CFO South Africa Magazine Issue 2 by CFO South Africa

MAGAZINE FOR FINANCE PROFESSIONALS IN SOUTH AFRICA 2 • 2019 CFO.CO.ZA

Marlé van der Walt and Roxane Leita

Mikateko Tshetshe Unilever VP Finance for Africa Hungry for personal development Gideon Joubert FirstRand CFO Rest of Africa Up for new challenges Glenn Fullerton Nampak Group CFO A career, interrupted

Women CFOs rising at Investec CFO Cares: Capitec’s André du Plessis Making a difference in schools Car Hire Brokers’ Danie Ferreira Work is part of work-life balance

BLACK UMBRELLAS

CFO Charl Keyter

Making Milestones at Sibanye-Stillwater

Supporting entrepreneurs and your BEE scorecard

Full spectrum Enterprise digital transformation Can automation, advanced analytics and machine learning make reporting faster, more insightful and more affordable?

Absolutely. www.deloitte.com/za ÂŠ 2019. For information, contact Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.815628/kea

CONTENTS

M A G A ZI N E F O R F I N A N C E P R O F E S S IO N A L S I N S O U TH A F R I C A 2 • 2019 CFO.CO.ZA

Marlé van der Walt and Roxane Leita

page 32

Women CFOs rising at Investec

Mikateko Tshetshe Unilever VP Finance for Africa Hungry for personal development

page 68

Gideon Joubert FirstRand CFO Rest of Africa Up for new challenges

page 40

Glenn Fullerton Nampak Group CFO A career, interrupted

CFO Cares: Capitec’s André du Plessis Making a difference in schools Car Hire Brokers’ Danie Ferreira Work is part of work-life balance

BLACK UMBRELLAS

page 16

CFO Charl Keyter

page 24

Supporting entrepreneurs and your BEE scorecard

page 74 page 66

page 46

Making Milestones at Sibanye-Stillwater

CFO South Africa is the organisation for finance executives in South Africa. Our goal is to connect finance professionals online and off in order to share knowledge, exchange interests and open up business opportunities. CFO Enterprises (Pty) Ltd 1 Wedgewood Link, Bryanston, Johannesburg, 2191, South Africa. | +27 (0)11 083 7515 | CFO.co.za © 2019 CFO Enterprises (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. MANAGING DIRECTOR Joël Roerig jroerig@cfo.co.za +27 (0)76 371 2858

CFO SOUTH AFRICA COMMUNITY MANAGER John Deane jdeane@cfo.co.za +27 (0)82 570 9482

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Georgina Guedes gguedes@cfo.co.za +27 (0)83 651 2789

DESIGN Elizabeth Ferraris PHOTOGRAPHY Andrew Morgan Patrick Furter Ter Hollmann

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OTHER CONTRIBUTORS Beth Amato, Caylynne Fourie, Danie Ferreira, Herman Singh, Kate Ferreira, Liezl Berry, Toni Muir PRINTING Novus Holdings coenraad.pretorius@novus.holdings +27 (0)11 201 3460

People Moves 8

The latest CFO appointments, promotions and resignations

Growth 12 16 24

CFO Dinners: looking at the future, innovation and aspirations Charl Keyter presiding over Sibanye-Stillwater’s Lonmin acquisition Women CFOs rising at Investec

Leadership 30 32 38 40

So you want to serve on a board? Read this first Mikateko Tshetshe: A hunger for personal development Back to basics – Reimagine the Customer summit Glenn Fullerton: A career, interrupted

Future 46 50 54 64

Black Umbrellas: using ESD budgets to support small business Deloitte CDO – Resistance is futile CFOs & Tech – There’s an app for that CFOs seize the opportunity to Get Smart: Collaborate

Community 66 68 72 74 78 82

Work is a part of work-life balance 10 Questions for Gideon Joubert The good, the bad and the ugly – three types of CFO CFO Cares: Safeguarding children at Cape schools Look out for these winning traits in the next CFO of the Year From our MD: Adapt & Live

74 CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

SANDTON CONVENTION CENTRE 16-17 OCTOBER 2019 LEARN | NETWORK | BUILD YOUR CAREER

THE BIGGEST

FINANCE CONFERENCE

IN AFRICA Finance professionals register for FREE www.finance-indaba.co.za

Do you want to exhibit at Finance Indaba Africa 2019? Contact John Deane jdeane@cfo.co.za | +27 82 570 9482 or visit www.finance-indaba.co.za

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BALANCE

in all things

t a time when the accounting profession is under intense scrutiny in South Africa, and not a week goes by that some corporate or government financial irregularity is not revealed, it’s heartening to learn how many of the CFOs in our community actively find ways to try to make the world a better place. We’ve been telling their stories in the CFO Cares section of the magazine, and this time, I had the privilege of going with Capitec CFO André Pretorius [that’s me with him in the photo on this page] to visit Ysterplaat Primary School to meet the team who drive his Community Keepers project. It was fascinating to see how one of the key founders and decision-makers at Capitec drives the implementation of a completely different kind of organisation at schools. The aspect of the visit that really stood out for me was when the headmistress revealed that her teachers often only started their school day at 10am, because they spent the first few hours of the morning seeking out help from social workers and the police for children who were being neglected or abused at home. You can find out more about how Community Keepers changed all that on page 74. The release of this issue of CFO Magazine coincides with the CFO Awards, when we have the opportunity to celebrate the finest financial leadership in South African industry. During the interview phase of the awards, I met with a number of the nominated CFOs personally and was always impressed at not only their professional calibre, but also the way in which they articulated their vision and took into account their responsibility for the people with whom they work. You can read more about what the judges look out for when selecting the CFO of the Year on page 78. And if you didn’t make it to this year’s event, please make a note to join us next year. It really is the highlight of the financial calendar.

We often read about how important it is not to lose sight of the “life” part of the “work-life balance” ideal. But, as Car Hire Brokers CFO Danie Ferreira shared with us on page 66, sometimes life (in the form of a passion for extreme scuba diving) can take over, and you need to reintroduce work to return everything to balance. While fun and leisure aren't usually the aspects of life that take over, the repercussions for Danie and his family were the same as if he’d been working too long and too hard, so the lessons he learnt about priorities are applicable to anyone. On a final note, Joël Roerig, who was the editor-in-chief of CFO South Africa, has taken over from departing MD Graham Fehrsen. It was a privilege to get to know Graham, and he won’t be a stranger to our community, but I am delighted that Joël, who has been a part of the fabric of our organisation from the beginning, will be filling his shoes. And I have taken over Joël’s role. You can rest assured that the CFO community is in good hands – and we’ll be putting our personal touch on the content we deliver in the months and years to come. Yours, in balance or something like it, Georgi

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

PEOPLE MOVES

THE LATEST CFO APPOINTMENTS, PROMOTIONS AND RESIGNATIONS New finance bosses for Altron, Amplats and Alexander Forbes, while ex-CFOs become CEOs at Petra Diamonds and Imperial Logistics.

Craig Miller has taken over as FD of Amplats. He replaced Simon Kruger who was filling in as FD after the resignation of Ian Botha, who moved to Anglo American. Craig joined Amplats from Anglo American where he was group financial controller.

Mohammed Akoojee

Alexander Forbes appointed Bruce Bydawell as CFO, replacing Naidene Ford-Hoon. Bruce, a chartered accountant, has over 25 years’ experience in finance, audit, accounting, taxation, financial reporting, debt structuring and corporate finance, of which more than 16 years have been with the company. Cedric Miller was appointed as Altron’s CFO, replacing Group COO Andrew Holden who was filling in after the resignation of Tim Jacobs. Cedric has over 27 years’ financial and accounting experience, having worked extensively in global investment and retail banking.

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Former Virgin Mobile SA financial director Samantha Sequeira was appointed as the CFO and executive director of Huge Group, replacing Zunaid Bulbulia, who will remain with the company as a consultant.

“We’ve walked a long journey to get where we are – having Imperial Logistics separately listed.” – Mohammed Akoojee Marlé van der Walt was appointed as Investec Specialist Bank CFO. For the past six years she was the CFO for Private Bank, while simultaneously leading the Basel IRB programme. You can read more about her vision for her role on page 24.

Shivan Mansingh

Wesbank appointed Thembeka Maseko as its CFO. Thembeka has been with Webank for nine years, working her way up through the financial divisions to her most recent appointment as CFO. The Federated Employers Mutual Assurance Company (FEM) appointed Yusuf Bodiat as its CFO. After the resignation of former Imperial Logistics CEO Marius Swanepoel, Imperial Holdings CFO Mohammed Akoojee stepped into his place. Regarding his new role, Mohammed said: “I am very excited about the new

“CFO Clean Audit” moves CBRTA Rofhiwa Irene Singo, who is popularly known as “CFO Clean Audit” has moved from the Department of Mineral Resources to the Cross-Border Road Transport agency (CBRTA), where she will be serving as chief financial officer. You previously mentioned that you’d like to work in the private sector. What changed for you? I have a strong belief that one shouldn’t stay longer than five years in a position because that timeframe provides a definite structure to achieve your goals and vision. My plan was to venture into the private sector, but then the CBRTA opportunity arose. My interest was piqued because I’d never heard about the agency and the work it does is fascinating. What legacy did you leave at the Department of Mineral Resources?

role. We’ve walked a long journey to get where we are – having Imperial Logistics separately listed. It’s been quite fulfilling to get to this point. Following this three-to-four-year period, I am looking forward to this next stage in our growth.”

My strength is in reporting, and I believe that I implemented one of the most robust reporting systems in the public sector. We didn’t achieve a clean audit last year because of issues from many years ago, but this doesn’t detract from the gains made. I am most proud of the fact that I left a motivated, passionate and hardworking team behind. How have the first 100 days been at CBRTA? I feel like I am in Grade 1 again! When you start at a new school, you have to learn about the environment, the people and the culture.

Wayne was nominated for the 2016, 2017 and 2018 CFO Awards and walked away with the Finance & Technology award in 2017. Olufunke Ighodaro resigned as CFO-designate at Barloworld. She

Metrofile Holdings appointed former Torre Industries group CFO Shivan Mansingh as its permanent CFO. He will be replacing interim CFO Leon Thompson, who filled in after former CFO Kelebogile Dludla resigned without providing a reason.

was appointed in September 2018 to take over the CFO role from Donald Wilson. However, she resigned as of 1 February as both CFO-designate and executive director to pursue other interests. Donald will remain in his position despite his retirement, which was planned for February 2019. After Tongaat Hulett CFO Murray Munro took a medical leave of absence in August 2018, Rob Aitken stepped in as acting CFO. He was appointed permanently as of 1 March.

Wayne Koonin resigned as the CFO of Omnia to pursue other interests. Wayne was appointed group finance director of Omnia Holdings in 2014 after a diverse career path. He has extensive international experience at CFO and financial director level.

My first few months have been about fostering relationships with my team and becoming embedded in the culture. I have also been meeting with our stakeholders who have such interesting perspectives on Africa and the potential for economic growth.

Marlé van der Walt

Vukile Property Fund appointed Laurence Cohen as its CFO designate, succeeding FD Mike Potts, who retired with effect from 30 June 2019. He also joined the board of directors.

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PEOPLE MOVES

“I look forward to working with a very capable team that has grown the business.” – Richard Duffy Ian Botha

Former AngloGold Ashanti CFO Richard Duffy took over from Johan Dippenaar at Petra Diamonds as CEO. About his new appointment, Richard said: "I am delighted to have been appointed CEO of Petra Diamonds. I look forward to working with a very capable team that has grown the business and laid the foundations

Wayne Koonin

for delivering on the recent capital investment programme." Pernod Ricard South Africa appointed Stuart Hughes as its FD, replacing Brigitte Staley, who left the group. Stuart is also a member of the executive management team. Before taking up the South African appointment, Stuart served as the interim country manager and finance director for Pernod Ricard Angola.

Former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) chief financial officer Victor Senna was appointed as the acting head of IPID. He will be replacing Robert McBride for a period of three months. Former Food and Beverages Manufacturing SETA CFO Nokuthula Selamolela was appointed as CEO of the organisation. She served as CFO of the company for five years. l

From CFO to Financial Accounting Services CEO Former African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC) CFO Ayanda Mafuleka has been appointed as the new CEO of the Financial Accounting Services Seta (FASSET). CFO South Africa chatted to her about the transition. How does it feel going from being a CFO to a CEO? I have been in the public sector for most of my 16-year career. So moving from CFO to CEO has not been big of an adjustment yet for me because the position is still in the public sector. As a CFO I reported to a CEO so I have a bit of an insight of what is expected of me as a CEO. I feel encouraged and humbled to be entrusted with such an

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important mandate and role that the SETA I lead plays. What excites you about your new role? “I myself a beneficiary of Fasset and I qualified as a chartered accountant through some initiatives funded by FASSET. I am passionately looking forward in delivering on the NDP goals on education and a skilled workforce that will contribute to the economy. Personally nothing will be more gratifying than seeing more previously disadvantaged learners entering the finance and accounting sector known to a sector for the elite!” “Being part of the CFO SA family

Ayanda Mafuleka

has greatly empowered me and has prepared me for my move to CEO because I understood then when I was a CFO that I was not just a number cruncher but needed to be a visionary and a strategist! This has prepared me for my new role as a CEO.” l

The C-suite is singing a new tune. Whether you’re a midsize business or a Fortune 50® enterprise, a finance and HR system from Workday just works, as planned and as promised. And that sounds pretty great.

www.workday.co.za

Fine dining and scintillating conversation at the Future-Ready CFO Dinner At Marble restaurant

CFO Dinners: looking at the future, innovation and aspirations In the first quarter of 2019, CFO South Africa hosted three delectable and inspiring dinners in Johannesburg and Cape Town, at which top executives gathered to share ideas about the most pressing issues they face in their working lives, and be motivated to find new ways of addressing them.

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Narriman Taliep, CFO, V&A Waterfront, enjoying the evening

Paul Steenkamp, innovation guru, CLC Africa, and Morne van Tonder, CFO, Pragma Group, share ideas

Marble Restaurant in Rosebank, 26 February •

Joël Roerig, managing director, CFO South Africa

•

Lulama Booi, head of balance sheet, MMI

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Melle Eijckelhoff, global CEO, CFO South Africa

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Mikateko Tshetshe, VP finance, Unilever

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Rayhaan Jhetam, CFO emerging markets, Alexander Forbes

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Risto Ketola, CFO, MMI

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Tendani Sikhwivhilu, head of finance, Standard Bank Retail

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Thabang Seganye, senior solution consultant, Workday

•

Zuko Mdwaba, country managing director, Workday

Future-ready CFOs On 26 February, CFO South Africa hosted its first dinner of the year at Marble Restaurant in Rosebank, in partnership with Workday. It turned out to be an evening of candid conversation, fantastic food, lots of laughter and great new relationships forged. The topic of the dinner was future-ready CFOs. Modern finance leaders should have the ability to look beyond the horizon and prepare their team and business for inevitable change. All of the CFOs professed to be excited about the technological change that is fast reshaping the business world, but there was also anxiety. Sharing some

of those fears among peers proved powerful. A main takeaway for the participants was that they are not alone on their current rollercoaster journey of fastpaced change. Globally renowned author, presenter and researcher Graeme Codrington from TomorrowToday Global was a special guest during the dinner and proved to be a real catalyst for collaborative learning. He threw the cat among the pigeons by painting a picture of rapid advances in the medical profession and the prediction that each of the CFOs around the table would have a good chance of living beyond 100 years old. CFO South Africa global CEO Melle Eijckelhoff then asked the dinner guests to reflect on what such a long life would mean for them personally and a lively discussion about second careers, pension age and the future of children ensued. Of course, greater longevity also has a big – and interesting – impact on business, which made for equally lively conversation.

Getting uncomfortable about innovation On 25 March, CFO South Africa in partnership with Oracle hosted a dinner in a private dining room at The Stack in Gardens, Cape Town, with the intention of “getting CFOs uncomfortable” about innovation. While the aim of the content was to challenge, the setting was anything but uncomfortable, and CFO attendees were treated to fine dining and excellent wine, while sharing their excitement, frustration, successes and failures relating to new and creative implementations.

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

Zuko Mdwaba, Workday country managing director, chats to Risto Ketola, MMI group FD, at Marble restaurant

Highly acclaimed innovation expert Paul Steenkamp facilitated the discussion and highlighted key ideas from his programmes that have significantly changed the world of business.

Graeme Codrington, fururist, TomorrowToday Global, delivers thought-provoking ideas at Marble restaurant

The Stack in Gardens, Cape Town, 25 March •

Andrew McMaster, FD, Penbev

CFOs from Curro, Peninsula Beverages, Pragma, Swift Holding Group, and V&A Waterfront put forward questions such as: When is innovation actually necessary? And do we sometimes run the risk of innovation being counter productive through “first-mover advantage”, making mistakes along the way and in the process sharing vital and sensitive information with our competitors?

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Bernardt van der Linde, CFO, Curro

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Jan Michael (Jannie) de Kock, CFO, Swift Holding Group

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Johan Breytenbach, CFO, Hunting PLC

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John Deane, community manager, CFO South Africa

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Melle Eijckelhoff, global CEO, CFO South Africa

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Morne van Tonder, CFO, Pragma

Paul suggested that budget, time and resources should be divided according to the Golden Rule of Innovation: • 70 percent: existing projects run internally, enhancing and streamlining process and delivery; • 20 percent: additional add-ons to existing products and services • 10 percent: brand new products and services

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Narriman Taliep, CFO, V&A Waterfront

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Thabang Seganye, senior solution consultant, Workday

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Zuko Mdwaba, country managing director, Workday

Everyone agreed that teams and companies which are rich in culture and diversity were the most successful and innovative. The message everyone walked away with was that the only reason they are in business today is because their customers have challenges and concerns that their

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products and services address. They were reminded that the greatest risk to sustainability and profitability is to become complacent and assume that today’s solutions to yesterday's problems will see their businesses into the future. If their businesses are to remain competitive and profitable, they need to solve tomorrow's challenges with tomorrow’s solutions.

Cheryl-Jane Kujenga, Adcorp CFO, expresses her vision of the future at The Saxon

Matthew Kibby, Sage VP Enterprise, shares his views at The Saxon

Back to the future Another dinner took place at the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg on 28 March, supported by software company Sage. The Saxon is one of South Africa’s most astonishing dinner venues and made for a perfect setting for finance leaders to come together for a freewheeling but, at the same time, profound conversation about the fast-changing world in which we live. CFO South Africa community manager John Deane ignited the lively and candid exchange of ideas with the opening question: “What excites you and what scares you about the future?” Graeme Codrington, who returned as a special guest, said: “In five years’ time the job description of the CFO should be very different. The reports that the CFO’s team produces should just be emailed around and assumed read. The CFO’s contribution in board meetings should be about the future.” In between lots of laughs and a fantastic three-course meal, guests shared their thoughts, hopes, fears and aspirations. The conclusions during this dinner were that the CFO

The Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg, 28 March •

Cheryl-Jane Kujenga, CFO, Adcorp

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Craig Sumption, CFO, Hatch Africa

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Hannes Boonzaaier, CFO, AfroCentric Investment Corporation

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Johan Duplessis, general manager of IT, Afrimat

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John Deane, community manager, CFO South Africa

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Matthew Kibby, VP enterprise Africa & Middle East, Sage

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Melle Eijckelhoff, global CEO, CFO South Africa

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Pieter Bensch, executive VP, Sage

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Pieter de Wit, CFO, Afrimat

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Pieter Henning, CFO Southern Region, Sibanye Gold

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Shivan Mansingh, CFO, Metrofile

of the not-too-distant future is an entirely different animal, and that great finance leaders will be known for experimentation, a focus on the future and getting the most out of people with the intelligent assistance of databases, algorithms and software. l CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

Making

MILESTONES PRESIDING OVER SIBANYESTILLWATER’S LONMIN ACQUISITION Sibanye-Stillwater CFO Charl Keyter will reach a significant milestone next year; he will be celebrating his 25-year anniversary of working for the precious metals miner. The energetic and affable Charl reflects on the highs and lows that have encompassed his impressive career. “I love my job. If I do it for the next 15 years, I can walk away saying that I really enjoyed it and I think I operated at my potential.” By Ray Mahlaka

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

Photos: Patrick Furter

CFO MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;¢ CFO.CO.ZA

GROWTH

t wouldn’t be far-fetched to consider Charl Keyter, the CFO of precious metals miner SibanyeStillwater, as a guardian of company history.

Having been with the company for 24 years over its various incarnations, Charl brings valuable institutional memory that few CFOs in the mining industry have. He has seen Sibanye-Stillwater being formed out of three unwanted gold mines spun off from South African producer Gold Fields to become a major force in the precious metals market today.

offshore from South Africa’s JSE. Known in banking circles as “the deal”, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman recently announced, that the company might move its listing in the next two years – a move that would allow it to raise capital and compete for international assets. Arguably, Neal’s possible plans cannot be viewed as a disinvestment strategy from South Africa, as SibanyeStillwater wants to remain domiciled in the country, where it has platinum group metals operations that contributed 34 percent to its group profits in 2018.

“I like to challenge myself and I have a competitive side to see through a tough situation.”

Bearing testimony to his many years of experience is that Charl seems to have perfect recall, easily remembering the price of palladium two years ago as if he looked it up hours ago (he correctly ascribes a value about $700 per ounce). And he can easily tell you features of the commodities price boom in the 2000s – a period that saw mining companies record super profits on the back of high precious metals prices and global demand.

Charl doesn’t come across as a gung-ho number cruncher who is boastful. Instead, his jovial and warm character lends itself to humblebrag moments. “I have now been with Sibanye-Stillwater for 24 years. If all goes well, I will qualify for a long-service award next year,” he says in jest. Even before Charl reaches his 25-year anniversary at Sibanye-Stillwater, he would have presided over another milestone for the company. Sibanye-Stillwater is in the throes of concluding one of its boldest acquisitions yet; an all-share bid worth R5.4 billion for Lonmin, London-listed and the world’s number-three platinum miner. If the deal is successfully concluded, it will be the sixth that Charl has been involved in at SibanyeStillwater. Previous deals include, among others, Sibanye-Stillwater’s first foray into the platinum sector in April 2016 when it acquired Aquarius Platinum for R4 billion and Rustenburg platinum mines from Anglo American Platinum six months later for R4.5 billion. He will probably be involved in another deal that will entrench Sibanye-Stillwater’s position globally; the potential move of the company’s primary listing

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

In the Lonmin deal, which will have considerable significance for SibanyeStillwater, the company will become the largest primary producer of platinum and second-largest primary producer of palladium and rhodium in the world. Sibanye-Stillwater is betting that it can restructure Lonmin, which is facing financial difficulties, by using its smelters and refineries to process, market and sell the ore it digs out of the ground to global counterparties. But the deal has faced several challenges. Although it has received conditional approval from the Competition Tribunal to go ahead, its conclusion has stalled because of an appeal to the approval by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the majority union at Lonmin. Amcu is vexed by potential job losses that might result from the merger, with Lonmin planning to cut 12,459 jobs (regardless of the deal) while Sibanye-Stillwater has pencilled in 885 job losses.

My toughest moments Despite these teething problems, Charl is up for the challenge of concluding the deal, initially announced in December 2017, by June 2019. “I like to challenge myself and I have a competitive side to see through a tough situation,” he says. After all, he is no newbie to challenges relating to structuring the merger of large entities, thanks to his previous experience that will make it easier for him to navigate complexities associated with the Lonmin deal.

“I have probably learnt more in the past six years than in the preceding 18 years.”

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GROWTH

“We believe the next phase of safety will involve a collaborative approach between the government, labour, and management.”

Charl Keyter is a two-time CFO Awards nominee.

Charl regards the R30 billion cash purchase of US palladium and platinum miner Stillwater by Sibanye (later becoming Sibanye-Stillwater) in 2016 as his toughest yet. “For me it was the first time doing a rights offer, going to the market and raising public bonds and a convertible bond to fund a deal. It was a very steep learning curve,” he says. “The integration of Stillwater into Sibanye given an eight-hour time zone difference was tough as it was a publicly run company. The challenge was about how do we integrate our processes into Stillwater in a non-disruptive manner. In South Africa, you can go to someone and say this is how we are going to do things. Meanwhile, in the US, it is very different. It is more collaborative and engaging. I have probably learnt more in the past six years than in the preceding 18 years.” Along with having to conclude the Stillwater deal,

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which introduced large debt in Sibanye that had to be restructured, he also had to navigate a series of stressful events that threatened the company’s profitability. Charl is part of a management team that manages operations at a time when the platinum price continues to be depressed (slumping 30 percent in the past five years) and labour disputes that have intensified at SibanyeStillwater mines over the demand for higher wages. But an issue that hits him the hardest is mine deaths. The year 2018 started off with 1,000 miners being trapped at Sibanye-Stillwater Beatrix Mine in Welkom for two nights following a power cut. All miners were rescued. But by June 2018, the death toll at various Sibanye-Stillwater’s operations stood at more than 20 – close to half of the fatalities in the entire mining industry. “It is tragic when one of the employees dies. I lost my mother at a young age. And when something like that

happens, I always think about the children, spouses and parents left behind. The impact that has on families is large. I don’t think you will find anybody working in the mining industry that can put a positive spin on mine deaths.”

In a high-pressure job like his, when the CFO function has evolved beyond steering a company towards solvency to a support function for making strategic decisions, Charl usually spends time with family as part of his downtime.

As well as the emotional impact, mine deaths have a financial impact on a mining company as its operations have to be stopped until safety standards have been improved. But they also spark the ire of trade unions and the government. Charl says SibanyeStillwater has reinforced safety initiatives at its mines, which has seen the company return to its pre-2018 levels when it was recognised as one of the safest producers.

Although he has “a high-stress tolerance” he is strict about weekends being dedicated to family time. “I am a dedicated family man. I have two sons, 11 and 15 years, and a wonderful wife that supports me. Without them, this job would have been very difficult.”

As of 6 March, Sibanye-Stillwater had achieved seven million fatality-free shifts, which Charl says is industry leading. The best he has seen is the 3.5 million fatality-free shifts achieved at Driefontein Mine, a gold mine situated near Carletonville. “We believe the next phase of safety will involve a collaborative approach between the government, labour, and management. It is not just an initiative that should be taken by mining management.” In moments of adversity, Charl is willing to roll up his sleeves. He describes himself as a “hands-on person when the situation dictates” – a leadership style he ascribes to having to structure a suite of financial instruments to fund a deal, managing wage expectations of trade unions or facing backlash over a mine fatality.

Charl is a CrossFit fanatic, training Mondays to Fridays for at least an hour, which provides him “a lot of stress relief”. He enjoys participating in fitness competitions that involve a series of obstacle races of varying distance and difficulty with his family. “We recently did the Erg Ultra competition as a family, where we had to do three challenges; 50km on the skiing machine, 100km rowing, and 200km on the bike. We started at 3am on a Saturday morning and we finished at 10pm. Most of your rest during the 19-hour endurance event is about eight minutes. I have a competitive side, which I do find an outlet for in competitions.”

Looking back Reflecting on his career, Charl attributes his rise through various roles at Sibanye-Stillwater to hard work, dedication, and passion for the accounting profession.

Charl’s top tips for due diligence in acquisitions “Guys put their best foot forward and use their best-case scenarios. You must be careful of that and be sure to look through historical information and make your own assumptions. Don’t rely only on the assumptions of the counterparty,” says Charl.

He provides the following five tips: 1. Understand the asset that you are buying: what are the reserves and resources? 2. Conduct adequate legal due diligence. 3. Conduct thorough financial due diligence and understand the company’s operations fundamentals. Don’t neglect the tax aspect and how this is structured. 4. Pay attention to the human capital process and the people involved and ensure that you can accommodate the Ts and Cs of their employment contracts into yours. 5. If relevant, conduct environmental due diligence. These tips originally appeared in the Q1 2017 edition of CFO Magazine. l

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GROWTH

Born in Namibia’s capital of Windhoek in 1973 but later raised in Kempton Park, Gauteng’s airport town, Charl wasn’t exposed to an environment of accounting or professionals in the industry. However, he was exposed to the mining industry as his father’s cousin worked as a human resources manager at Gold Fieldsowned Libanon Mine, an old gold mine based in Gauteng’s Westonaria. “I remember in those days visiting him and his family, and how fantastic the feeling of a mining town was. Seeing the activities of a mining town and its cleanliness was fantastic. If I looked at how Gold Fields took care of its employees, the activities and cleanliness of Westonaria, I think it did play a role and influenced my career decision.” But it would be seminars on choosing a career that Charl attended during high school that cemented his decision to study accounting over his second choice of engineering. The broad nature of the accounting profession and the multitude of career opportunities that the industry affords piqued his interest. It would be the same Gold Fields that Charl admired for the role it played in mining towns that sponsored his bachelor’s degree in accounting studies at

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Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg). “This would be the start of my life-long association with the company. I have never worked for another company. It’s the same company with a different name [Sibanye was spun off from Gold Fields].” In 1995, he started working for Gold Fields as a trainee accountant for Libanon Mine and in the past 24 years, he has held various roles including Senior Manager Finance and Vice President and Group Head of International Finance. When it comes to succession planning, CFOs are usually next in line to take on the role of CEO. Asked by CFO South Africa about his career ambitions, Charl is quick to rule out prospects of becoming a CEO soon. “Would I like to be a CEO? Maybe in the long-term. But for me, I am a family man and it is about seeing my children complete their education before I take a step like that. The pressure and demands of a CEO just from a travel perspective is double what I currently have. I want to be there for my children and my wife as much as possible. I love my job. If I do it for the next 15 years, I can walk away saying that I really enjoyed it and I think I operated at my potential.” l

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WOMEN RISING AT INVESTEC On 8 March, International Women’s Day, Investec South Africa launched its “Women on the Rise” campaign, highlighting its relationship with women in business, education and sport. As part of the launch, Investec introduced the public to its newly appointed Specialist Bank CFO Marlé van der Walt. CFO South Africa spoke to her and Roxane Leita, the head of finance at Investec Life, about their finance leadership experiences.

Marlé van der Walt: “I thrive on change”

arlé is not only an expert in growth and transition; she has also been serving in CFO roles since the tender age of 26. She chatted to Caylynne Fourie about her experience in the worlds of work, life and motherhood.

What is your professional and academic background? I started my articles with PwC in Durban in 1999, after doing Academic Articles (lecturing) at the University of Stellenbosch for a year. I did a regulatory audit on a new client (BOE Bank at the time). That got me into Financial Services and made me a banking regulations expert. In my third year (second year with PwC), the audit manager left, which instantly made me the resident banking specialist. I took up the manager role on the audit, which was

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my first break. Just over a year later, BOE acquired a listed entity on the JSE doing unsecured lending and approached me to become the CFO for the business. I was 26 at the time. It turned out that it was a struggling business, which landed me my first “turnaround” CFO role. I remember the person who appointed me said: “I am sorry Marlé, we sold you a lemon”, to which I responded: “Don’t worry, I am putting on my CV that six months here equals two years’ experience.” Fast forward, we lived through the run on the bank at BOE. Nedbank acquired BOE three months later, and we turned the unsecured lending business around in three years. I also picked up the risk role for the division in this time and during the Nedbank restructure was then offered the role as CFO: Nedbank Retail Banking Services in Johannesburg, transforming and consolidating all the finances for the retail franchises and brands within Nedbank. I was 29 at the time.

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You are known as something of a Basel expert. How did that come about? Barclays offered me a role to set up a technical audit function at their newly acquired subsidiary, Absa. This involved giving assurance over risk, finance, compliance and especially the new advanced Basel models that they were implementing at the time. It involved building an entirely new team of specialists from the ground up. In 2010, I joined Investec as the chief internal auditor, where I was responsible for designing and driving new standardised methodologies and systems globally. For the past six years, I was the CFO for Private Bank, while simultaneously leading the Basel IRB programme. We have significantly grown the Private Bank franchise and profitability over the past six years.

There’s a great story about how Investec recruited you. Please share it with us? Investec recruited me while I was pregnant with twins. At the time, I was a mom of three kids under the age of two years old – my son and twin girls are 20 months apart. My first interview was five days before the twins were born and Investec then met with me at my home three times after the twins were born to conduct further interviews.

Some people find change unsettling, but you seem to have built a career on it. How do you feel about change? I love being part of transforming businesses. I thrive on change and have the ambition and energy to drive business forward. It is extremely rewarding

to see the transition.

What is your vision for your new appointment? Investec recently held a Capital Markets Day, where we announced our three-year targets. We have a great franchise and an even better business. My vision is to make sure we deliver the goals we have set and exceed them. Having been involved in many business growth stories, I will play an active and influential role in strategic decision-making, analysis, measurement and reporting in reaching these targets.

“To this day, I still count the number of women and people of colour when I walk into a meeting room.” How do you feel about being a woman executive in a typically man's world? Having served in leadership roles and on executive committees from a very young age, I have never felt that I was treated differently to men. Maybe I was too naïve to realise it when I started. I always received a lot of respect, acknowledgement and encouragement from my male counterparts. However, to this day, I still count the number of women and people of colour when I walk into a meeting room. I think that when it comes to issues of diversity (gender and race), I have a responsibility to speak out with passion and energy to ensure the minority voice is heard.

Roxane Leita: “You always have to set yourself new goals” Roxane Leita is the head of finance at the recently launched Investec Life. She chatted to Toni Muir about being involved in the launch of a new business and continuously setting goals.

What has been the toughest lesson you’ve learnt in your career? Setting goals is not something you do once off. It’s a lesson I’ve had to keep learning and I don’t think it’s an easy one to learn. You have a goal and you

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reach it, but it’s not the end of the road – you’ve got to celebrate it, but then you’ve immediately got to decide, now that you’ve reached this, what it means and what’s the next goal. When I qualified as a CA and reached the end of my articles, I had to decide what to do with the rest of life in terms of a career. It’s a bit of a shock to the system. It was a seven-year journey to qualify – that was my goal. But there was no ticker-tape parade and I was left thinking, now what? You’ve climbed this peak only to realise that there’s another one. Every time I’ve reached a goal,

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“I’m excited about automation because I think it will mean that a lot of the routine transactions are going to be automated.” I’ve found I’ve had to deal with that again. So, I reach it, I celebrate it, and then I plan what’s next.

What would you say has been the most difficult decision you’ve faced in your career? There have been a few. In each of the decisions I’ve labelled as tough, the reason why I found them so was because it moved me out of my comfort zone and I experienced growth – and growth is never comfortable. One of my most recent tough decisions was choosing to leave PwC after 13 years to join Investec. I left an associate director position there to be a CFO here. I had dealt with many CFOs but it’s different now being on the other side of the desk. But it was smoother than I thought, perhaps because I’d been in auditing as long as I had and dealt with a variety of CFOs and finance professionals over those years. I also had great support within the business, which helped.

What prompted you to move from PwC to Investec? Investec approached me directly. I met with Michael Goemans, the CEO of Investec Life, and he laid out his vision for the company – this was a new thing Investec was moving into. He laid out what role I’d play in building this company, and I found that very appealing. It was what prompted me to make the change; to be part of something new.

You’ve been in the role since January 2018 and the business only launched in September 2017. What have you achieved so far? I’ve accomplished a lot. I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve been able to on-board quickly (support from business was great) and run with the finance function. Because we are a startup, we’ve tried to ensure that management is hands-on. We’ve also kept the team small, tight and agile. I’ve been able to make good use of the group finance function, as a lot of the basic functions I’ve been able to leverage off group. I think that one of the great things about being a small startup in an established company is leveraging the support base. 28

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As a young CFO, what makes you most excited when you consider the future of the finance industry? I’m excited about automation and where it’s going because I think it will mean that a lot of the routine transactions are going to be automated, which frees people up to do more analysis. I think this will make the turnaround time of giving financial information quicker and therefore more relevant. We’ll have access to greater volumes of real-time information which businesses can use to better inform their decisions. I’m still trying to get my head around how you prepare for this role, but I think it shows that you need to have a learning mindset and be willing to use the technology as it comes through so that you don’t become redundant or outdated. You must keep pace. It’s interesting, exciting and unsettling all at the same time.

Have you achieved a work-life balance and if so, what does this look like? I tend to not like this phrase as it implies a 50:50 split at all times, which for me is unrealistic. I prefer work-life integration. I consider what needs my focus right now, and sometimes that’s work and sometimes that’s family. It comes back to what is my current goal. For example, at financial year end, I’ve got to dedicate more time to work. I’m a working mother and that has its own challenges. Sometimes everything falls into place and goes smoothly and other days not so much. I’ve learnt not to sweat the small stuff.

What are your interests outside of work? How do you like to spend your free time? I run after my children – I have two boys aged two and four who keep me very busy. Weekends are spent playing Lego and reading Dr Seuss. There’s a lot of family time. I really enjoy travelling. I’ve taken my kids overseas a few times, as well as on trips around South Africa. I think it’s very important to expose them to different things and to see the world. l

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SO YOU WANT TO SERVE ON A BOARD? READ THIS FIRST “Directing is only for the brave,” says Herman Singh. And he should know – he speaks from the personal experience of serving on a number of boards.

often meet individuals who are at an early stage in their careers who tell me that their ambition is to serve as directors on a few boards. I even know a few people who have a made a career solely out of doing this. This is seen as quite glamorous and exciting and the hopeful individuals ask me to recommend them to boards should I come across them. But nothing could be further from the truth. This is the advice that I share with each of them! I have served on the boards of a few dozen firms over two decades and also on their Risk and Audit and even their Remuneration and Investment committees. These have been both listed and privately held firms and firms with head offices in Europe, South Africa, and even the Middle East and Mauritius. I have learnt a number of hard facts along the way and after over 200 board meetings I have come to realise that these 10 points are probably the most important items that should be seriously considered before you consider a board seat:

1. Liabilities abound: Firstly, you carry a lot of legal liability, both commercially and criminally, if you hold a board position. Being a responsible director involves a lot of compliance and doing the right things! That’s not easy in complex businesses and with convoluted shareholders agendas. You had better be up to speed on the relevant legislation for the jurisdiction in which you serve. (I specifically resigned from a board of a firm that was shortly going to list in the US because of the onerous obligations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators.)

2. It’s not a get-rich-quick plan: Serving on boards is not a path to wealth because you are managing OPM (Other People’s Money). The director’s fees and other compensations are significantly below being commensurate with the responsibilities borne and the risks taken on. In general, it’s more lucrative to consult to a firm than to be a director, so always explore that former option first.

3. It is very time consuming: The board meetings 30

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take up a huge chunk of your diary if you consider everything from the pre-reads to actual board meetings and signing many legal documents. That can really stuff up your time management if you have more than two or three boards to attend to. I once sat on 10 boards at one time, as part of my executive responsibilities for my employer, and that’s like having three full-time jobs on the side while you have a full-time job.

4. Share trades become a minefield: The rules around how you trade shares are quite onerous and complicated. As a general rule, I don’t hold shares in the firms on whose boards I sit. This removes a huge chunk of the compliance burden for the director. You will need to inform your broker which boards you sit on so that they don’t trade shares on your behalf by accident during embargo periods.

5. Disclosures require transparency: You need to make a lot of disclosures about your interests and possible conflicts. This is really important in the eyes of the stock exchange rules for listed firms but also for unlisted firms. Are you comfortable to disclose this information about your private holdings? Often the rules also cover your spouses and other family members. It gets really complicated and is a minefield so proceed with caution.

6. Detail, detail, detail: Debates can be long and draining. And that’s tough when you don’t have an economic interest in the outcome. This is not a job for you if you don’t have an eye for detail and process. Failure on either point can land you in jail. That’s probably why so many CAs and lawyers hold these posts. Getting budgets approved, signing off on audit reports and dealing with risk mitigations are not activities for the faint hearted or those not comfortable with financials, risk registers and strategy.

7. Fiduciary rules!: Once you are on a Board, your fiduciary duties include acting in the best interests of

“Being a responsible director involves a lot of compliance and doing the right things!”

the firm. This includes your activities outside of the firm and being mindful of the non-disclosure obligations. Social media is a huge no-no here – refer to the dad who sent a selfie from a board meeting to his daughter saying how “board” he was (a bad “dad joke”) only for her to share on social media and for him to have to resign. It could have been so much worse!

8. It’s a short flight: Board seats get reviewed regularly so your long-term tenure is never guaranteed. Over a few years it’s mandatory for you to be rotated out anyway. That’s a lot of insight and wisdom that you have built up that can no longer be used. 9. Hold the door: If you can’t speak truth to power and hold your line then this is not a role for you. These are roles reserved for blunt, tough individuals who are able to hold the line and ask the tough questions. You serve the firm and not the shareholders! That’s a huge inherent tension on any board and one that is rarely dealt with well in my experience.

10. It’s all about the questions: Dealing with excos is tough. So is being aware of what you don’t know. That combined with having the necessary empathy and mindfulness make for a rare combination. Don’t expect full disclosure in the board packs. Be prepared to ask the deep and incisive questions so you had better gain deep insight into the industry fast. But if you are still keen on doing this, then you should know that there is almost no qualification that can prepare you for it. Directorship training is all about process. The real value you add comes from your work experience, the way you think and who you are as a person. It’s only for the brave indeed! l Professor Herman Singh is the CEO of Future Advisory, an international firm specialising in digital transformation projects in corporates, and startup acceleration.He is a regular CFO.co.za Expert Insight contributor.

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A hunger for personal development Mikateko Tshetshe has an eye for spotting opportunities for growth â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in business and for people. Since her early days as a fresh B.Com graduate she has harnessed opportunities for growth. She embraced each step as a chance to add more strings to her considerable bow of competencies and this hunger to develop ultimately led her to being a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) and vice president of finance for Africa at Unilever, an important step on her journey towards a brighter future and even greater things. By Georgina Guedes

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ikateko had her aspirations set on joining Unilever long before they approached her in 2017 to lead the finance function for Southern Africa. She leapt at the opportunity, despite a serious personal catch; the position was based in Durban, and her family was happily rooted in Johannesburg. Her contribution was quickly recognised at Unilever and one year later her role was expanded from its Southern Africa focus to include the whole continent. She describes her journey thus far as “fantastic”. “I am fortunate that I love what I do and am super-passionate about the impactful roles I have been entrusted with in a variety of organisations. Now I contribute towards making sustainable living commonplace with Unilever," she says. “I always look for opportunities that contribute towards enhancing my capabilities with experience to be gained and adding purposeful value rather than chasing specific role titles. If the opportunity ticks those boxes, I’m up for the challenge,” she adds.

Growth and development “My leadership potential was identified early on in my career by one of my managers and I am grateful for this. As a talent catalyst he empowered and inspired me to be my best. He invested in me to reach my full potential at the time. Sometimes people need a bit of encouragement and magnified belief. Once I had this, I took personal responsibility to develop and lead myself while also unlocking the potential in others,” continues Mikateko. She started her career with Bayer, a German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company, on an apprenticeship programme straight after school, while doing a B.Com through Unisa – an early manifestation of her passion for continuous growth. “I have worked and studied my whole life,” she says. In her two-year training programme with Bayer, she was exposed to various functions which helped her discover which aspects of the company she enjoyed

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most. “I fell in love with accounting and requested additional training for a year within the finance function. Once completed, I engaged HR for further opportunities to grow within this discipline.” This love of management and financial accounting is what pushed her to start her CIMA qualification with the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting. She advanced to the consumer care division at Bayer which housed the Baygon pesticide brand. When this was acquired by SC Johnson, a family company, eight years into her career, Mikateko moved over to the new organisation as part of the merger. Her first role at her new firm was in management accounting, where she was responsible for partnering with sales and marketing teams to deliver profitable growth. It was also her first management role, with two people reporting to her. This was the start of her exciting people leadership journey, constantly curious and courageous, she learnt from all the training and development offered by SC Johnson, where she stayed for 12 years. “There were multiple career opportunities, and I raised my hand where appropriate, which allowed me to develop the required business and technical skills for future finance leadership roles.” From her position in management accounting, she grew into a role which she says was much more customer focused – this was order to cash. “I had a bigger team reporting into me, the perfect opportunity to sharpen my leadership skills. It was also a fantastic opportunity to review and optimise business processes and controls.”

Broadening her competence Ever hungry for personal growth, Mikateko sought further opportunities to expand her scope. She says one of the finance roles she had not done was manufacturing finance. SC Johnson had a manufacturing facility in Pretoria, so she took on the responsibility of leading the supply chain finance team. This was followed by a traditional or “hard-core” financial accounting role. "This role completed my finance

“I always want to land in the role and deliver with impact before considering the next opportunity.”

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LEADERSHIP

experience, sharpening my technical skills to meet statutory requirements and engage external stakeholders," she says.

“I raised my hand where appropriate, which allowed me to develop the required business and technical skills for future finance leadership roles.”

From here Mikateko was able to embark on her journey towards the FMCG environment and she took up the role of finance director at SC Johnson, a position she held for five years. In 2014, the business underwent global transformation. Mikateko flourished as part of the team reviewing business models and organisational structures, aligning the way that the local company worked with the global organisation, including rolling out SAP into East and West Africa. Soon, she was ready for a new challenge.

“Astra Zeneca, a science-led biopharmaceutical business which pushes boundaries to deliver life-changing medicines to patients, invited me to join their team in December 2015 as CFO for the sub-Sa-

haran Africa region, including full responsibility for South Africa. What I really enjoyed over and above the finance scope was the additional oversight responsibilities for the procurement and IT functions and the Ghana operation. This opportunity talked to my continuous yearning for learning and developing myself and others by doing something different,” explains Mikateko.

Making waves at Unilever

In October 2017 she took the next step and accepted the inspiring role at Unilever. She sees her role there as contributing to the sustainable growth of brands with purpose through teams that thrive. Continuing her personal development journey, Mikateko is grateful for joining an organisation that has enabled her to discover her purpose, which is to “dream, live and share”. She always strives to be present at home and in the work environment, truly living in the moment while

Personal life Mikateko was born and raised in Soweto, having been schooled at Rosebank Convent – Johannesburg. She’s back in the city now for the VP Finance Africa role at Unilever, after having moved her family to Durban for the Southern Africa position (she shrugs as if to say, “life goes on”). Mikateko is from a family of five girls, is married and has two children, a 16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. When asked how she manages the demands of work and life, she says it’s the support of her husband, father and sisters that enable her to thrive. She goes on to say that “In black culture, kids are raised by communities, not only by their immediate parents. The real sense of ubuntu has been a key enabler for me.” When the Unilever opportunity came up in Durban, she spoke openly about her hopes and anxieties with her family. “That made it possible for us to make the move together,” she says. “And we thoroughly enjoyed Durban. It seemed impossible until it was done!” She says they spent a lot of their spare time at the beach and explored the coastline in KZN. She also carried on with her other downtime therapeutic activities – reading, cooking and baking with the kids. According to Mikateko her parents are her biggest inspiration. “They were able to achieve so much with so little. Despite all the challenges we were confronted with as a family, my parents never sacrificed the quality of our education. They believed that education was the key to a better future.” She believes it’s important to remain grounded, no matter your successes or achievements. “I’ve tried not to be overwhelmed by my success, choosing to rather remain humble while excited about the difference I’ve made”.

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continuing to dream big. Sharing her life with family and friends while sharing her knowledge and experiences with those it could make a difference to is what motivates her daily. Mikateko’s personal development focus has not stopped her from focusing intently on the job at hand. “I always want to land in the role and deliver with impact before considering the next opportunity,” she says. As a leader, she loves co-creating solutions with her team and empowering them to reach their full potential. “I am non-negotiable on certain issues – like controls and statutory compliance – but other than that, I strive to inspire the team to be their best, unlock capacity for teams to realise their full potential and deliver impactful results enabled by a pioneering environment.” It’s this healthy fusion of personal and team development that has brought her this far, and it’s a formula that’s sure to take her further. l

Mikateko on leadership “Credible leadership is a prerequisite in today’s highly competitive marketplace, especially if one is a financial custodian at one of the largest brand houses on the continent. However, strong leaders need to balance astute business acumen, drive and tenacity to achieve with the power to empower others, a belief in the greater good and an unwavering will to remain grounded.”

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André du Plessis, CFO Capitec, Rato de Mendonca, head of coverage at Standard Bank Cape Town, and Sihlalo Jordan, deputy CEO of Deloitte

Back to basics –

Reimagine the Customer Summit Executives at the Cape Town summit agreed that the best way to change our approach to a client-centric business, is to take a step back from data and reconsider customers as people instead of commodities.

n 12 March, CFO South Africa hosted the Reimagine the Customer summit at the Deloitte Greenhouse in Cape Town.

South Africa’s top CFOs, CHROs and CMOs were fully engaged with the message, keen to gain insights into how to put the customer at the centre of the business from the exceptional speakers. Sanlam chief executive: Brand Sydney Mbhele started the summit with a presentation on reimagining the customer from the perspective of a CMO. The presentation highlighted the statistics that on average only 13 percent of HR interfaces with the customer, and only 16 percent of finance do so. He pointed out that the summit and its topic already

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suggests that organisations have lost their way and aren’t delivering what matters most. “A customer-centric organisation is more than a company that offers good service. It needs to put the customer at the centre of everything that it does. Whose responsibility is it to do that? The job will never be done in full and on time unless there is the full might of an organisation working cohesively to deliver a customer experience.” After Sydney’s introduction, the audience then split into two groups, taking turns to see presentations by Capitec Bank CFO André du Plessis and Oceana Group HR executive Nomaxabiso Teyise. Andre’s sessions looked at how Capitec has built a

Nomaxabiso Teyise, group executive HR, Oceana Group, presented an insightful session

successful brand that is strongly predicated on the customer. “One of the biggest problems that there are in organisations is that the what and the why are pulling away from each other. Entrepreneurs start a business and they know what they are doing and why, but as the business grows, people end up knowing what they are doing but not why. As a management team, we spend a lot of time making sure that the what and the why don’t move away from each other at Capitec.” Nomaxabiso reminded the attendees that customers are still human beings, and that as far as she is concerned, the more things change, the more they stay the same. “To reimagine the customer, go back to basics,” she said. “As much as the Fourth Industrial Revolution is putting artificial intelligence and robotics at our disposal, human beings are still the same.” She also cautioned against believing that big data is going to deliver customer insights that are taken as gospel. “Human beings are complex. I think we should hold

Thando Headbush, CFO, Compensation Fund, processing the discussion

on to what we think we know very lightly. We have enough data to fill volumes. We think we’re getting closer, but in fact we’re getting further away. We’ve lost that human connection.” Business Results Group CEO Nicola Tyler concluded the proceedings by summarising the speakers’ presentations with a live-sketched presentation. She echoed what Nomaxabiso said earlier about connectivity. “It’s a paradox that we’ve never been more connected and yet disconnected.” She ended with a quote from American businessman and writer Tom Peters: “The magical formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.” In his closing remarks, CFO South Africa MD Joël Roerig thanked event partners Deloitte and Workday, without whom quality summits of this calibre would not be possible, and the speakers who generously shared their time and insights with other members of the community. l

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A career, interrupted AND WHAT IT TOOK TO GET BACK ON TOP “Never say die” is Nampak CFO Glenn Fullerton’s approach to life. It served him well when he was told he would never return to work after a debilitating cycling accident in 2013. But this indomitable professional rose again to head up the finances of Africa’s largest packaging company. Georgina Guedes chatted to him about how he got there and what he has learnt along the way.

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fter studying part time, while completing his articles through Deloitte and qualifying as a chartered accountant when he was 24 years old, Glenn Fullerton had a stellar rise through industry. He was employed in a group financial management role at Hunt Leuchars and Hepburn, a JSE-listed subsidiary of Rembrandt’s. A few years later he joined the corporate finance and business development team of the then-listed Malbak Group. During his four years with the group, he played an integral role in its unbundling, after which he served as the divisional financial director of the Cartons Cores and Consumer and Plastics divisions of the remaining subsidiary, Kohler Packaging.

Despite the other injuries being extremely painful and visible, the most debilitating injury at the time was the vertical shearing in his brain. “It’s almost like a torn muscle,” he explains in layman’s terms. “As I hit the ground, forces went through my brain in one direction and ripped some of the brain tissue in the other direction.”

“It was a very dark and challenging time for me.”

“I was then lured into the exciting growth industry of IT in March 2000, and at the age of 30, was appointed as group financial director of a relatively new listed company in IT distribution,” Glenn says. This was MB Technologies, which today is the Tarsus Technology Group. “The group was formed in 1985 and was primarily an IT hardware distribution group and was trying to diversify into software and services while capitalising on significant growth opportunities in IT hardware distribution where it had a strong market position. I was part of a consortium that did a management buy-out and delisted that business in 2002. We grew the business into the largest IT distributor in Africa over a period of 14 years.” Glenn served as group financial director for 10 years, assisting the group in securing the requisite capital to fund its expansion. After the Group CEO had a horse-riding accident that left him paralysed, Glenn then filled the position of group CEO for four years. However, a terrible cycling accident stopped Glenn’s career trajectory mid-flight. In February 2013, when he had completed 106km out of a 116km cycle race, a car tried to pass the peloton he was in, causing a devastating accident. In a moment of pure terror Glenn went straight over the handlebars head-first into the tar, going, as he says, “from fit to fragile in a mere second”. The memory of his former CEO’s paralysis drove him to turn his body at the last moment, and he broke his shoulder and several ribs. His neck was badly injured with three prolapsed discs, and he suffered vertical shearing on the side of his brain. He was left unable to use his right arm properly for a year. Glenn was lucky to escape breaking his neck and is thankful to be alive.

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This had significant implications for his short-term memory at the time, and the doctors told him he would never work again, which was deeply distressing to him. He had to step down from his CEO position. “It was a very dark and challenging time for me – to not have a clear future ahead of me. As an energetic and commercially minded leader I wrestled with the possibility of not being able to contribute to industry in the future in the way I had done previously.”

The long road to recovery Glenn is thankful for the excellent insurance cover he had in place. His insurance company, Sanlam, put him through a rigorous rehabilitation programme and Glenn says he must sing their praises. “In terms of my insurance cover, Sanlam covered me through my disability insurance cover for the initial period of two years and closely monitored my rehabilitation with constant evaluations after which they encouraged me to return to work based on the significant recovery that I was able to make during this period.” He says that difficult discussions took place as there was a suggestion that he should seek a significantly lower position so as to not stress his brain. “The thought of this was difficult for me to make peace with, having been the CEO of a relatively large business at the time of my accident.” He devoted himself to every process of his recovery with a “never say die” attitude. “I just had a lot of tenacity around training my brain to do what it could previously do, teaching it to route messages in a new way and never giving up on my belief that I could and would recover.” He drew strength from his high school motto of Forti Nihil Difficilius which means “Nothing is too difficult for the brave”. While his personal mental strength played an enormous part in his success, Glenn is also extremely

“Based on my representations and their assessment of my recovery they were comfortable enough to let me give it a crack.” CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

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grateful to his wife, children, larger family and friends who stood by him in his darkest hours. “I’m married to Lauren with three children and my wife is a CA as well. We met when we were 16 and studied all the way together. She was a fantastic pillar of strength to me during my recovery, as were my parents, children and friends. It was an enormously challenging time and the future looked quite bleak. I had my various insurance policies for which I was extremely thankful, but there was more to life than that. I’d been taken out of the business world that I was thriving in and couldn’t operate at the level I used to because of my injuries.”

significant impact on the Nampak Group finances.

Joining Nampak

The business had been through a period of upheaval when Glenn joined. Management had divested out of a number of low-margin, low-barrier-to-entry businesses and invested heavily into Nigeria and Angola. The oil price subsequently collapsed from $110 a barrel to $27, which cost those economies significant amounts in lost dollar export revenues and resulted in significant “in country” shortages of dollars to fund their imports, placing these businesses under pressure.

After two and a half years of immensely hard work to recover from his injuries, Glenn, who had been told he would never work again, felt ready to return to the world of business. He expresses his gratitude specialists, doctors and insurance consultants who assisted him. Despite his remarkable recovery, his doctors were concerned that overburdening his brain straight away might not be the best idea and that he should ease back into the business world. “But I thought, let me give this a go, complying with what my insurance company wanted, and if it didn’t work out, I could always say I tried. And thankfully, I’ve conquered the significant challenges that faced me.” Due to his injuries and the need to ease his way back into the business world he was advised to return to being a CFO, which was a comfortable space for him. Fortune played a part, and Nampak was recruiting for a CFO. With his prior packaging experience, Glenn was a perfect fit. “I chose the CFO role in an industry that I had previous experience in because I’d be more comfortable and the stresses wouldn’t be as large.” Of course, he had to disclose his condition and his journey to recovery. “From an integrity point of view, I had to disclose exactly what had happened, but the market knew anyway because I’d had to resign from my previous role. I had to make a full disclosure to the chairman of the Nampak Board, the nomination committee and audit committee. Based on my representations and their assessment of my recovery they were comfortable enough to let me give it a crack. I am thankful to have been given the chance. They could have said no, and I am sure many other boards might have.” And so, in September 2015, three and a half years ago, Glenn assumed the role of CFO of Nampak and grabbed the opportunity with both hands, making a

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Even so, the first six months were not easy for Glenn. The role required a level of mental fitness, and because a significant portion of the business is owned by foreign shareholders there were international roadshows, involving presentations to analysts and investors both locally and internationally. “It was quite a thing getting back to operating at that level. It was very tough in the first six months, but I got more used to it as time progressed and I got mentally fitter. I am most thankful for the support that I have been given by the Nampak CEO, my team and Nampak board.”

“This put significant stress on the transfer of cash from these economies and we had to restructure the group to accommodate very challenging times in the rest of Africa. One of the big transactions that we did was the sale and leaseback of 15 properties with the transaction valued at R1.7 billion and on which Nampak was able to report a capital profit of R1.3 billion, boosting equity and reducing the group’s debt, which allowed us to restructure the group’s balance sheet and improve the group’s liquidity,” says Glenn. “Some extremely tough decisions were required as part of the group recapitalisation plan, one of which was to cease paying a dividend to shareholders until the group’s gearing levels had been brought to levels that the board were comfortable with. This was complemented by active management of capex spends and working capital.” Currently, Glenn is focused on using the high levels of capex spend of the last six or seven years to deliver appropriate returns for shareholders and ensuring that future capital expenditure is prudently allocated. In addition, Glenn recently lead a team that secured a group revolving credit and term loan for R12.5 billion to address Nampak’s maturing debt profile, which has significantly restructured the group’s balance sheet and provided the group with a sound platform for future growth. Glenn’s focus has therefore been strongly on treasury in the past three years with the group’s gearing ratios now at a moderate level and significantly down from the levels it was at when he

LEADERSHIP

joined the group. “It has taken concerted effort, support from my outstanding team, and focus to have restructured the group and to reduce the gearing to acceptable levels,” he says. “It’s been a real personal victory for me to get back to what I was doing, on a bigger scale and in a much larger and diversified business. Nampak operates in 13 countries with 53 sites. There are approximately 6,000 people and it’s a business that’s been in existence for 70 years, and listed on the JSE for 50 years. It holds a very strong position in four substrates – metals, glass, plastic and paper. Recently, along with the Nampak Chairman and CEO, I had the privilege of opening the Johannesburg Stock Exchange trading in celebration of Nampak being listed for 50 years. It was a wonderful experience and something I will remember for many years to come, particularly given the fact that my dad worked for the JSE for 20 years.”

A changed outlook Glenn does have to take extra care of himself because of his accident and injury, but he says that he’s not the kind of person who can “sit on the sidelines”. “I don’t do half measures at all. My wife and parents continuously remind me to be careful, but I try to keep fit. There’s a gym at home, and a spinning bike. I don’t ride on the road that much anymore but do try and keep fit.” He does, however, ride the Argus every year. “The only one I’ve missed in 20 years was the year of my accident.” And last year he completed a 160km race in the UK with his brother. “It was an amazing experience to confront my fears. The Argus is only 109km and this was 160km. It rained for the entire race and at times I could not see where I was going. It’s reflective of my personality that I am up for challenges, and I don’t let things beat me.” But he won’t ride in races without road closures and his approach is to keep fit and be social. Glenn is willing to share the story of his accident and recovery because he believes that others can learn from it. “You can find yourself at a fork in the road, and your life can change in an instant. I had an absolutely unexpected accident remove me from being able to make a difference. So if you are given a chance, you should grab it and give back what you can. You can easily get bogged down in the negatives, but you have to focus on the big picture and see the positive aspects. From a leadership point of view, I’ve tried to bring that to the group.”

He adds that you should never take your health for granted because it can be taken from you in an instant. “Your biggest assets are your attitude to life, your health, your family, your support structures and how you are prepared to deal with adversity. I am thankful I was given a second chance, that I was not paralysed, that I have been able to overcome a traumatic brain injury, and have been able to return to a senior role in business where I have the opportunity to make a difference for Nampak and provide leadership for the executives and support staff whose lives I can touch daily.” l

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Stories of success

How Black Umbrellas is using corporates’ ESD budgets to grow small businesses and the economy Black Umbrellas’ overall success rate in incubating startups is 50 percent – significantly better than the national average of only 10 percent. Georgina Guedes visited their Pretoria incubator to get the story behind these successful outcomes.

he Black Umbrellas incubator programme assists small businesses in their journey from startup to sustainability. Their 50 percent success rate beats the well-known statistic that 90 percent of small businesses fail within their first year. Black Umbrellas’ incubation programme has this directive at the heart of its existence. It collaborates with partners in the private sector, government and civil society to address the low levels of entrepreneurship and high failure rate of 100 percent black-owned emerging businesses in South Africa. By providing a structured and highly subsidised programme, across a national footprint of business incubation offices, these SME clients are afforded the expertise, office infrastructure, training, mentorship and resources required for them to take the next step in growing a successful business. While their statistics boast of their overall achievements, it is the stories of the individual entrepreneurs who have been through their programme that show how Black Umbrellas is changing lives for the better.

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Achieving growth, empowering others Ntsoaki Kortjass, the owner of Tsoabelo Security Solutions, is a Black Umbrellas entrepreneur in her second year with the programme. Being in the security industry, Ntsoaki understood the technical skills required to perform the work but felt that she lacked the expertise to manage and run her own business. This was when she decided to join the programme as a pure startup. “Being on the programme has assisted me in clearly defining the purpose of my company, and in the planning and implementation phase of rolling out by business plan. When I applied, I literally didn’t even have a business plan, so they helped me to understand what I needed to do to create a viable and sustainable business. I believe I have now implemented the processes that will help me grow my company from strength to strength.” In her second year of business, she has now achieved revenue of over R1 million. She now employs six people, and has various contracts in the private and government sectors. She also employs guards on a contractual basis, depending on the length of the various projects. “It’s been amazing because I am empowering people. I have taken my interns from a previously disempowered background to full-time employment. It feels great, growing as a company, growing as a brand and contributing to a positive economy. It’s only onwards and upwards from here for me, in a male-dominated industry.”

Growing Value Able Consulting into a sustainable business Mulondi Nthulana and his partner Ndivhuwo Nedoboni were running Value Able Consulting, a startup accounting, tax and advisory firm, from an apartment in Centurion with “one couch, one chair, a small table and a printer”. Mulondi is an entrepreneur at heart and wanted to run his own business rather than working for someone else, but those around him were less confident in his abilities. “My ex-girlfriend’s family used to send me job ads and internship opportunities. That used to hurt me a lot because I felt that the people around me were not pushing me towards what I wanted to achieve,” he says. “But we were surviving. We were managing to get one new client a month, and meet our basic needs. We were able to afford our groceries.”

“It’s a relief to know that my business is now a going concern, and I am able to create opportunities for others to grow in the accounting industry. I’ve taken a giant leap into entrepreneurship.” – Mulondi Nthulana CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

After four months in the Centurion apartment, Mulondi found out about the Black Umbrellas Incubator Programme and he applied. The business was accepted, and that was when things really started to change for Mulondi. “As you can see, we now appear more professional. We have access to meeting rooms, when we didn’t even have a landline before. We have three employees now.” He says that aside from the office infrastructure and support, Black Umbrellas has furthered his business by helping him to write a proper business plan – a requirement for application, and helped with training and marketing. Today, their client base has grown, and they now average earnings of R70,000 per month. “Initially our target was small businesses who would understand that the two of us worked out of an apartment. Now we’re moving on from the SMME market to bigger companies.” Their customer base now includes clients in the healthcare and construction industries, as well as schools and municipalities. Mulondi says that having gone through the Black Umbrellas programme gave his business the boost it needed, and makes him feel confident about his future. “It feels really awesome. It’s a relief to know that my business is now a going concern, and I am able to create opportunities for others to grow in the accounting industry. I’ve taken a giant leap into entrepreneurship.” He has a new fiancée and was expecting a baby in the month the interview took place. “My fiancée feels secure that I can look after her and the baby,” he says.

Collective impact Black Umbrellas CFO Nyasha Madavo has this to say about the work that Black Umbrellas does in uplifting small businesses and, ultimately, the broader economy:

“When I applied, I literally didn’t even have a business, plan, so they helped me to understand what I needed to do to create a viable and sustainable business.” – Ntsoaki Kortjass 48

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“We are changing lives on a day-to-day basis. It’s so rewarding to see black-owned businesses such as Value Able Consulting and Tsoabelo Security Solutions joining BU to get business support, and seeing them grow and create much needed jobs.” She says that what sets Black Umbrellas apart as an ESD partner is that they are clearly able to deomonstrate the impact of the ESD contributions they receive. “This is over and above helping our partners optimise their B-BBEE points as well as their tax position through the section 18A certificates we issue,” she says.

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The collective impact generated by Black Umbrellas’ SME clients:

Businesses in incubation since inception

Total jobs created and preserved

Turnover generated by SMEs since inception

Average cost per job

1,458

11,827

R2.8 billion

R28,233

Net asset value

Salaries paid

Tax paid by SMEs

Clients in incubation

R1.1 billion

R711 million R193 million

176

The satisfaction of helping people grow Zanele Gallacher is the regional manager of the Black Umbrellas Pretoria Incubator. The incubator is in its tenth year and has built a reputation for the exceptional support it offers in growing small and startup businesses. Zanele says that a Black Umbrellas incubator is an extremely rewarding place to work. “I don’t believe that anyone who works in this space does it for a paycheque. We do it because we are passionate and it’s satisfying. I love to see things grow. There’s great satisfaction in seeing our entrepreneurs reach graduation. It isn’t easy, but they’ve overcome challenges and conquered their fears and getting to the end of that is extremely satisfying.”

BECOME A BLACK UMBRELLAS MENTOR, DONOR OR ADVISOR To find out more about how your enterprise development spend can support the economy and change lives, contact Black Umbrellas:

Tel: 021 447 7156 Email: info@blackumbrellas.org

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Deloitte’s Valter Adao is guiding internal and external clients towards an inevitable digital future. Failure to embrace the coming changes is not an option – for your prosperity or the nation’s. By Kate Ferreira

alter Adao is the chief digital and innovation officer for Deloitte Africa, a multifaceted role serving both Deloitte as an organisation and its clients. Here the focus is specifically on positioning companies to both thrive in a digital world and transform to remain relevant in the face of change so dramatic and exponential that it’s not hyperbole to call it ‘paradigm shift’. Still, Valter is quick to point out that he’s not “a technologist”. His background is steeped in the world of business venturing, economics and science, holding a Masters in Science, and a Masters of Business Administration. “What I do in the world of digital is that I understand the business value and economics of digital," he says. "Not being a technologist means not getting caught up in the technology itself, but rather keeps the focus on the economic angle, and the benefits that these technologies bring to the world of business and society.” Rather than pushing generic tools or ‘solutions’, Valter believes it is more enabling to look at the needs of each organisation individually and develop a view on how innovation, and what kind of innovation, can be harnessed to make a team or company smarter, faster, more efficient, and – critically – to stay relevant to its market and staff.

Change is inevitable No one is immune to the coming changes, not clients and not Deloitte itself, Valter explains. “The worlds of audit, tax, risk advisory, corporate finance and consulting are all changing,” Valter says. “All of these are under threat by new digitally enabled ways of doing business, and so I've got to ensure that our business transforms at a quicker pace.” Internally this means focusing on transforming Deloitte’s existing capabilities and augmenting them through innovation and digital. “How do I take existing products and solutions and modernise them with the use of digital? If we look at tax, for exam-

ple, it had been done the same way for a long time, with incremental improvements to how the services were provided. To ensure our continued success in the future, we modernised the way tax services are delivered.” Working with the various tax leaders and teams, Valter and his team have explored the opportunities to engage robotic and cognitive automation (RCA), to improve the tax service they provide. “We either augment the products that we have with digital technology or we create new products using digital technologies,” he adds. “The way we train our people has also changed, and it’s not just about the digital platform that we use to train people, but rather how and what we train them on, such as teaching tax practitioners to become proficient in robotic processing and automation, and other technologies like the blockchain, ecommerce platforms, etc, that influence how work is done, and how the flow of monies can be impacted. We refer to that as digital fluency, and we're developing our digital fluency in things like blockchain, RPA, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT).” This is one means of future-proofing, so that Deloitte’s human resources are continually evolving along with their technology resources – rather than being stagnant and ripe for disruption.

The future is here So, what tools and trends are on his watchlist for the coming year? Valter says that we should be less concerned about trying to “predict” the future of technology, but rather be focused on developing the correct leadership and culture that will allow an organisation to navigate the change that lies ahead. “Companies that get the latter right will know how to create value irrespective of the technology in question, or the pace at which it changes,” he says. “The old way of business has reached a peak, and is facing a barrier. That barrier is technology, but it’s not through the deployment of technology that we will get over this barrier. If that was the case, all the rich

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companies and countries would be the most digitally transformed. Often the opposite is in fact true. The right leadership and cultural construct of the organisation is most critical.” “In South Africa we need to be more deliberate regarding this topic. We need to put our businesses under a microscope,” Valter says. It is his strongly held view that we need to understand how we can use these technologies to reduce the cost of doing business in SA and unlock efficiencies in our industries and sectors. “If we don't get this right, we are going to lose our global competitiveness,” he cautions. Valter believes this is a national imperative. He points to automation in mining and manufacturing to make his point. In many developed nations, automation has been embraced, boosting productivity, output and therefore global competitiveness. “The hypothesis that technology will destroy jobs is true, but its only half of the story. Jobs can only be eliminated if they aren’t able to compete with the economics of the technology. Failing to automate will therefore reduce the competitiveness of businesses or sectors and they will eventually fail. This effect on job losses will be larger than any form of automation.” “What we fail to see is that throughout the last few decades, large-scale sector employment declines due to technology have been countered by growth of new sectors that have absorbed workers, while sustaining economic growth of the respective sector. We are not experiencing a technology crisis; we are experiencing a leadership crisis.” Of course, that means visible job losses in the short term – a social and political tinderbox of great concern locally. “Every CEO and politician in the world is worried about this, and South Africa has the additional challenge of a negative populous view on the impact that technology is going to have on jobs. It is a dystopian view. “But I believe that if we deploy a solid strategy to digitise and automate, we will create more jobs than what we lose. World Economic Forum research suggests that for every job we lose, automation will actually create 1.74 new jobs.” He continues: “A labour-intensive, labour protectionist strategy is a negative one. We are being left behind. If we don’t automate, the job losses will be far greater. So we need to develop the skills to ready ourselves for new jobs. We need to take our lemon pickers and make then lemon-picking machine operators, and beyond. And to a degree, we need to accept that the big companies will probably no longer be our main employers, and that

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SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs will likely fill that gap.”

Coordination for success Valter’s approach is a business-led digital transformation of the business, enabled by technology. He recommends that the deployment people who are trying to bring about change sit inside the division or team they are helping. He calls this a distributed model of change. In financial services, for example, a first step is unpacking the constructs of the business, and asking what problems need to be solved in the sector, or what conversations need to be happening at the executive level, to ready them for change that is deep and integral. “We do the same with mining, with telcos, and so on, helping them define those viewpoints, shaping the central viewpoint, and then developing plans specifically for each client that are deliberate and orchestrated around addressing the challenges or implementing the solutions.” Another win of this approach is the creation of what Valter calls an “ecosystem of dependency” on one another in order to become successful. “These distributed digital teams must be hyper-coordinated, which means working in a connected but independent manner with a clear understanding of how their success is interdependent on each other.”

Understanding the market’s needs How is this different from a digital agency or technologist approach? In a typical example, Valter says, a digital agency or ecommerce specialist might be tasked with acquiring an ecommerce solution for a business or business unit. They would find and deploy appropriate technology and perhaps “switch on” the platform for the client. “What Deloitte does is ensure we have considered the full ecommerce ecosystem, ensuring that the client is ready for ecommerce, by first asking if the business is geared for ecommerce. We then want to make sure that the roadmap to go the ecommerce route is as efficient, as comprehensive, as it can be. For example, is the supply chain effective enough to support the ecommerce business? Is the tax strategy the right one to ensure the company is compliant? Not having a full view on what is required to become digital can be frustrating, risky and expensive." He adds: "The way that we are bringing in all those various elements is pretty unique and is further differentiating ourselves in the market.” l

Find your dream job today JobsInFinance.co.za Employers and recruiters are invited to create an account on JobsInFinance.co.za and upload their finance vacancies for immediate results. CFO MAGAZINE |â&#x20AC;˘ +27 CFO.CO.ZA For special deals and campaigns, please contact Nick Smith | nsmith@cfo.co.za 72 202531071

CFOs & TECH

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT Today, technology is deeply entrenched in almost all aspects of our lives. Planning a trip? Use a GPS app to plot the route, or check in for your flights on your phone. Going for a run? Fire up your wearable activity tracker. Delivering the monthly reporting? Take a deep dive into your figures with analytics and visualisation software. Kate Ferreira asked five CFOs about the most useful applications or types of technologies in their lives, both professionally and personally, and discovered it’s not all about the newest, latest, and greatest tech on the planet, but rather how these tools and innovations are integrating into their days, unlocking insight, and – figuratively and literally – keeping the lights on.

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Sheldon Friedericksen says his key software for task management and life organisation are tools like Asana or Trello.

on the work required with colleagues at the office. Conversely, I can still be a part of moments with my family through video calling, while working and meeting those deadlines.” His key software for task management, or ‘life organisation’, include tools like Asana or Trello – both of which use list-based interfaces to organise projects, and helps him to ensure there is nothing he’s left undone or any aspect of planning that is going unnoticed. In his professional life, he also relies on gamification and “dashboarding of key metrics in the business”. Gamification is the application of game-type elements (like points, competition between people and teams, and clear rules of engagement) to non-gaming activities, including functions and process in the workplace.

Balancing the demands of work and home CFO of Fedgroup Sheldon Friedericksen agrees that the power of technology in both spheres – work and home – of his life, allows him the flexibility to balance these seemingly competing interests. “Technology in my personal life enables my career, especially in times of tight deadlines and in the role of being a key stakeholder in the business,” he says. Advances and new technologies (such as video calling and collaborating over screen-sharing on Skype calls) have also greatly expanded the reach of existing tech. “This enables me to work remotely, not miss out on time or events with my family, and still collaborate

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At Fedgroup, gamification is used both from “a financial performance perspective”, he explains, as well as within “operational factors that have risk implications for the business.” “We have gamified our entire business, with a virtual world representing the successes and failures of our business, based on the performance and strategic targets that we have created as a company within each functional area. The virtual world suffers if these targets are not achieved, and it flourishes when these targets are achieved,” says Sheldon. “We have linked this to short term-incentives for individuals, teams and the company as a whole. This ensures that at any point, in real-time, I can get a

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Pieter de Wit enjoys the ubiquitous global access of everyday apps like Uber, Uber EATS and his online banking app, which he can use anywhere in the world.

snapshot of the business, see where assistance may be required, and where risks may be emerging that require management action. This enables me to act proactively, ensuring that the risk is managed before it actually emerges.”

Run your personal life from anywhere in the world Afrimat is a JSE-listed open pit mining company providing industrial minerals, bulk commodities and construction materials. Pieter de Wit first joined the company in 2008, working his way up to CFO in 2016. Pieter says that he considers apps to be the handiest technologies in his personal life, and that he uses many of them on both his phone and iPad. “I use apps for various functions. For exercising, for example, I have a Garmin smartwatch which links to an app on my phone. I also use an app called Zwift, a virtual cycling app that you can use to train with in your living room. Apps are great in terms of helping me to stay fit and active.” He also enjoys that apps give him access to services no matter where he is in the world. “Recently, I was in San Francisco, and I was able to do my banking on the existing bank app on my phone, as well as using Uber and Uber EATS to get around and order in,” he says. Other useful ones include the MySubs app, which lets him read various newspapers and magazines on the go, and his security app that’s linked to the alarm at his holiday home. “From my phone, in the app, I can see when the alarm is triggered, which zone has triggered,

and I can activate or deactivate the alarm remotely.” In his professional life, things like cloud services and data analytics are transforming reporting and the finance function at Afrimat. “This has been part of a journey for us,” he explains. “When I started here as group accountant, over 10 years ago, Afrimat had just listed on the JSE. Before that the company was a group of privately-owned companies, each one with its own software packages. The tech infrastructure was not great. We needed to bring these together.” “The story of Afrimat and technology is driven by the growth of Afrimat on the one side, and on the other side by changes in the economic environment.

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Outlook and Excel on her iPad give Tiffany Boesch the comfort that she's staying on top of things even when she's away from her desk.

our collected data, and moving towards near real-time reporting. We are also doing a lot of predictive analytics to see what's coming in the market, and how we can adapt to this using artificial intelligence (AI).”

Previously these changes were slower. At that stage, it was okay if you were reporting monthly, and making changes a month later,” he continues. “We had to move from this reactive reporting space to one where we were proactive, and to do that we had to adapt the IT infrastructure so it was more fit for purpose. Our first step was to get a server offsite with its own power supply, and our own cloud server. Thereafter we had to implement systems that were integrated to bring all the businesses onto one platform, using a core enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.” Today, Pieter says, Afrimat is investing in the next step of the journey, towards business intelligence. “We are now extracting the necessary information out of all of

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A programme called QlikView (see more in the Mike Martin box) has proven useful in giving “more meaning to the data” too. “Visuals help the rest of company access the story that the data is telling us, by using graphs or tables. Others in the organisation are not necessarily as analytical as the Finance team by nature, and can't always immediately spot ‘story’ in a bunch of numbers. QlikView lets us show trends and give insight. We often use these visuals and other business intelligence during our weekly meeting with the company’s executive committee so we can unpack both trends and targets in a meaningful way.”

Staying on top of three jobs at the same time Tiffany Boesch is the CFO of mutual financial services company, PPS. For her, technology is about freedom and balance. Naturally, in the workplace, Tiffany and the finance team use numerical tools and data systems to best perform their function, but in managing and overseeing this as CFO, she takes a “light touch” technology-wise, using her mobile or tablet to review and communicate. “My context is that I am a working mom, with three jobs at once – like all moms,” Tiffany says. “Technology

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Although he "lives and dies" by Excel, Mike Martin says that Qlikview is more geared for big data management.

in itself – our mobile devices for example – makes life easier in that I don't always have to be physically present at the office. Being able to review and sign docs online, send emails, and work remotely wherever I am is the biggest advantage for me.” “I use the normal suite of tools for this, like Outlook and Excel, on my iPad. It provides me with that comfort that I can stay on top of things even when I am away from my desk, and that I am always contactable as needed.” Furthermore, the speed and efficiency of these tools are a big win for her. “Being connected in this way means you can sort out issues so much quicker. If something comes up, you can deal with it straight away. Things don’t fester. You can quickly nip it in the bud.” “We also do all of our packs for meetings digitally – so you can review them remotely. I like to be present when my kids are awake in the evenings, but after they go to bed, I can sit with my tablet or phone at a table in my garden, for example, and pick up work again as needed.” Technology has allowed Tiffany to weave together her professional and personal lives. “I run my life off the Outlook calendar,” she says – something we heard from several of the interviewees. “Everything from who is fetching the kids to events to what meetings I have coming up goes in there. Outlook is my friend. The kids have access to the same calendar, and it is colour coded for private and work. My diary looks insane on the calendar, but it makes a huge difference in my life to

have that overview and sense of control.” She also does a lot of her shopping online to save time, purchasing a wide range of items from clothes and groceries, to gifts and even her Nespresso pods via local shopping apps like those from Takealot and Woolworths. “It is so much more efficient, and means I can essentially be in two places at once.” In her downtime, technology allows Tiffany a sense of escape and creativity. She says: “I am not into Facebook and Twitter at all. I like to be private, and I don't have time or inclination to hear about people's random stuff or share my own random stuff. But certain social platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are very useful

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Sean Berrington says he and his team have invested a lot of effort in an automated service costing tool, which has been a big victory for them.

solutions cover a wide spectrum from accredited training, to energy strategy development, to project implementation, support and maintenance. For finance director Mike Martin, though, everything comes back to Excel. “The tools that make the biggest difference to me might be considered quite boring. I live and die by Excel,” says Mike. “Every single decision – whether it's something I'm communicating in an email or something I need in a presentation – I always check back with Excel first. That is where I am comfortable. I understand the capabilities of it, and I use it to produce decision-useful information.” This applies to other teams at Terra Firma too. “It really is the critical 'language' we speak in the office, if I can put it like that.” to me as I'm a closet baker. I love to bake elaborate cakes, so I spend a lot of time on those platforms, using them for inspiration.” “I use these via an app, or if the site in question doesn't have a dedicated app, I create a bookmark on my phone so I can navigate to them directly. It works for me because that is my creative outlet. It is by nature very different from my work, so that's how I relax and chill.”

The traditionalist lives and dies by Excel Terra Firma Solutions is an energy engineering firm, based in SA and operating across the continent. Their

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But on top of that strong Excel foundation, the firm is turning to intelligence software to unlock the next level view and insight. “Excel's pitfalls are version-control, processing speed, and volume. It also only captures a point in time. Qlikview, for example, is far more geared for big data management. At the scale that we experience – such as data collected from 6,000 units out in the field, reporting at five-minute intervals – this data would be unfeasible in Excel alone.” “You would have to be highly skilled in pivot tables and aggregation just to understand what you are looking at, but with Qlikview on top of that data, you can structure the views that you wish to see, and you can see trends

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over time,” he says. For Mike, the sweet spot is created by the combination of these two core tools. “If I have those two, I'm pretty comfortable that we can manage any volume of data. It works like a reporting skin you can put on top of most things, so in addition to Excel, we are also going to be adding it to our SAP system, which will allow us to analyse the transactions without having to go through the menu tree hierarchy to find a specific transaction.” More and more, Mike also finds that WhatsApp – a communication tool ostensibly built for the social space – is becoming a business hotspot. “It's a good medium for making quick contact. You shoot off an email that needs urgent attention, but you have no idea how someone else runs their email. I find WhatsApp very useful for alerts on urgent requirements and afterhours collaboration between the management team.” In fact, he says, many key strategic discussions are happening through WhatsApp text and voice notes. “I certainly feel that in the last two years this has become mainstream and acceptable. Emails may be accessible on your phone, but WhatsApp is the trigger to action when urgent.” And in his personal life, Excel returns with a little help from a digital calendar. “My wife also comes from a finance background and we run our personal budgets through Excel. I think it is just a function of the two of us, that we can use that as a common tool to talk. For example, we’re building a house at the moment, and every single inch of that house is captured in Excel. Right from the action items to the project management matters, the costing variations, the calendars, the timelines, and so on.” “Additionally, because life is so frantic, one of the key things that keeps us on the ‘straight and narrow’ is

Microsoft Calendar. I know it is something so basic, but all of our social engagements, to do items, and work commitments are flagged in a shared calendar that lets us understand where we are at any time, what we have on the go, and what we need to prepare for.”

Automation and self-service reporting at Standard Bank Sean Berrington is the CFO for Group IT at Standard Bank, a role he’s held for around three years, and one which he describes as “challenging” in a positive way. “It stretches me a lot,” he says. As the team is tech-focused, Sean says they “live and breathe the [digital] revolution all day, every day”. Over and above that, he says, the team and broader group do what they do differently, using tech to make sure that their processes are seamless. “As in any corporate, we have a legacy of big complex processes, but driven by Arno [Daehnke, Group chief financial director and 2019 CFO Awards nominee] we are on the journey of relooking at how we push the business and our finance processes. On an ongoing basis, we are looking for those opportunities to make our lives and jobs easier through technology.” Although there are many he could name, Sean specifically stresses two specific tech interventions that have changed the professional game for him. “Firstly we have invested a lot of time and effort in an automated service costing tool. It's an in-house developed tool, called our TCO [total cost of ownership] tool. With this, for example, you can see the cost of a service, like a server or email account. This has been a big victory for us. It is a fully automated tool, not quite at the predictive analytics level yet. But it is increasingly being used for decision-making that would otherwise have

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been done in Excel.” Linked to this, he says, Standard Bank also has a number of self-service reporting tools. “We are investing a lot of time in integrating all of the capabilities we have into these self-service reporting tools, to make sure that we make data available to our extended customer (internal) or stakeholder network. This is a lot easier than having to run around and pull together spreadsheets and presentations and do the analysis. As Standard Bank we use the SAP platform. They have a visualisation tool within that called Lumira, that we are using for this specifically.” This is because of the power of visualisation. “When we present the numbers, they can be cold. We had to think a lot about how we package these numbers and tell a story in a manner that helps people understand more.” On the personal side, Sean is focusing on using tech to reduce or remove the admin or "waste of time"

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activities. “I’m trying to make my personal life as frictionless as possible. It's not a specific tech that I rely on, but I use tech to make my life as easy as possible.” “My TV, music, and radio at home are all connected to Apple Music. All of my shopping is done online. I was at a friend’s birthday recently, and when we ran out of beverages, we used the Bottles app to have more delivered in 20 to 30 minutes. My burglar alarm and CCTV are also connected. I'll even admit that I have put my fountains at home on Wi-Fi switches, because this is easier than having to reset these manually every time there is a power outage (or maybe I’m just lazy),” he jokes. Is there anything in his personal life that technology hasn’t yet improved, we asked. “The day we're able to preorder and pay for a cup of coffee via our phones, and collect it five minutes later, then we would have hit pay-dirt.” l

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CFOs and CHROs collaborate at the Get Smart summit

CFOs seize the opportunity to Get Smart: COLLABORATE Execs who attended the Get Smart summit agreed that people collaborate better with trust, support and a collective vision.

FO South Africa, in partnership with SAP Concur, hosted the Get Smart summit on 21 February at Summer Place. Some of South Africa’s leading CFOs and CHROs explored how executives stay relevant and adapt to change, and collaborate to tap potential and accelerate performance. The OMG CEO Mqondisi Gumede kicked off the event with his famous “Think BIG” talk, giving the example of a big sporting company that marketed to its customer base, believing they wanted to crush the competition and winners, when in fact they were training to look good in a “little black dress”. “All that boxing, yoga, sweat and tears wasn’t for the Comrades or the Half Iron Man. It was to look good in a cocktail dress. It shook everyone at the sporting goods manufacturer to the core. It was a stunning

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reversal of what they thought they were providing to the customer.” Mqondisi pointed out that even though some of the things that human beings do aren’t always rational, they are completely predictable if you put enough time into assessing them correctly. The attendees then split into three groups and rotated through three breakaway sessions. TransUnion Africa CEO Lee Naik shared in one of these breakaway sessions how, when he took up the role two years ago, after a 19-year career at Accenture, he took his consultancy learnings and applied them to the business he was now heading up. He broke his direction down into three key points: • Create a vision that people can believe in. Close your eyes and think what “good” looks like. If you

Lee Naik, TransUnion CEO, and Jon Foster-Pedley, Attendees listen intently to the keynote address

dean of Henley Business School

Angelique Montalto, SAP Concur regional sales director, Raymond Grieger, SAP Concur employee expense specialist, Willie Kgoroeadira, SAP Concur, XXX

Kutlwano Rawana, chief of human capital at Ster-Kinekor

can’t articulate that, no one will follow you. • Gain a followership by sharing the vision. Identify the yesses and double down on them. Make the changes to the nos immediately. • Use leverage to extend your existing base of yesses to deliver on your vision. They can’t do it alone. Peregrine Holdings CEO Rob Katz hosted another session in which he spoke about how getting people across diverse teams and cultures to collaborate is extremely hard. “My own experience of dealing with people is that they will surprise you on the upside and the downside, but most people are average and you have to understand how to get the best out of them.” He said that once people are secure in their jobs, you can work with them across jurisdictions and cultures. EOH group finance director Megan Pydigadu spoke

senior regional solution Sales Executive XXX

about the importance of collaboration in the remaining session. “You need to have transparency and trust. People need to know that you are sharing information with them and that they are trusted, and understand how they fit into the bigger picture.” Megan holds weekly or monthly team meetings with people represented by different functional areas. “People get to learn how everyone is fitting into the bigger picture and how what others do might impact on their work. It sparks impact and discussions and encourages richer decision-making processes throughout the organisation.” The evening was brought to a close by Henley Business School dean Jon Foster-Pedley, who praised Lee, Rob and Megan’s exceptional insight. He encouraged their audiences to discuss how these could be applied in their own workplaces. l CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

WORK IS A PART OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE! Scuba diving was Danie Ferreira’s life. So he made it his work. And then he learnt something important about work-life balance. He shares his story with CFO South Africa. 66

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hile working at one of my previous employers, I started scuba diving as a hobby. The sport soon became my all-consuming passion, and in a very short time, I burnt my way through every course I could possibly do, and consumed all the literature on the subject I could lay my hands on. My entire world revolved around my diving activities. Weekends were spent in all sorts of wonderful places, exploring and having fun. This was a severe case of worklife imbalance! I had to temper my diving enthusiasm when we started an important project at work. Suddenly, my entire world shrunk into days, nights, weeks and weekends working and planning and monitoring the progress of this project. There was very little time for anything but work, and my relationship with my family, and my health suffered as a consequence.

I realised that there was very little room for personal growth in what I was doing (a politically correct way of saying I was getting bored) and, ever so thirsty to explore the unknown, I started cave and technical diving. This involved very deep diving, and using gas mixtures that would facilitate breathing at these extreme depths, as well as all the associated decompression procedures that would ensure I came back alive from every deep cave dive. The learning curve was extremely steep, and I found the new material and skill set

I was at my happiest with twin cylinders on my back, with an extra cylinder containing my decompression gas clipped onto my buoyancy apparatus, and gliding silently through a cave, or abandoned mine, with the torch in my hand the only light in a very dark place. But reality is a funny thing. It sneaks up on you and bites where and when you least expect it. My wife started referring to me as her absentee husband. Finally, one sunny morning, she offered me an ultimatum: I could either continue along that track, and lose her and the family we were planning on having, or get a real job again, scuba dive as a hobby, and keep my family… The rest is history. I miss diving, but I know I made the right choice, returning things to balance. I learnt some very important lessons from this experience: • In my desperate search for that work-life balance, I lost sight of the fact that work is PART of LIFE! I made my passion my work, and suddenly everything was out of balance, with potential catastrophic consequences. I had to take a break from the endless holiday!

• I have never heard of someone regretting spending too much time with their family and loved ones. • Try, and don’t be afraid to fail. I don’t believe there is any shame in failure, as long as one learns from it. • Live every moment as if it is your last. We can’t see the future, and the past is a distant memory. We control what we do in the present, and if we make the right decisions now, the future will take care of itself. These days I solve my problems on a mountain bike trail. It is the one place where I have to switch off or hurt myself! While negotiating a footpath that was never intended for anything other than pedestrian traffic, I can’t afford to have my mind lingering on things that happened at work. I have to be present in the moment, “lest the earth might ascend and smite me!” Work while at work. Do your best. When at home, be at home! Work on your family relationships, and work on your relationship with the person in the mirror. Be your best.

Photo: Ter Hollmann

After all the energy expended on my project, it was shelved in favour of an alternative. I saw that as a sign and decided to venture into the great unknown of the travel and tourism industry. I opened a scuba club and for three years had the time of my life travelling all over southern Africa with my tadpoles (a term of endearment for my scuba students at the time).

challenging and stimulating.

Danie Ferreira is the CFO of Car Hire Brokers.l

• I learnt that it is wonderful to follow one’s passion, but keep your family close, or better still, share that passion with them. In the end, they are the ones who will guide you back from the edge where the darkness lies in wait. • We all venture in and out of balance. There are times when work has to be the focus of ALL our attention. Even so, we need to make time for ourselves. We need time to switch off and recharge batteries and regroup. We need time to reconnect with our loved ones.

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10 COMMUNITY

QUESTIONS FOR

GIDEON JOUBERT

Gideon Joubert is always up for an adventure and a new challenge. He’s found both as the CFO of Rest of Africa at the FirstRand Group. He chatted to Georgina Guedes about his growth and empowering others.

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Photos: Supplied 69 CFO MAGAZINE CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA • CFO.CO.ZA 69

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ike Field, ex CFO of Rand Merchant Bank, was recruiting an executive assistant and looked to his auditors for a recommendation. They recommended Gideon. He describes the gruelling six-part interview process, including an essay, as the toughest of his career. This includes the interview processes for the two CFO roles he has held subsequently! This position however, proved to be an excellent springboard into the role he holds today.

How did being an executive assistant prepare you for your future roles?

I learnt a tremendous amount from Mike. He was very demanding and expected work of a very high standard. It was a fantastic experience in terms of the exposure that I received so early on in my career. I was only 28 at the time and had the opportunity to work with several of the senior executives in the organisation. I was involved in many of Mike’s strategic projects and had a front row seat to what the role of a CFO entailed.

What was your next move at RMB?

I was in the executive assistant role for two years. At that point, there were a number of shifts taking place within the Group and the RMB Investment Banking Division CFO role became available in 2014. It’s a large, market leading business at the top of its game. I was successful in the application process. The learning curve was very steep. I had to learn the investment banking business, familiarise myself with the variety of product sets, manage a large team (which I had some experience on from my days at PwC), engage with many prominent dealmakers and manage expectations at an exco level. The first 18 months were interesting to say the least. One of my toughest challenges was

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finding my voice around the boardroom table. I needed to have not only a deep understanding of the business and the numbers, but also the business levers that were available to pull to ensure the success of the operation. It was a balancing act between the various responsibilities – the smooth running of the day-to-day operations, while also providing input into the business strategy. As I developed the strategic muscles required by a CFO, I found my rhythm within the role. My focus shifted away from the operational aspects, more towards the strategic aspects of the role. In a philosophical sense, I was growing with the business.

What motivated the move from Investment Banking to Africa?

After four incredible years as the CFO of IBD, I found myself looking for a different challenge. I’ve always enjoyed a challenge! The role as CFO for the group’s Rest of Africa business became available about 16 months ago. This is very different to Investment Banking!

ness faces. In addition, I had to learn to trust the teams in place so that I can really get involved in the areas where I can make a difference.

You’re very young to be a CFO. How did you achieve this?

At FirstRand, RMB and FNB, age is not a factor. What matters to the group is what you can deliver. I am, however, aware that I have not seen many full economic cycles. There’s no better way of learning than getting involved hands on. Where I lack the depth of experience, I am privileged to be able to tap into a wealth of knowledge from seasoned colleagues. You learn from those who have seen both the good and the bad times, and how things can go very wrong very quickly. Also, in times of turmoil, they will point out that there are opportunities, and these must be explored.

What are some of the challenges of operating in the rest of Africa?

FirstRand’s Rest of Africa portfolio has a broad geographic footprint, operating banks in nine countries, with businesses at various stages of maturity. Namibia and Botswana are the largest banks in the jurisdictions within which they operate, whereas our business in Ghana is still a startup. I have been fortunate to see the full spectrum of banking within this portfolio, from retail to corporate and investment banking.

The first thing that I have realised is that each country has its own set of cultural nuances and dynamics. What works in South Africa may not necessarily work in other countries. You need to be able to clearly articulate your ‘right to win’ in each jurisdiction that you operate in. Most importantly, the best solutions do not always come from South Africa itself, but rather from that particular country. You need to have a strong team on the ground, with a deep understanding of those markets, driving strategy.

Different insights are required for each market with the level of complexity varying based on its maturity. Each jurisdiction offers its own unique development opportunities. What is required from me in this role is very different to what I experienced in my first role as CFO. The stretch is derived from the amount of bespoke challenges each busi-

The engagement model differs from country to country and the structure of the finance team needs to cater for the various dynamics. There is a challenge in knowing how to scale the different finance teams, and how to create an integrated finance community across so many geographies. How do you create or attract the best talent in each market and equip

them with the best banking skills? In South Africa it’s easier as we are a top-rated brand, on the contrary, in some of the other African countries, our businesses are still in their infancy.

What are your worst days on the job?

The worst day is the one where you get a call from one of your team members saying, “Gideon, I think you need to see this”. Those ‘worst day’ challenges are the ones that come out of the blue and did not feature on your radar. As a result, they are usually very time consuming. A new regulation or ruling from a central bank may be all consuming for two or three weeks or even months. As we operate across nine jurisdictions in the Rest of Africa, there are constant changes, dynamics and regulations to stay abreast of that will influence your strategy. Many of these are subject to change at very short notice.

What is your preferred leadership style?

It is very important to have a great team of people around you, trust them to do what is right for the business and empower them to execute on their mandates. In South Africa I have a ‘top notch’ central team and we have deployed CFOs and finance teams into each of the businesses. I would love to have more time to spend with the teams in each country to understand their day-to-day challenges and to empower them to solve for this.

You say you love an adventure and travel. How has this played out in your life?

I grew up in the Eastern Cape on a farm about 4 km outside the small town of Kirkwood, located in the Sundays River Valley close to the Addo Elephant National Park. My parents are citrus farm-

ers. While I loved growing up in a small town, I longed for adventure and for something to do on a Friday night. I had the privilege of attending half of grade 11 at a school in another very small town in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the USA via the American Institute for Foreign Study. During varsity, I gave training in computer programs in Zurich, Switzerland and worked in the harbour in Valparaiso, Chile. These were amazing opportunities. I met a variety of new people, learnt about other cultures, made great friends across four continents and could finally put my Spanish skills to the test. I joined PwC’s Banking and Capital Markets Assurance division in 2006, where I had exposure to many of the big South African and International banks as clients. I did a secondment to Boston in the USA and consulted with PwC in Nigeria. My current role has allowed me to travel extensively into Africa.

How do you achieve worklife balance?

This remains a challenge, but I aim to integrate the two as much as possible. I’ve been married since 2013 with a beautiful wife and two very cute but busy toddlers. Travelling across the continent makes family life challenging. When I am here, I always make sure that I spend time with my kids in the evening. I like to put them to bed myself and then spend time with my wife. These are non-negotiables. I then catch-up on work. Even though I work in the evenings, weekends are quality time with my family. You must set rules for yourself in order to ensure that you have quality family time, your kids are young only for a short period of time.

Between work and family, what else are you involved in and what do you do to relax?

In my free time, I farm. I am a non-executive director of my parents’ agricultural business, Habata Agri, and am involved in the finance and strategy side. Their business has done well and has expanded a lot in recent years. It produces among others citrus, watermelons, sweet melons and in 2016 expanded into wine. For those interested in a decent return on investment, I would discourage you from wine making! On that note, I do enjoy a good glass of red wine and a steak dinner with friends. I am also an avid reader of anything – a combination of business, philosophy and fiction. I have a significant interest in history and follow the news closely. I developed a love of skiing while at school in Colorado. I am also an avid scuba diver. It is more difficult now with young kids, but both my wife and I love to travel. Once they are a bit older, we are looking forward to doing this again a lot more. l CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

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The good, the bad and the ugly A young accountant’s experience of working with three types of CFO

A millennial CA, who has moved around from job to job, reveals the three types of CFO she has encountered. Do you recognise yourself in any of them? By Liezl Berry

s a millennial CA I have had the privilege of changing jobs often without being labelled volatile. Working with many CFOs, I have concluded that there are three types of CFOs in this world: the good (even great!), the bad and the ugly.

The good CFO The Good CFO, let’s call her Blondie, is one that can build strong teams and develop successors. She has a holistic understanding of the financial workings of the company and of the entire industry. She understands that the world cannot be understood without numbers, but that the world can also not be understood by numbers alone. Blondie is rigorous. She knows that having the right people on her team will be her greatest asset. With her in charge you know where you stand, and you don’t need to waste valuable time wondering what will happen next. You give your best, and you are not scared of making mistakes and confessing it as you know you will be allowed to make amends and improve. She brings out the best in her team and doesn’t waste time dealing with the wrong people. Blondie is trustworthy, ethical and transparent. She

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trusts her best people to handle the opportunities, while training the others by letting them deal with the problems. She doesn’t take credit for anyone else’s work and she doesn’t blame her team when things go wrong. She doesn’t micromanage, she doesn’t believe in the ‘ass in chair, let me see you’ notion of the obsessive CFOs. She gives you opportunity, freedom and a lot of responsibility.

The Bad CFO The Bad CFO, let’s call her Angel Eyes, is the ruthless one that hacks and cuts in difficult times without any thoughtful consideration. Angel Eyes causes stress as you never really know if she is out to get you, fire you or ridicule you in the next finance meeting. She always gets the job done and works twenty-four seven, expecting the same of her “lazy” finance team. Everyone in the team “works” longer hours with her in charge, yet productivity seems to stagnate. No-one knows who made that mistake on the journal passed or why the reconciliation on the share-based payments account disappeared. Things are tense and you feel your pants getting tighter as you reach for another wine gum to chew the stress away. Angel Eyes is the most important person in her own life and in the company. She doesn’t like anyone to

“Later, the Rat will be the one you read about in the paper or the one who got that not-so-goldenhandshake and you think, ‘I knew it!’”

be smarter than her. She is not able to deal with the conflict in her team and will not be available to talk about issues. She continuously displays an image of flawlessness that is more intimidating than inspiring. Negative gossip seems to spread like wildfire with her in charge and trust is a thing of the past.

The Ugly CFO The Ugly CFO, who we will call Rat, is the scariest type of all. He is inconsistent and changes his mind at a whim. He is dishonest, unethical and secretive, but extremely smart and ambitious. He will make you do journals that you don’t understand and when you question him, he will act as if you are stupid for not understanding his brilliance. (It is often the case that you will not understand his brilliance as you might have to be a criminal to understand the things this type of CFO gets up to and gets away with.) The Rat has confidence, charisma and a hug to share. He has favorites (normally the ones that do not question) and they get promoted. He will tell you straight out that you should leave if you can’t handle the heat in the finance department. The CEO loves him, the

women love him, some fear him and the rest try to leave as soon as possible. He seems to have it all – and you might even start questioning your own skills, knowledge, career and life choices. Later, the Rat will be the one you read about in the paper or the one who got that not-so-golden-handshake and you think, “I knew it!”

Which will you be? The finance world – and especially the world where CFOs find themselves – is a wonderful place where you can make a difference, inspire greatness, build an empire and leave a legacy. It can also be a place where you destroy everything. Let all your actions, even though they are not those of a king, be, in their own sphere, worthy of one. Be sublime in your deeds, lofty in your thoughts and remember, if you can’t be good, be careful. l Liezl Berry is a CA(SA), entrepreneur and regular CFO.co.za Expert Insight contributor. CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

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Photos: Andrew Morgan

CFO Cares:

Safeguarding children, changing futures at Cape schools Capitec CFO André du Plessis took CFO South Africa on a visit to Ysterplaat Primary School to see the results of his Community Keepers project in action. The school is a happy, safe place for children to develop and thrive. But, André says, it wasn’t always this way. By Georgina Guedes

AndrĂŠ du Plessis, Capitec CFO, wanted to help school children with the emotional challenges they face.

Nataly Horn, principal of Ysterplaat Primary School, says Community Keepers has helped student and teachers to cope.

sterplaat Primary school is an unassuming institution in Brooklyn, Cape Town, an area that, while not affluent, doesn’t on the surface seem beset with violence and drug problems. But still waters run deep, and teachers at the school report that while classes start at 7.30am, for many years, they spent the first three or so hours of the day managing the personal challenges the students came in with, and trying to contact social services for support.

calling social workers and the police.”

“Some of the situations were completely out of control,” says Principal Nataly Horn. “We had to deal with issues of drugs, abandonment, violence and even – and this particularly hard to deal with – rape. We were lucky if we started teaching at 10, we were so busy

Answering a need

To find out more about Community Keepers or to make a donation, visit www.communitykeepers.org

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So what changed? The school experienced a paradigm shift with the introduction of a project called Community Keepers, which involved the placement of Suzanne Moore, a social worker, at the school to take care of the children’s social and emotional well-being, and to deal directly with any specific problems as they arose, through an established support network of social services in the area.

Community Keepers is the personal project of André du Plessis, Capitec CFO. He and his family supported an orphaned child in the Eastern Cape, and through this were made aware of the emotional challenges facing children living in poor communities where there simply isn’t support for these kinds of problems. “We saw a lot of issues in her life when we went to visit her in the Eastern Cape. We wanted to find a way to be more involved with other children, so we partnered with

Philip Geldenhuys, a social worker, to look at what the issues were and how we could help out. We came to the conclusion that these kids needed professional psychological and social support, so we started raising funds to provide that,” André explained to CFO South Africa on a visit to Ysterplaat. This planted the seed that today has grown into an intervention serving 27 Cape schools. The approach is straightforward. Schools can apply or are identified in low-income areas, and a permanent Community Keepers office is established on site. The school must provide the space, but Community Keepers funds the renovation. The space is made up of a reception area leading into two therapy rooms. At Ysterplaat, the rooms are furnished with comfortable items and brightly coloured. In the therapy room, there is a punching bag for working out anger or aggression. In the other is a swing and play therapy station used by the on-site social worker or rotating therapist. At the start of the programme at each school, the on-site professional

Suzanne Moore, a social worker, is permanently placed at Ysterplaat Primary to help students with the social and emotional challenges they face.

will establish trust through a series of activities, working with each class of the school. Initial resistance is overcome and children then approach the social worker or therapist as and when problems arise. The therapist can also be called in to deal with problems as they arise in the classroom.

Extending the reach This model has proven effective over a number of years, and the schools have been divided into areas headed up by an area manager. When the time is right (which generally means that funding is available), new schools are identified for an intervention. “A lot of our work is building solid relationships with the relevant people in the community,” says Laurian Ferneaux, the area manager for the schools in the Cape Town area at Community Keepers. “Obviously, we are the first line, but if there are complex issues of criminal violence or drug abuse, we need the expertise of others.” Community Keepers has made a tangible difference at Ysterplaat –

and at other schools in the project. “Since Community Keepers came here, the shift has been huge. The children are happier, they feel that they have a safe space to go to, and the parents are also much happier because they can get support as well,” says Nataly.

Professional therapy rooms have to be built, and the full-time salaries of therapists and social workers have to be paid. The project itself has administrators and office workers as well, and André says that even with his support, funding is an ongoing challenge.

While it’s not possible to meet with individual children because of professional confidentiality, the halls of Ysterplaat echo with happy voices, and passing children express all the excitement and joy they should be. While the problems they face at home haven’t necessarily been overcome, these children know that they have a safe space to seek help and a professional network supporting them.

“I spend a lot of time speaking to people and bringing them on site visits so that they will see the good work that’s being done at these schools – creating a secure foundation at an age when it’s needed,” says André. “But to keep doing the good work we’re doing, and to keep growing, we need the funds. It’s a massive job to keep that coming in.”

“You can’t believe it’s the same school,” André says.

Keeping the project alive There’s no doubt that the Community Keepers programme is effective in addressing the issues that the children deal with individually and which the school as a whole has faced, the intervention certainly doesn’t come cheap.

But he believes that for the good that it’s doing, it’s worth his time and money, and the contributions of those who offer their support. l

Do you have a CFO Cares story to share with us? Contact CFO community manager John Deane on jdeane@cfo.co.za with the details.

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

Look out for these winning traits in the next CFO of the Year At the glittering CFO Awards, held on 15 May, the 2019 CFO of the Year will be revealed.

CFO MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;¢ CFO.CO.ZA

he CFO Awards, “Oscars of South Africa’s finance profession” and highlight of the country’s finance calendar, recognises CFOs from companies, corporations, institutions and organisations across South Africa and awards them for outstanding performance and leadership.

Victor Sekese, SNG Grant Thornton CEO, said he is looking for a CFO who has demonstrated integrity in his or her dealings. “Although this is a difficult trait to judge, it’s very important in our dispensation as it has been proved that you can’t simply assume its existence.”

Over 350 top CFOs, VIPs and business partners attend the event to enjoy exceptional networking opportunities, dazzling entertainment and a delectable dinner, rubbing shoulders with business leaders from the public and private sector.

Another trait that came up a lot was strategic thinking. Leon Crouse, former Remgro and Vodacom CFO, is looking for someone with a deep understanding of the business and active participation in strategy formation, execution and monitoring of progress.

The judging panel has meticulously examined interviews with leading finance executives to determine who will join the list of CFO of the Year winners:

Enthusiasm for their job, making a difference, a passion for people, team management excellence and innovation also came up. Ben Marx, chairman at the Department of Accountancy at the University of Johannesburg, said the CFO of the Year is someone who understands and is able to “respond proactively to the challenges and opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution”.

– Simon Ridley, then Standard Bank FD (2014) – Deon Viljoen, then Alexander Forbes CFO (2015) – Reeza Isaacs, Woolworths CFO (2016) – Till Streichert, Vodacom CFO (2017) – Christine Ramon, AngloGold Ashanti CFO (2018) Ethics and integrity are some of the characteristics that came up most when we asked judges what they will be looking for in the next CFO of the Year.

According to Kevin Black, audit partner at Deloitte Africa, the CFO of the Year is someone who delivers the finance function as a business enabler and who is a champion of transforming the finance function digitally. For Herman Bosman, RMB Holdings and RMI Holdings

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

CEO, it is someone who is “commercially-minded and solution oriented, accurate, and has the ability to partner with the CEO”.

•

rett Tromp, CFO Discovery Health, Young CFO of B the Year 2015 and High Performance Team Award 2015 winner

CFOs will also compete for a range of other awards, including the Finance & Technology, Moving into Africa, Finance Transformation, Compliance & Governance, High Performance Team, Transformation & Empowerment, Young CFO of the Year and Public Sector CFO of the Year awards.

•

Christo Els, Senior Partner Webber Wentzel

•

laudelle von Eck, CEO The Institute of Internal C Auditors South Africa

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eon Viljoen, CFO Discovery and CFO of the Year D 2015 winner

•

uvuyo Masinda, Head Global Client Coverage L Standard Bank CIB

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Mary Vilakazi, Group COO FirstRand

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Mteto Nyati, CEO Altron,

The 2019 CFO of the Year winner will be decided by the following judges: •

Aarti Takoordeen, JSE CFO

•

en Marx, Chairman at the Department of B Accountancy at the University of Johannesburg

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Victor Sekese, SNG Grant Thornton CEO

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eon Crouse, former Remgro and Vodacom CFO L and winner of the CFO Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016

amasela Ganda, Executive Head Business R Services Barloworld Equipment and Public Sector CFO of the Year 2017 winner

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imon Ridley, Non-executive Director Standard S Bank, former Group FD and CFO of the Year 2014

•

iseman Nkuhlu, Chancellor University of W Pretoria

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Kevin Black, audit partner at Deloitte Africa

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erman Bosman, RMB Holdings and RMI Holdings H CEO

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

THE ‘OSCARS’ OF SA FINANCE

14 MAY 2020 | JHB

BOOK YOUR

SEAT CFOAwards.co.za

FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR

&LIVE ADAPT

Most people who are reading this will live to be 100 years old and more. To some of you that might sound scary, silly or unrealistic. For others it will be exciting and completely change the way you will prioritise during your next half century.

During CFO Day on 23 July, you will be able to explore the journey from surviving to thriving with some business leaders who have been in tight spots, like South African Airways CEO Vuyani Jarana, EOH CEO Stephen van Coller and Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko.

It was futurist Graeme Codrington who kept piling on the empirical evidence for our increased longevity during a fantastic CFO dinner in February. These dinners are such exquisite opportunities for great learning, networking and fine dining, that I would really recommend any finance executive to join at least one a year.

This event is truly the essential networking and learning day on the annual calendar for CFOs. Whether you want to learn how to turn stress into an advantage, get inspired by candid personal stories or share laughs with peers and new friends, CFO Day cannot be missed. The venue (Marble Restaurant!) is nearly fully booked, but please drop me a note if you haven’t registered yet and are understandably developing serious FOMO.

Somehow living for much longer remains abstract to you and me, and conversations about the future quickly turn towards the exponentially increasing pace of technological change. Together with political uncertainty and ever-increasing competition, the tech revolution has turned the business ecosystem into a jungle in which only the strongest and smartest survive and thrive. With the speed of change ever more relentless, boards and CEOs are asking CFOs for strategy, guidance and smart decisions. How can you win where others fail? How do you change gears and pull ahead? In an “Adapt or Die” climate, how do you become a finance LEADER?

CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA

PS: Another mutual friend who has elected to adapt and live in a different way is our former MD Graham Fehrsen, who played a crucial role in building CFO SA and CHRO SA into the thriving executive communities they are today. On behalf of all CFOs and the CFO South Africa team, I thank him and wish him the greatest of successes in his next half century. Joël Roerig CFO South Africa managing director +27 (0)76 371 2856 jroerig@cfo.co.za

The preferred community for SA’s finance executives

15 MAY 2019

CFO Awards – Johannesburg

9 JULY 2019

CFO SA Dinner – Johannesburg

23 JULY 2019

CFO Day – Johannesburg

1 AUGUST 2019

CFO and CHRO SA Women’s Event – Johannesburg

20 AUGUST 2019

CFO Dinner – Johannesburg

29 AUGUST 2019

CFO Journey – Johannesburg

16 – 17 OCTOBER 2019 Finance Indaba Africa – Sandton Convention Centre

7 NOVEMBER 2019

CFO SA Summit 3 – Johannesburg

12 NOVEMBER 2019

CFO Dinner – Johannesburg

Learn, network & build your career CFO.co.za | John Deane, CFO South Africa Community Manager jdeane@cfo.co.za | +27 82 570 9482

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