Bianca Joseph’s journey with Milpark’s Advanced Certificate in Banking Services

Bianca’s situation is typical of most of Milpark’s graduates. She holds a full-time role in business banking, is married with three young children, and has interests and responsibilities outside of work as an officer in her local church. She also funded her studies herself, often working one module at a time as resources were available and with the determination necessary to keep going despite having to attend online lectures and submit assignments on time while taking care of her family and maintaining her performance at work.

Milpark knows that talented professionals with real-world experience should not have to choose between career growth and family. For Bianca, this involved balancing the physical and emotional demands of working and co-parenting, the academic demands of the coursework and the high expectations she had placed on herself to deliver work of excellence, without losing herself in the process.

This is not necessarily an easy path, and there were times where Bianca was ready to give up, but she remained focused on the reason for pursuing this work: her children. As Bianca notes, “My ‘why’ has faces and they call me ‘mom’.”

Bianca first encountered Milpark during her banking learnership and noticed that the name carried weight in the industry. “Milpark stood out because of its strong reputation in financial services, education, and its understanding for working professionals,” says Bianca. In addition to its reputation and excellence in academics, the learning design of Milpark includes support for students who need to study banking while working full time.

A Milpark banking qualification offers practical, relevant programmes built for working professionals. For Bianca, the content that was covered was directly applicable to her day-to-day work and enhanced her ability to deliver excellent service.

All lectures are recorded and being able to go back to what lecturers had explained was a key practical feature for Bianca to work with and assimilate new content. Courses are purposefully designed to be academically rigorous and practically manageable.

The professional, technical, and ethical standards of Milpark’s banking qualification are recognised by the Institute of Bankers South Africa (IOBSA), South Africa’s only banking industry body. Milpark graduates are immediately eligible for membership application without the board assessment required of other applicants.

Studying banking while working full time requires more than aspiration. Grit, discipline, structure and a plan are all needed for success. For Bianca, there were very clear boundaries and systems in place in order to complete her Advanced Certificate in Banking Services.

Weekdays were dedicated to her work. Her lunch breaks were times to do assignment work while weekends allowed space for tasks that required deeper focus. Reading and reviewing lectures could only happen after her young children were in bed and planning ahead, to make room for any unpredictable work demands, helped Bianca to meet her submission deadlines.

The support that kept her going

Even the most disciplined of students cannot complete a course alone and Bianca credits the support she received as one of the biggest contributors to her success. Bianca’s family were her greatest emotional support outside of the Milpark team. Bianca’s husband would not allow her to give up even when things became difficult. She explains that he would acknowledge the challenge and encourage her study regardless:

“You had a tough day, but you have to study. Even if it's half an hour, even if it's an hour, just go through it.” That, along with the additional support of her parents and friends who understood when she couldn’t attend every social engagement because time had to be dedicated to her studies, helped Bianca to the finish line.

Bianca also recognises the part that her lecturers and other Milpark staff played in her progress. Hearing support from someone other than her family was motivation to keep going. She comments that “the lecturers, just the way they engage with us as students... you're not alone.”

For Bianca, having a Milpark banking qualification has offered professional recognition of expertise and experience and opened doors to new roles. "Having this qualification and having the depth of understanding brings about a different type of conversation and confidence when you speak to a client," explains Bianca.

The modules of the Advanced Certificate in Banking Services include credit risk, financial analysis and risk management. All of these have direct bearing on Bianca’s ability to support her clients. She recounts a case where a “financial statement presented was just not looking good. I could pick it up just based on what I'd learned in my studies.” From there, she was able to advise her client on the best way forward with structure and confidence.

New positions are also on the horizon for Bianca: “My manager already told me, oh, so you're now ready for your next role? I didn't even speak to him.”

Read More: How a Higher Certificate in Banking Sparked Leonard’s Success

As Bianca sat down after an emotional walk across the graduation stage, she recalled the sacrifice and support it took to get there. “I remember walking across that stage, shivering, but I could hear my mom and dad and husband scream, ‘They don’t know what we do!’”

Staying focused on the end result helped to stop fixating on what she may have missed in the short-term. Her sacrifice was real, her work consistent, her support team steady, and Bianca has the banking qualification to show for it.

“You do not need perfect circumstances,” Bianca remarks encouragingly. “My circumstances were not perfect, but I made it." If you are interested in furthering your studies and opening up your career possibilities while working full-time, contact Milpark or apply to one of our programmes.