Case study
Industry
Financial Services
Company HQ
Centurion, Pretoria, South Africa
Number of Employees
16,000
Office Locations
10 countries
Momentum Group Teams Up with Udemy Business to Boost Talent Growth
Udemy driving business outcomes
Case study details
Momentum Group is one of South Africa’s largest investment- and insurance-based financial services organisations. Its purpose is to build and protect its clients’ financial dreams. The organisation aimed to strengthen its reputation in the sector as a company with a robust L&D program designed to attract, retain, and develop top tech talent.
With Udemy Business, Momentum Group now provides its technical teams with on-demand access to thousands of courses. This enables them to take control of their own development, progress at their own pace, upskill, and unlock new opportunities within the organisation.
Standing out amidst tough competition for tech talent
South Africa’s financial services sector is highly competitive when it comes to securing talent, with our direct competitors and many banks and even retailers, offering professionals a wealth of benefits and development opportunities. To distinguish itself in the jobs market, Momentum Group wants to be seen as a leading employer that provides unmatched learning and development opportunities to all its professionals, regardless of experience.
“South Africa has limited options for adult learning. Professionals will often have to go to university for a diploma or certification,” explains Annette Breetzke, Human Capital Executive at Momentum Group. “But many people don’t have the time or the funds. We wanted to find other ways to quickly and easily upskill our people.”
Momentum Group previously ran frequent classroom training sessions for its technical teams, often dedicated to specific certifications. But these were costly and weren’t always useful. For example, with only classroom learning in a traditional setting, people would often fail their exams and need to retake them. Available set times for class, pressure from work and family commitments, different learning pace and level of understanding were sometimes barriers to success.
Another core goal for the company was to become a more attractive employer and increase its retention rate. “We’d often see talent leaving for other companies because their skills stagnated in their roles,” says Annette. “We need to continuously upskill our tech professionals who were organically ambitious and eager for advancement or more challenging work.”
Momentum Group wanted to find a more effective way for its professionals to learn. And with many of its teams working remotely, it needed to deliver accessible, convenient learning opportunities.
Human Capital Executive, Momentum Group
Curated learning resources on demand with Udemy Business
Momentum Group now uses Udemy Business to give its teams access to thousands of courses related to their roles, on-demand, self-paced, and accessible from any device.
“We have roles that span dozens of fields, so we needed a platform that could offer a broad range of courses,” explains Annette. “Udemy Business offers exactly that. Our employees can build technical skills across topics such as the cloud, AI, and Agile development, as well as soft skills around leadership and emotional wellbeing.”
Unlike classroom courses, Udemy Business can be accessed at any time to fit into employees’ everyday routines and roles. Crucially for Momentum Group, as Annette explains, the courses have a high standard: “It’s not just a breadth of courses on Udemy; it’s curated quality. People can write reviews, give feedback on courses, and make recommendations to each other. There’s a real social aspect to the learning.”
High-quality courses to fill critical skills gaps
Momentum Group mostly uses Udemy Business for its technical teams, upskilling them in areas the business needs. Both line managers and the company’s senior team can recommend specific Learning Paths — pre-built course collections — to fill critical skills gaps.
“Udemy has played a vital role in certifying our teams on cloud platforms; it’s been a key focus for us as a business, and there are dozens of courses on the topic,” says Annette. “The platform is particularly useful for helping our people revise for their certifications. You don’t always need to complete entire courses — you can just choose the modules you need to focus on. This level of individual customisation is a huge plus for us.”
As well as assigning Learning Paths, many of Momentum Group’s teams have taken a self-driven approach to learning. In fact, four employees have trained in new technical areas on Udemy Business during their personal time. They’ve all gained certifications and been promoted to more senior roles.
“I’m not limited to the confines of my role using Udemy Business. I can access any course anytime,” says one of the learners. “Knowing that I can control my L&D is a huge benefit.”
Welcoming talent with dozens of learning opportunities
Udemy Business also plays a significant role in onboarding people to Momentum Group, especially the company’s interns. Annette explains that rather than creating onboarding and internship courses from scratch, the company’s teams can use what’s available in Udemy Business: “Using Udemy for our internships and onboarding saves us dozens of hours building learning resources. Instead, we can assign new people to the right Learning Paths and spend a short time adding Momentum-specific parts to their program.”
Momentum Group also supports Udemy’s courses with practical opportunities to learn skills on the job, using dedicated mentors to help guide employees’ learning journeys. And the learning opportunities extend throughout employees’ entire time with the company.
“We’re really trying to give everyone the opportunity to continue learning in their roles, no matter their age or experience,” says Annette. “Even if someone joins us and leaves after two years, we’ll feel comforted by the fact we’re sending a better-educated person into South Africa’s talent pool. We would prefer that they stay though.”
Inspiring learners throughout the company
While many of the company’s technical teams are equipped with Udemy Business, it’s not automatically available for everyone. Instead, employees must write a letter of intent detailing what they’ll get out of the platform. “It helps us ensure people have a specific focus for their learning, compared to if we gave the licenses out freely,” explains Annette.
Annette’s team promotes Udemy Business throughout the company by working with learning heroes: Udemy super users who share their personal journeys to inspire others. And as more people use the platform, the company has seen a positive impact on its employees’ personal lives.
“Udemy Business really shined as a benefit during the pandemic. We saw people taking courses on everything from woodwork and guitar to planting vegetables and beekeeping,” says Annette. “Today, it remains an invaluable resource for learning about mental health, too. It’s helping people manage their emotions, stress and wellbeing more effectively.”
Momentum Group
Greater retention, more internal promotions, and higher upskilling
Since using Udemy Business, Momentum Group has significantly improved employee retention; it currently has just 8.6% turnover in its tech teams, compared to 18% before Udemy Business. The 2023 Student’s Choice Awards* revealed that job-seeking graduates ranked training and learning opportunities and personal growth and development as the two most valued benefits in an employer, whether current or prospective. Additionally, growth potential within the company (including skills development, training, and opportunities for promotion) was listed as the second most important factor, after open communication, as the make-or-break reason for choosing an employer in the first place.
The company has also made 68 internal promotions over the past year due to employee upskilling. And 93% of those using Udemy Business say they find it helpful.
“It’s clear that L&D opportunities are a big draw for tech talent — we’re not going to attract the right people if we can’t offer them challenging learning opportunities and potential for advancement,” says Annette. “With Udemy, we can give people the freedom to learn whatever they want, whenever, and from wherever.”
Now, Annette’s team is exploring how Udemy Business can teach its teams to work alongside AI in their roles. As Annette explains: “Education is going to play a big role in adopting AI across our teams — it’s going to be essential for evolving in our sector. But I’m confident Udemy Business will help us drive the change.”
* The Student’s Choice Awards, is an independent web-based survey which is completed as and when students registered to enter the DHL GradStar Awards. The goal of the survey is to better understand how students perceive potential employment environments, and to provide future employers with insight into how students think and see themselves, as well as the kinds of cultures they believe will be a good fit, when stepping out into the employment market. Now in its fourth year, the survey was first conducted in 2020, and is sponsored by Momentum Group, formerly Momentum Metropolitan.
Human Capital Executive, Momentum Group
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