Fintech consultancy gives grads flying start

Every year, the cream of South Africa’s graduates undertake Elenjical Solution’s graduate training scheme. The pitch is simple: with the intention of hiring a cohort of students with remarkable potential to drive innovation in the industry, the two-month long intensive programme gives the students the tools to help shape cutting-edge trading and risk management systems, and start their careers in the most positive way.

“Just 3 months after this programme, I’m working closely with Elenjical Solutions’ founder on a new project in IT business for a client – we’ve immediately been able to apply all our learnings, and are already trusted to drive results for the company,” says Souzah Ruzario.

Souzah is a 25-year-old Stellenbosch Electronic Engineering masters student, while 23 years old Nigel is a University of Cape Town mathematical finance graduate, and Palesa is a North-West University computer science graduate. The consensus was clear: they’d all recommend it in a heartbeat.

They, along with 8 others from this year’s small cohort training course, gained critical skills through problem-based learning on South Africa’s capital markets consulting sector. Elenjical’s one-of-a-kind curriculum is what sets it apart from the crowd. Taught by financial instructors and various senior company leaders, course content spans standard topics such as ‘Financial Problems’ from mathematical economics to less conventional material. The module ‘Murex Training focuses on equipping the students with an understanding of the industry’s leading capital markets technology solution.

“My favourite part was when we got to implement real aspects of a trading system, because it was the applied side of the theory we got taught in our other classes,” explains Palesa.

Nigel also highlighted the practicality of the programme’s content: “It was really interesting studying things that operate in real life situations outside the classroom, such as Murex, and to get into the technical aspects of what had until then been abstract concepts – it was a fun challenge.”

Setting the students up for success

Spanning two intense months of study, the compressed timeline added to the students’ challenge – filled with tests and assignments that closely evaluated students’ potential to perform the sort of work that Elenjical undertakes. “From the problem-based learning mindset to the course content itself, it was a real introduction to the sort of real-life work that we would be involved in, in the financial sector,” says Souzah.

On top of the industry experience, there’s a full-time job opportunity granted to successful trainees – which starts off their career on a very strong foot. Nigel currently works alongside Souzah on the IT business project for one of Elenjical’s clients, whereas Palesa integrated the infrastructure team: “I essentially work in support, and I was instantly trusted to carry out various responsibilities.” From their cohort, everyone else also went on to join the company permanently, across an array of teams.

This scheme is a product of the culture of sustained learning and growth that is constantly pushed at Elenjical Solutions: not only were the trainees often joined in class by other senior employees who wanted to touch up on their knowledge and competences, but they noticed this emphasis on learning was perpetuated when they joined the company full-time. “Working here, there’s always training happening and an emphasis on finding new ways to add value. We immediately could tell it was a core motivation for Elenjical during the recruitment scheme,” Souzah explains.