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F E A T U R E
A Service for Good www.mazars.co.za
www.mazars.co.za
A Service F for Good Earlier this month, the South African arm of professional services firmMazars was an exhibitor in the Africa Utility Week 2015. Essential Business spoke to managing partner of the Cape Town office, Michelle Olckers, to find out what the renewable sector means to the companyand their plans to boost innovation.
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rom the 11th to the 15th of May, the fifteenth annual Africa Utility Week connected power and water professionals for five days of networking, trade exhibitions and conferences in Cape Town. Among the exhibitors was the Cape Town office of Mazars, one of the world’s leading professional servicescompanies providing auditing,accountancyand business advisory services. “We’ve seen that energy, and particularly renewable energy is a huge focus in South Africaand, with
our current energy challenges, the sector is fast becoming an important stakeholder in finding a solution. Given the growth and Mazars’ expertise and capability within the sector, our involvement with the Africa Utility Week was a good opportunity to introduce our brand and different service lines to the industry. We’ve found a lot of potential new work coming from this sector, so we thought this was a great way to meet potential new clients and showcase the good work we are already doing,” says Olckers. Mazars has twelve offices in South Africa, and offers services around project
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financing, financial model reviews, and REIPPP bid submissions to the renewable energy sector. The bulk of the interest in these services comes from the Johannesburg and Cape Town areas, where the renewable energy developments are currently focused. “A Partner from our office, specializing in renewable energy, was on hand to showcase Mazars’ services. She found it to be a great experience with fantastic exposure for our business. A lot of good contacts were potentially made from the event,” continues Olckers. 2
Mazars’ early entrance into the renewables sector has proven to be a wise decision for the company, providing them with a head start over competitors. While this may be bringing a substantial amount of work to Mazars, it’s not without its challenges.
“Probably 80% of our professionals worldwide are millennials, so we definitely have a young workforce, and we believe it’s important to listen to what they’re saying. That’s why we came up with #MazarsforGood,” she says.
“We’re often underestimated compared to the big four. We offer exactly the same services and have the same expertise, qualifications and capabilities, but the big brands generally seem to dominate the market,” explains Olckers.
Launched in January this year, #MazarsforGood is an innovation challenge designed to rally entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs between the ages of 20 and 30. The goal is to design an innovative product, service or process that can positively transform the way companies do business.
“So I think our challenge is to really get ourselves recognised, that’s why we’re getting involved with more initiatives like the Africa Utility Week. We try to support different initiativesin specific sectors, as these show that there are different opportunities available in South Africa,” she tells us. “I think what’s happening, specifically in the audit market, is that economic pressure is causing the bigger firms to reach out into areas they didn’t previously get involved with. And it’s our aim to show why we’re able to offer those services in a better and more effective way for our clients. That’s the reason why they are with us,” says Olckers. Mazars is founded on the premise that a strong relationship between partner and client is the key to successful business. These strong relationships are then leveraged to generate more services and more leads. In addition to the relationship-building work of the partners, Mazars also benefits from having a notably young workforce that excels at bringing energy and new ideas to the company.
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“Being quite a young organisation who employs a lot of young people, we realise
that innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We get challenged on a daily basis by the young people who come into our business. So we saw this as an opportunity to inspire and allow these young entrepreneurs to really show us what they’re capable of,” explains Olckers. “So we launched #MazarsforGood. They had to choose a category between society, business and employee, and effect change within that corporate environment. We’ve had a lot of people participate so far, and we haven’t got to the end of it yet, but it’s going to be evaluated by a jury chaired by our head of talent management at Mazars Group level. It’s a fascinating challenge and it really reflects our interest in innovation,” she says. The millennial influence can be seen clearly in Mazars’ plans for the future, with the firm set to take a more technology-based approach and launch new online portals within the next year.
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“We’re looking at new ways of interacting with our clients through portals so that clients feel they can access us at any time they want,” Olckers tells us. “Also the client base is changing, so we’re not just dealing with the traditional businesses, but younger entrepreneurs who are starting businesses.”
Recovery and restructuring services have also been a big add-on for Mazars this year.
“We’re also branching out in terms of our service offering and have expanded quite a lot into advisory services. Being a traditional professional services firm, we started off with audits, tax and accounting, but we’re seeing that we need to offer our clients a broader range of services. We’ve put a lot more investment into tax consulting, as companies aren’t just working within one jurisdiction anymore. They’re operating across the globe, and we’re now able to assist with that.”
“We’re recognised in South Africa as one of the leaders in business rescue as we got in early and are offering the service with very skilled attorneys and accountants. Through the business rescue process, we can actually help businesses not go into liquidation, but rather create an opportunity to becomesomething a little bit different but hopefully still exist, thereby preserving economic viability and jobs.”
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“It’s sad, but there are a lot of businesses that are struggling, and either going into liquidation or needing assistance to ensure they get out of that position,” explains Olckers.
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Contact Details Contact our office in South Africa Physical Address Mazars House 7441 Century City Cape Town South Africa Tel: +27 21 818 5000 Fax: +27 21 818 5001 Email: cpt@mazars.co.za
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