Safari

Safari is a workforce development technology company that connects job seekers from underrepresented backgrounds with paid apprenticeship opportunities at insurance carriers, brokers, and distributors across the United States. Founded in 2021 by Jelani Fenton -- a former commercial insurance broker at Marsh McLennan and investment banking associate at Evercore Global Insurance Group -- the company addresses a convergence of workforce challenges in the industry: an aging workforce (approximately 1.5 million professionals expected to retire by 2036), insufficient diversity in the talent pipeline, and low awareness of insurance as a career destination.

Safari operates an apprenticeship-first model, placing candidates into full-time paid roles before or alongside structured training, rather than requiring pre-employment certification. Candidates are sourced from community colleges, military transition programs (including the Department of Defense SkillBridge program), and career-changers from non-traditional backgrounds. As of early 2023, operations spanned 11 US metro areas across Arizona, California, Florida, New York, and Texas, with cohorts launched beginning in August 2022.

The company completed the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA) 100-day program and the BrokerTech Ventures third accelerator cohort in 2022, receiving seed funding from both programs. Initial focus was on life insurance and annuities roles, expanding to property and casualty by 2023.