Graeme Codrington, futurist, Deon Fredericks, SAA CFO, and Ted Willcocks, PepsiCo SSA CFO
CFOs chart a course for their future Eight of South Africa’s top CFOs joined futurist Graeme Codrington to interrogate how they can prepare for their evolving lives and businesses.
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n 10 October 2019, CFO South Africa, with the support of Standard Bank, hosted eight CFOs at the Saxon Library in Johannesburg for a dinner with futurist Graeme Codrington. The theme of the evening focused on how CFOs can be future-ready. CFO South Africa community manager John Deane opened the floor, asking the CFOs to share how they or their companies are changing the world for the better. Northam Platinum’s Alet Coetzee shared her company’s plans to create 4,800 mining jobs. African Rainbow Minerals’ Abigail Mukhuba shared her commitment to teaching maths to children in her extended family for four hours every Saturday morning. Telkom’s Tsholofelo Molefe told the group that she takes her children with her to help out at children’s homes. Cell C’s Zaf Mahomed mentors young articled clerks from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.
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Bidvest’s Mark Steyn shared how his company is working in partnership with the Christiaan Barnard Health Memorial Hospital to revolutionise non-invasive heart surgery, which will do away with the need for opening the chest when replacing damaged heart valves. Dis-Chem's Rui Morais ended the discussion, telling the story of how he and his brother created the Wink Foundation to help people complete their education, in honour of their mother, who passed away. Graeme steered the conversation to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He pointed out that, to understand the changes that the global business landscape is weathering, we need to look back at the first three industrial revolutions. The First, he explained, was the invention of machinery to replace the jobs of people. The Second, he said was the realisation by Henry Ford that by breaking down the production process into a line of simple,