A career as an actuary can lead all the way to heading an international insurance firm - though it requires 20 to 30 years' experience and gathering a few key essentials along the way.
The actuarial profession provides a defined career path and ample opportunities to those who are analytical and possess strong mathematical skills, good communications skills and a strong business sense.
An actuary is a financial engineer who develops and applies mathematical models to produce solutions addressing problems in finance and insurance.
By analysing past events and assessing current risks, the actuary calculates for uncertain future events, hence improving financial decision-making in the insurance and financial services industries.
Besides insurance companies, there are a number of organisations that need actuarial professionals.
They range from consulting firms, investment banks, fund management companies, and commercial and retail banks to health service providers, accounting firms and even the government and universities.