CHANGE MANAGEMENT
LEAVING A LASTING LEGACY
BCX CFO Lucas Ndala believes that change management is a critical skill for today’s CFO and that, during times of change, people have to consider what legacy they are building. By Ronda Naidu
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t was while growing up in the rural areas in Winterveld, north of Pretoria, that Lucas Ndala set his sights on becoming a chartered accountant. The current CFO of BCX recalls seeing vacancies in the Sunday newspaper for CAs and deciding that would be his chosen career path. “I never had career guidance at school. When I was in high school, a friend of mine used to sell newspapers. He would sell me the Sunday newspaper at a discount on Monday and I was always impressed with the accountant advertisements in the paper,” he says. This career aspiration was further bolstered by his accounting teacher. “Initially, I wanted to be an engineer, so I joined the science class, but the accounting teacher moved me to the accounting class. I then had to drop
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business economics in order to attend maths classes as those lessons were taught at the same time. There were only four of us in the maths class who were doing accounting,” he adds. This was not unusual in a community where most professionals were teachers or police officers. “There were not many black students passing maths. That didn’t stop me, even though I was told it would be difficult. That motivated me to succeed,” he explains. His can-do attitude stood him in good stead for tertiary education as well, with Lucas completing a BCom in accounting at the University of the Western Cape, followed by an honours in accounting at the University of Cape Town. He received merit awards and recognition at both institutions, including a UCT Dean’s Medal.
