2018 Top 35-under-35 Finalist: Janine Juliette Jacobs

Janine was appointed in 2015 as one of the youngest senior managers at Glacier by Sanlam, a linked investment services provider with R220 billion assets under administration. She is the head of the Client Accounting Division within Finance.

She has over 10 years’ financial services industry experience in various roles, including audit manager at PwC; financial accounting lecturer at the University of the Western Cape (UWC); financial manager, equity research assistant; and manager in the office of the CEO in the stockbroking industry, as well as a senior financial reporting manager.

Janine currently manages a diverse group of 20 individuals ranging from in ages from their early twenties to their late fifties, across various cultural backgrounds. She has been able to create a cohesive unit by breaking racial divides, language barriers and differences due to multi-generational thinking.

She constantly tries to find a better, more efficient way of doing things. Over the years she has implemented, smooth-lined and automated processes to save costs and increase capacity and resources. She encourages people to think outside of the box and to not conform to social expectations and doctrines.

Janine believes in value-based leadership. ‘I don’t think you can truly lead someone if you don’t know their purpose and their values, their strengths and weaknesses and in that way know how to develop them.’

She believes in constant learning and development, has completed an advanced diploma in comprehensive management, and currently busy with a certificate in innovation through design-led thinking. She aims to do her MBA in 2019.

Janine also serves as treasurer on the board of the Percy Bartley House (PBH), which focuses on building capacity and family reintegration in the lives of marginalised and afflicted boys (between the ages of 10 to 18) for their positive contribution in families and communities.

As a single mother, she epitomises work/life balance, and every minute she is not working is spent with her 7-year-old son. She writes poetry, considers herself a professional amateur photographer, and travels often, both locally and internationally.