Meet Ayomide Akinbuli, Usman Dauda and Yamin Mireault-Dibanda, who landed full-time roles with Aviva Canada after participating in Aviva’s Black Summer Student program in 2021.

The trio say they are excited about their future – their newfound love for insurance, the people they work with and the career growth they’ve experienced so far. Ayomide, a Junior Business Analyst says: “My team pushed me to do better, voice my opinion, and get out of my comfort zone. Through this, I was able to confidently rise to all challenges in my permanent role.” “I’ve grown by being true to myself, keeping a good and positive attitude and of course, communicating with my boss early on about being interested in staying with the team and learning more about the business.”

Authentic and inspirational leadership matter

For Usman, an Intermediate Stat Analyst, and Yamin, a Data Processing Underwriting Assistant, the inspiring leaders they worked with during their internship stood out. Says Usman: “My leaders were supportive of my growth from day one, making sure I was involved in all phases of a project. Instead of just relaying information back to me when I had questions, they would set up stakeholder meetings for me, so that in addition to building my technical skills, I could work on my communication skills.”

“My role was very aligned with my academic background (data analytics), and I was able to work on projects that prepared me for what my full-time role looks like today. The program set me up for success by allowing me to help my team achieve strategic goals and as an intern, that’s something that made me feel a lot of pride.”

Describing his experience as amazing, Yamin had the chance to be involved in a variety of different projects, develop new skills, and meet people across several teams. Today, he’s constantly learning new things about the business, getting firsthand exposure to projects that have a direct impact on operations.

“My leaders were extremely supportive throughout the program. They took a genuine interest in seeing me succeed, and I always felt comfortable asking questions about anything. I think Aviva is doing a great job of encouraging diversity and inclusion by hiring people from different backgrounds and paths of life – it allows for a working environment where people are open-minded and respectful of one another.”

An inclusive workplace

Aviva Canada may have achieved 50% of women and 35% of visible minorities across its VP+ roles – the first financial services company in Canada to do so - but the insurer knows its work is nowhere near done. Currently, in the insurance industry, one in five is a visible minority and less than one in 10 is in a senior leadership role.

For many years now, Aviva has been laser focused on building a safe and inclusive space for its people to be themselves, lift their voices and share their experiences. And employees love it – evident in its employee engagement score which continues to rise in the last three years and is more than 10% above the top quartile for financial services companies in Canada. As part of its focus to attract more diverse students into the insurance industry, Aviva offers three Summer Student programs: one for all students, another for Black students and a third for Indigenous students.

Usman says: “The Black Summer Student program is important because it shows people that they can come to work and be their true selves. By having employees and leaders with different backgrounds, it helps a wide variety of customers feel like Aviva is the right insurer for them.”