digital humans for immersive teaching, holographic displays, and dedicated coding workstations. Training covers data analytics and risk modelling, AI-enabled process automation including digital underwriting and claims processing, extended reality application development, insurtech product design, and cybersecurity and data governance.

The stakes for the sector are considerable. South Africa commands the continent's largest insurance market, generating more than R700 billion in premiums annually and accounting for 68.2% of all premiums issued across Africa. The sector boasts an insurance penetration rate of 11.5%, far exceeding the global average of 6.8%.

Yet more than 60% of South African companies identify digital skills gaps as a barrier to transformation, with major insurers forced to recruit specialists from abroad.

INSETA's work-integrated learning partnerships with 24 TVET colleges provide a structured pathway from training to employment, addressing both the skills shortage and youth unemployment in a single intervention.

The DigiHubs operate through a co-funding model in partnership with industry, offering skills training, micro-credentials, and insurance-specific modules. Capricorn TVET College is already accredited to deliver occupational qualifications in the insurance sector, and the hub will integrate these programmes.

Capricorn TVET College serves the broader Limpopo region through four campuses in Polokwane, Seshego, Senwabarwana, and Ramokgopa.

INSETA's partnerships with TVET colleges date to the authority's inception and have contributed to its track record of 95% organisational performance in the last financial year.

The DigiHub advances INSETA's goal of establishing facilities in each of South Africa's nine provinces by 2030, a cornerstone of what officials term the INSETA Excellence Model.

DAILY NEWS