CFO Magazine Special Edition: Finance Indaba Conversations

CFO MAGAZINE SPECIAL EDITION 2021 | CFO.CO.ZA

KEY THEMES Talking Tech Taming Your Robots Mentor Mania Doing Good Business The NEW Accountant Courage Under Fire

Former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

REBUILD, REINVENT & REJUVENATE

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contents

Contents Note from the editor.........................................................................................................................................................5 Keynote..............................................................................................................................................................................6 Firing up business with the right tech............................................................................................................................9 Enter the chief value officer..........................................................................................................................................12 Insight from data is the ROI..........................................................................................................................................14 Mentorship amplifies power and potential..................................................................................................................18 Maximise the impact: Learning from mentors............................................................................................................22 When the master is the student...................................................................................................................................26 Connect with company purpose...................................................................................................................................30 Finance leaders of the future........................................................................................................................................34 Stakeholder wealth.........................................................................................................................................................37 Digitisation: Right time, right space..............................................................................................................................43 Win with tech..................................................................................................................................................................48 The art of finance...........................................................................................................................................................52 Value for the future........................................................................................................................................................56 Culture and values count..............................................................................................................................................60 Business resilience basics..............................................................................................................................................64 Make the tough decisions..............................................................................................................................................67 Courage and commitment.............................................................................................................................................70 Learning under extreme change...................................................................................................................................72

Editor in chief Georgina Guedes gguedes@cfo.co.za +27 83 651 2789

Managing director Joël Roerig jroerig@cfo.co.za +27 76 371 2856

Associate editor Ronda Naidu rnaidu@cfo.co.za +27 82 695 9704

Publisher CFO Enterprises (Pty) Ltd 1 Wedgewood Link | Bryanston | Johannesburg | 2191 | South Africa +27 11 083 7515

Community manager Brian Chivere bchivere@cfo.co.za +27 60 505 7727 Photography Patrick Furter Other contributors Ang Lloyd, Chuma Mxo, Jane Steinacker, Puseletso Mompei, Reabetswe Rabaji, Thando Pato

CFO community 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.

Design & Layout Elizabeth Ferraris Printing Novus Holdings

Sales Manager Karen Martin kmartin@cfo.co.za +27 82 920 8259 © 2021 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.

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from the editor

Meaningful firsts The era of firsts continues, with the 2021 Finance Indaba Conversations being hosted for the first time, with both in-person and live-streaming of the keynote address by former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene.

This was followed by a unique three days of 18 interactive sessions, with leading CFOs providing thought leadership across a diverse range of topics, and from a wide range of industries.

We identified six topics that have been at the forefront of the finance leader's agenda during the pandemic, with insightful thought leadership from an esteemed panel of experts on tech, mentorship, the new accountant, courage under fire, doing good business and taming your robots.

Attendees were provided with breakaway platforms to interact with peers and colleagues and share their business and personal challenges and lessons learnt over the past 18 months.

It was also a first for this humble scribe, who joined the CFO South Africa community in the midst of the hard lockdown of 2020. It has been an inspirational and humbling journey since, from supportive colleagues to one-on-one conversations with inspirational finance leaders, the immersion in CFO South Africa has been the embodiment of community first during a time when many felt isolated and overwhelmed.

It is in these spaces, with other experts and leaders in the field, that we find the safe spaces to converse, network, learn and most of all belong.

It is in the memorable conversations that we find our resilience and take comfort in knowing that we do not walk this journey alone.

CFOs from large and small organisations have had to lead their companies and workforce through a trying time, to manage expectations in the C-suite and on the factory floor. It is within these firsts, amid the heat and pressure, that diamonds are formed. So it is, that every finance leader has found a first over the preceding year.

It is with this in mind that we will continue to create successful partnerships, meaningful conversations and resilient communities here at CFO South Africa – both in person and online.

RONDA NAIDU ASSOCIATE EDITOR RNAIDU@CFO.CO.ZA +27 82 695 9704

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keynote address

REBUILD, REINVENT AND REJUVENATE Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene urged finance and government to work together.

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BY CAYLYNNE FOURIE

orty of South Africa’s leading CFOs gathered at Summer Place in Hyde Park in October, to launch the first-ever Finance Indaba Conversations. While enjoying a scrumptious breakfast, the finance professionals were captivated by a keynote address from former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene.

“There are three things that keep me awake at night: economy, economy and economy,” said Nene, who is now running a family business in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, chairs the boards of Thebe Investment Corporation and the Pan African Arise Bank, and is a non-executive director of Grobank.

nomic growth rate to higher than three percent growth over a sustainable period. And finance has a big role to play in achieving that.”

He explained that for any system to work, however well it is designed, it requires human capital, and finance professionals are those people. “Finance institutions and markets provide a framework for carrying out economic transactions and monetary policy, they help to channel the nation’s savings into investment and, by doing so, they support and drive economic growth.”

Nene added that, for central banks, the financial system is the key transmission mechanism for monetary policy decisions that are made on a regular basis. Therefore problems in financial systems not only disrupt financial intermediation,

“As a nation, we need to knuckle down and do some hard work to pull our economy up, raise the eco-

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keynote address

“As a nation, we need to knuckle down and do some hard work to pull our economy up.” they can also undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy, exacerbate economic downturns, trigger capital flight and exchange rate pressures. This, he explained, can result in large costs for governments when it has to step in to bail out troubled financial institutions.

The fuel that propels economic activity Nene explained that one of the key roles of the finance profession is around credit provision. “Credit extension is the fuel that propels economic activity.

It does so by enabling businesses to invest beyond their own cash resources.”

He said that the latest monetary policy review that was published by the South African Reserve Bank, paints a worrisome picture regarding credit extension, specifically relating to corporates.

“No business activity can take place without finance,” he said. “And since a country’s economic activity and growth is the sum total of what its businesses and households, along with its governments, do – without finance, no economic activity is possible.”

It is for this reason, he explained, that it is import-

ant that voices like the ones present at the Finance Indaba Conversations should be heard in the corridors of power.

Business and government need each other Nene said that, in order for business and government to work together effectively, there needs to be a strong relationship, for the flow and exchange of accurate information, reciprocity and close consultation and coordination between state and business.

“This is important because business people have specific and deeper insights about specific sectors in the economy that the government doesn’t have,” he added. “A government, on the other hand, can share with business its view of the political economy, including the reasons for some of the proposed policies.”

In closing, Nene explained that South Africa is at a crossroads. “We can stay on the current low growth path and reap the whirlwind of poverty and unemployment with all the socio-political risk that come with it, or we can embark on rebuilding, reinventing and rejuvenating our economy to place it on a higher growth path. A path that ensures that all South Africans benefit.” 

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talking tech

FIRING UP BUSINESS WITH THE RIGHT TECH The technology landscape is constantly changing, and finance leaders agree that technology isn’t just an IT function but needs to be layered into every aspect of business.

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BY PUSELETSO MOMPEI nder the theme of Talking Tech, a Finance Indaba Conversation sponsored by Workday, finance leaders spoke about the challenges and opportunities they face as the technology landscape shifts.

Edward Bass, account executive from Workday, said that to keep pace with technological adoption, it is important for service providers to shift from transactional to partnership models with their clients. He said that vibrant, open relationships with service providers allow for real dialogue on what is coming, and drive the ability to implement technology fast and in a non-disruptive manner.

Megan Pydigadu, the CFO of EOH, spoke on the transformative power of technology. She explained that since she joined the organisation, EOH has embraced technology quickly to address governance and compliance, which were massive issues at the company.

As an IT organisation they have leveraged off skills: “Technology became a strong enabler for us as a very complex group, and with it we have been able to get control and understanding of the internal workings of the company. We have been able to see red flags and weaknesses quicker, having automated things like the bid process,” she said.

Sharon Naidoo, TransUnion’s CFO, said the strategic role of technology had to be defined from

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talking tech

He added that technology has the potential to address a myriad of challenges and that organisations experience inertia when they don’t delve into all the enhancements technology can make across the organisation.

the onset because taking a piecemeal approach to adopting technology that in the long run fails to integrate, becomes destructive.

She said that organisations needed to understand their strategic agenda, and then drive the right organisational culture and usage adoption across the organisation whether in HR, BI or sales, otherwise it has no use.

The right approach Tencent SA CFO Tramayne Monaghan said organisations often pigeonhole their problem-solving, thereby dampening the true potential of technology. He emphasised that technology isn’t just an IT function and that organisations need to layer technology into every function, from finance and HR to marketing, legal and planning.

Seen in the chat

Megan agreed and stated that EOH has done away with the traditional CIO role and now has a chief digital officer, whose focus is on overseeing all operations in the shared services environment. In this arrangement, IT provides the guidance and specialised skills, but the business co-creates and owns the solution.

Sharon stated that if organisations are not smarter, faster and more agile, they will be out of business. She advocated for technology to be integrated across the organisation and said that true ROI comes from having access to real time information, seamless onboarding tools and powerful integration which drives conversion of revenue.

Tech-enabled business

....

Sharon said having clarity on your north star or strategic intent is very important. She says that in order to avoid shiny ball syndrome, when it comes to investing in the next tech innovation or tool, CFOs should ask themselves, what is our purpose, what is our strategy?

Riaan Davel, DRD Gold CFO, a company which is 126 years old, says the organisation needs to understand big data. He says they work with tiny margins and nanotechnology has been important for pulling together crucial data and using it to build a basis to make better decisions for now, and for how the variables will interact with each other in future.

They should also question what they want to achieve, how they will connect to consumers and keep in mind that those questions will change every three to five years and that is why it is important to watch competitors, monitor trends and understand where they are going.

Karien Jones, chief operating officer: group finance at Sasfin Bank, shared that they were already on the transformation journey and have a project to move to cloud and automate reporting. She noted that smaller organisations are more agile because they have fewer legacy system issues.

Megan emphasised that traditional IT providers had to adapt as more organisations transition to a variable costs base from a fixed costs base. She said new SaaS offerings present more opportunities to scale up and down and align with current budgets. It’s a process of doing research and understanding what fits in with your strategic objectives.

Dale Quaker, CFO of Cupric Africa, a new mining company with no legacy system, said technology in the mining space has grown, with Wi-Fi networks underground, so managing people and tools has involved a combination of an innovative and traditional approach.

Tramayne echoed this and said that because technology was cheaper and products integrate faster, partnerships between companies are key. He said that the most effective businesses focus on their core competencies and then build sub-layers to

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Megan Pydigadu

talking tech

Tramayne Monaghan

enable the other elements a business needs with the right SaaS tools.

Sharon said that when going through a transformation journey, CFOs need to figure out how to leverage what they have in-house, versus buying off the shelf.

She said, “It is important to me as a CFO to invest in what grows revenue. Investing in the right partners, delivering the best value to us as the organisation and customers and keeping things simple allows us to stay agile and flexible.”

Tramayne said that to become a successful technology enabled organisation, you need to recognise that everything is digital. He says hiring someone with a passion for digital is now critical.

“We are seeing incumbents being replaced by younger people with less skills but who are digital-first in mindset. I would rather hire a generalist than a specialist who can evaluate and problem solve outside of silos. If you have the right people, they will embrace new ways of working, evaluate tools in the right way and look for speed and efficiency,” he said.

“We have been able to see red flags and weaknesses quicker, having automated things like the bid process.”

- Megan Pydigadu, CFO of EOH

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Enter the chief value officer CFOs are strategic business partners to other C-suite executives, creating value for all stakeholders

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BY THANDO PATO

he role of finance departments and CFOs has evolved. A successful CFO is no longer expected to just crunch numbers and report on financials – instead, panellists said they should be a strategic business partner to the CEO and the CIO, ensuring that all key business strategies have their input.

The discussion arose during a Finance Indaba Conversation, ‘Finance-led strategies that deliver results’, which was sponsored by Workday.

Edward Bass, account executive at Workday, kicked off the session by emphasising the evolving role of finance departments in organisations.

“CFOs are in fact chief value officers, because businesses look to them to create value for stakeholders,” said Sandile Ntsele, CFO of Liquid Telecoms.

“Finance departments are truth tellers,” he added. “In the past they were just focused on numbers but there has been a shift in thinking, and they now also need to present non-financial information that enhances business decisions. They also have the responsibility of ensuring that financial language is understood by key stakeholders.”

Nerissa Chetty, head of financial control and reporting at UBank Limited, said finance

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departments have a much bigger role to play in the organisation’s value chain.

“Finance needs to be a driver and be sufficiently knowledgeable to understand concepts related to the business at a high level, so we can question the business and influence how decisions are made,” she said.

Integration Sandile said that the tentacles of finance needed to extend to all areas of the business, especially IT. “Technology plays a role in providing valuable information to business operations and the finance community needs to play a role in its integration and consolidation. IT is an important key to forming strategies and analysing data. Business decisions are driven by the quality of information received from IT systems,” he added. “It’s important that upstream systems talk to downstreams to provide relevant insights. As CFOs we should be asking what is the purpose of the technology? Is it integrated? Is it providing us with insight or is it just a wasted investment?”

Mark Stirton, group CFO, Mr Price Group, said the key to ensuring more strategic input from the CFO and their department was through technology. Technology like artificial intelligence (AI), he believes, will free up time that allows finance departments to be more strate-

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talking tech

Mark Stirton

Sandile Ntsele

“Finance departments are truth tellers.” - Edward Bass, account executive at Workday gic and focused on what he terms as the business of tomorrow.

The introduction of AI into financial systems in

“We need to be insight driven catalysts who preempt the future and not report on the past,” he said. “We are currently too caught up in the business of today in our day-to-day operations.”

compared to the rest of the world, and more had

Mark said that technology is transforming business models and ways of doing business that impact the bottom line.

But in the meantime, he said, CFOs needed to

“We’ve seen major businesses like Uber, which don’t have physical assets or infrastructure, and yet they are successful. The Covid-19 pandemic has created a new level of trust in digital, which is shifting business models and platforms,” he said.

ple who know more than them and ensuring they

South Africa, said Mark, was behind the curve to be done to keep abreast of the changes and ensure organisations were equipping finance departments and CFOs in this regard.

work smart and ensure they were keeping abreast of technology, surrounding themselves with peonever lose their appetite to learn.

In conclusion, Nerissa advised her peers to do more to ensure they were leading their organisation’s strategy.

Be bold He added, “In our business, our merchants are now working digitally, whereas they used to travel around the world to physically inspect merchandise. Necessity is the mother of all invention.

None of us ever thought it would be possible, but this is how we are now working.”

“You need to be bold and to take risks to ensure you are indeed the chief value officer in your organisation,” she said.

Sandile added “Remember your role is not just gatekeeping: you are also responsible for propelling the business forward.” 

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talking tech

Insight from data is the ROI Automated financial services programmes allow CFOs to provide stronger strategic insights for the business.

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BY JANE STEINACKER

he days of manual Excel spreadsheets and scanning expense claim forms are coming to an end as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) frees up a financial division’s time to get to the real work.

“By automating menial tasks, CFOs can turn their team into business partners for the company, as opposed to spreadsheet experts,” said Josh May, principal consultant at Finance Indaba Conversation sponsor Blackline. The company is a provider of cloud software that automates and controls financial close and accounting processes and was referred to as a case study at this year’s Finance Indaba Conversations, Following global tech trends in finance.

Aneshree Naidoo, CFO at law firm Webber Wentzel, is once again implementing Blackline at the firm she recently joined after implementing the automated accounting software at Deloitte South Africa.

“For many years we have been hearing about the danger of legacy systems that either no

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longer suit the business, where contract maintenance contracts have come to an end or where the system is no longer supported,” she said, adding that companies need to understand that having a strong financial accounting system that can be integrated with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is, “a number one priority”.

And it isn’t just Aneshree who believes that effective and efficient systems are a priority.

Analyst house Gartner said that an ERP system is the fourth top priority for businesses, she said.

A good system that automates menial processes and reporting is one that eliminates errors and allows a business to quickly identify where figures don’t align – and are then able to take appropriate action.

“Finance is not the coolest department in the company – there’s a lot of transactional work,” said Catalin Lupu, the global VP for procurement and real estate at UiPath – Robotic Process Automation. “We are human beings, we get tired, we make mistakes.” By eliminating human error and freeing up time, the

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Aneshree Naidoo

talking tech

Craig Sumption

Choosing an IT vendor Aneshree Naidoo, CFO for law firm Webber Wentzel, has these tips to consider when choosing an IT vendor as “you don’t want to chop and change vendors every few months or years”.

1. Be selective when interviewing vendors to make sure that they are credible.

2. Be wary of vendors who only sell technology and do not understand the business’s challenges. Ask them what insights they are able to offer.

3. Work with vendors who are able to provide a short-, medium- and long-term approach to your needs.

4. Ensure that the vendor has a holistic view of your business's needs, and can provide any views on potential pitfalls that they have in their peripheral vision.

5. Choose a vendor that uses simple language and doesn’t attempt to bombard you with jargon.

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talking tech

programmed to ensure that the business is able to meet the requirements. Aneshree said this is a very useful tool for businesses at a time “when the credibility of finance professionals is on the radar”.

auditing process is easier, and compliance can easily be achieved.

Single view

The centralisation of processes into one system that is cloud based, giving users accessibility, also relieves the burden of the previously formidable annual audit. Auditors are no longer required to be holed up in a boardroom stacked floor to ceiling with lever arch files. Josh said they are now able to log into the software where they are allocated read-only rights into the books to be able to access the information they need.

But, before any of this can be achieved, a company needs to find a way for all of its systems to work together to create a single view of the business's finances. “Not all systems are designed to work together, and many companies need to either purchase connection software or have it custom built,” she said.

Aneshree uses software that can pull data from bank accounts, Excel spreadsheets, ERP systems, payment platforms and a variety of other sources onto one platform that her team can then work from. The data that the system provides is key, she says: “The insight from the data is where the return on investment in the systems comes from."

Automation also frees up time to make human interactions more meaningful. Aneshree has seen how members of the teams she has worked with are more empowered.

With this system in place, both financial and legal compliance are less complicated, she said. This is possible because with “the right technology and setting up rules and roles in the system in a well thought out way” the information about the business will only have “minor errors” and be in line with the compliance standards required.

“If the compliance standards are set up correctly from the beginning,” said Catalin, the system will be

Craig Sumption, director of finance at Hatch Africa, said the need for face-to-face human interactions has not been lost, but with most of the legwork done, these can be more meaningful. One of the tasks is the ability for the company’s employees to load their expense claims remotely via an app – a task that previously required a visit to the office to use the business’s scanner.

Even with the decrease in time required to perform tasks, Craig’s diary is still full: “Time always seems to be taken up,” he said. 

“We are human beings, we get tired, we make mistakes.”

- Catalin Lupu, the global VP for procurement and real estate at UiPath – Robotic Process Automation

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mentor mania

Mentorship amplifies power and potential The relationship between mentor and mentee can be rewarding, but be aware of the emotional investment and burnout.

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BY ANG LLOYD

n inspiring Finance Indaba Conversation titled, ‘How mentors made me, and how I pay it forward’, was hosted by CFO SA’s community manager Brian Chivere, and featured panellists Deon Fredericks, Famous Brands Group CFO, Mikateko Mhangwani Tshetshe, Unilever’s vice-president of finance in Africa, and CJ Kujenga, Ascendis Health Group CFO. Richard Southey, head of cash management at Absa Group, introduced the session by saying that Absa has come out of a three-year period of internal focus, which was precipitated by the financial institution’s separation from Barclays.

Richard added that, along with forging connections, Absa places significant focus on building talent. He shared that, throughout his career, mentors have helped him look at the world in different ways and manage relationships and changing environments.

“It’s absolutely vital to grow South Africa’s talent,” said Richard. “We live in a fascinating country, but we require so many skills; mentorship is about building each other’s careers, for both mentors and mentees.”

Time to connect

He added that Absa’s CFO SA sponsorship forms a significant part of the bank becoming more externally focused by connecting with the finance community.

The session kicked off with the question, “What is mentorship?” For Mikateko, it’s an exchange of shared insights and advice, and it’s about coming together by making the time to connect. Most importantly, it’s a relationship built on a foundation of trust and mutual understanding.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to understand what’s top of mind among CFOs, and get involved with conversations,” he said.

“Conversations can lean into sensitive and confidential content, so you need to trust each other, and trust is developed over time. It’s also

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CJ Kujenga

mentor mania

Mikateko Tshetshe

Seen in the chat

....

“I had one mentor/mentee relationship that didn’t work because I realised that my mentor was not the kind of person I wanted to be like, based on how she treated other people in the organisation.” - Nelisiwe Ngomane, financial accountant, Symrise “Mentoring and coaching is facilitated through a forum of problemsolving for the future. The role of being a mentor is a privilege and fulfilling. It is important to acknowledge the reciprocal role the mentee plays in the relationship, as self-discovery is unlocked in the process.

You’re never too experienced or too old to learn from others.” - Joy Sykes, Digital Industries

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mentor mania

a two-way relationship, and it’s a personal journey that requires effort from both parties,” she said.

ment, and I used to get a lot of requests to mentor, and I got burnt out,” she said.

CJ added that, for mentorship to be successful, mentees need to be vulnerable and open to the process, and self-awareness is critical. For CJ, mentorship is meant to challenge people and shift comfort zones, and self-awareness is critical.

She added, “The relationship is emotional, and you have to give of yourself; I can’t be dispassionate and removed. I stopped mentoring for a couple of years, but I learnt I need to be selective about mentees and define the relationship: sometimes it can be a short duration, sometimes longer. I’m still passionate about it but I find there are different ways of mentoring, and being mentored, so I can give my best.”

“Mentees need to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, so that they know where they need support,” she added. “I’ve had mentees who expect you to do all the work; meet me halfway, and help me understand the growth that’s required.”

For Deon, mentorship prepares people for learning and co-operation. The key is to start early, and to understand that mentorship is a continuous process.

“We don’t need other people to make the same mistakes we’ve made,” he said. “We also don’t want to keep information to ourselves: with social media everything is already out there. We live in a world of information-sharing, and mentorship fits into that.”

Mentorship can be incredibly rewarding for mentors and mentees alike, but it’s important not to burn out, especially in a pressurised space like finance.

Deon emphasised that it’s critical that the mentor wants to be involved, and that the mentee wants to be mentored. “On a regular basis you’ll need to determine what you are achieving and to set that up in expectations,” said Deon. “It’s so important to take time out to ask, ‘Is this actually working?’”

For CJ, we will always need mentors, as we never stop learning. Mentorship is particularly valuable during any kind of career shift, and it doesn’t have to be restricted to one person, either. “Different elements will need different people; take time to understand yourself and what you need. You want to learn from different people, even different industries. You can’t be a clone of someone – I’ve tried!”

“I’ve had different people in my life for different reasons,” added Mikateko. “It depends on what the need is at the time. I’ve had formal and informal mentoring relationships, short- and long-term. One of my first mentors is still in my life; I can pick up the phone and chat to her.”

She added, “Due to my curiosity about digital, I’m also currently involved in reverse mentorship with a couple of people. It’s more structured and time bound, and in certain cases those relationships will end once the objectives have been met.”

Managing expectations

For Deon, it’s important to play a mentoring role, but we can all learn from each other, especially from younger colleagues.

CJ added that, while she’s a big believer in mentorship – and she’s had people in her life who have been instrumental in helping forge her career path – as a mentor, it’s easy to take on too much. “I’ve often been the only black female in executive manage-

“We’re all adapting to technology to do things differently: we have new personal development areas, our strengths change, new challenges emerge. We can learn from people on the shop floor, and we have to make sure they’re part of the shift,” he said. 

“We don’t need other people to make the same mistakes we’ve made.” - Deon Fredericks, Famous Brands Group CFO

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mentor mania

Maximise the impact: Learning from mentors Learning and mentorship can be catalysts for success, with continuous learning being important in the current environment.

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BY PUSELETSO MOMPEI inance leaders discussed the benefits of mentorship and why it is important to embrace continuous learning in the current environment, during a Finance Indaba Conversation on lifelong learning.

The session was sponsored by iOCO and joined by its chief commercial officer Ziaad Suleman, who said that while technology is a disruption to many environments, it is a necessity.

He said that as organisations are increasingly adapting to new ways of working, agility is important, since man and machine have to increasingly work together.

He emphasised that upskilling is needed for finance professionals to manage systems, understand and interpret data, and have the proper business acumen to apply the data.

“When thinking about how you mentor, do business and utilise technology to deliver better process optimisation and deliver better

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business outcomes, you have to make sure your people are in congruence with technological trends,” he noted.

The ins and outs of mentorship MTN CFO Dineo Molefe said that mentorship is important for finance professionals because mentorship is a process that facilitates growth and maturation as we continue to develop in our careers and lives.

She shared that she has personally benefited from having mentors, explaining that, “You don’t only need to grow your technical abilities on the job, you need resilience and to deepen your emotional stamina because as you grow in your career, you need to be able to handle a growing range of challenges.”

Pieter de Wit, Afrimat FD, said that the mentee should be the one who drives the relationship.

He pointed out that when the mentee has a clear idea of where they want to go in future, it makes it easier for the mentor to provide the right type of guidance and give feedback and

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mentor mania

Pieter de Wit

advice that aligns with that broader vision.

He says that having various mentors and coaches is beneficial because they give you multiple perspectives and getting that broader understanding helps in the long run.

Dineo agreed, saying that the mentee needs to be proactive, ask questions, drive themselves to learn, take the initiative to find time in the mentor’s diary and show up well. “As a mentor, when you have a really keen mentee who shows that they are serious, you want to help them succeed even more, so you invest more in the relationship too.”

Looking at the subject from the mentor’s side, Tencent SA CFO Tramayne Monaghan said men-

tor-mentee relationships require an investment of time and effort to be truly meaningful.

He says he has developed his own framework of selecting who he thinks he can help as a mentor.

The first criterion is that there is an alignment in terms of skills sets, and that the person be a selfstarter, because he excels at bringing out the best in people who are already ambitious.

Lifelong learning and future skills The leaders said that they are looking for a dynamic set of skills when they hire people.

Tramayne pointed out that the world is changing fast and the only way for finance professionals to be ahead is to learn within and beyond the field.

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He said that he prefers to hire a generalist who can think on their feet and solve problems, over a specialist – because the world is more dynamic and leaders need people who can do multiple things and solve problems from different angles.

He says that it is something he lives by as well, and when he was a finance manager he was curious to know more about digital marketing and signed up for a class.

She said, “Finance is supposed to unlock value and not just tell us about past performance. To be able to be strategic and influence what the company does next, we need data analysts, data scientists and other people with technology skills to formulate the full picture.”

The edge of being human

“With that understanding I could now ask pertinent questions of service providers and trust them more deeply, because I understand their world,” he said.

Pieter’s take was that professionals will need to be generalists in future, but he believed that they would still need a solid base for a start and could add on more functions to that foundation.

He said, “It’s an already competitive environment, so to be employable you need to know more than the basics. In order to have that competitive advantage, finance people should strive to understand the business and industry they are in. To really add value, you need to understand the core business drivers’ processes, and factors that make the business tick, and with that understanding you can deliver top value.”

Dineo agreed and asserted that finance doesn’t only need finance professionals. She said that basics are important but she is looking for people who are keen to learn and engage laterally, who want to understand the business holistically and then drive value in that space.

Tramayne added that while computers can be taught to do one thing incredibly well, humans still have the edge of being able to do multiple things really well and combine seemingly obscure things together.

He said that we continuously build our edge through lifelong learning. He offered a real-world example of someone in his innovation team wanting to learn how to code an autonomous car, even though the company has no plans to be in that space.

He explained that it was an acceptable learning opportunity because learning for the sake of learning is often a good thing.

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“Stretching your mind to new ideas and constructs helps you think laterally. The expansion of the mind doesn’t have to be in your current space or an attribute of your job right now to be powerful,” he added.

Ziaad said mentorship is a two-way street. “It’s about finding the right fit. The relationship should be built on the right values such as trust, constructive discussion and being open to hearing the other person out, and having the maturity to accept criticism in a constructive way.” 

“Finance is supposed to unlock value and not just tell us about past performance.” - MTN CFO Dineo Molefe

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When the master is the student Mentors play an active role in shaping careers, but they can also learn from mentees.

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BY JANE STEINACKER

uring the Finance Indaba Conversation, ‘Lessons I've learnt from my mentees’, sponsored

by UiPath, attendees heard that mentorship is about exposing talent to knowledge, insight and providing support.

“You can’t change what you don’t understand,” said Mpolaheng Kekane, CFO, Lanseria International Airport. And for Mpolaheng, that means that for someone to have choices, they need to be exposed to the options.

career. She said that throughout her career mentors have taught her how to build her own brand, build networks and to become a more prominent supporter of developing women in the workplace.

Mentors, she said, help provide opportunities for you.

Individual growth

For instance, she said, at the airport, every new recruit is exposed to a variety of divisions within the airport as part of their orientation process. A receptionist took a keen interest in the IT department, where she is now working.

Her goal has now changed – to become a CIO.

Avashnee was able to pay that forward a few years ago, when her executive assistant resigned at a crucial time. She had heard of a receptionist who wanted to become an executive assistant and chose to offer her the position. Three years later, Avashnee cannot stop praising the work of this remarkable woman, who has become an invaluable member of her team.

For Avashnee Ramdial, CFO at Stanlib, mentors have played an active role in shaping her

It’s examples like these that create a culture of individual growth.

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Avashnee Ramdial

Bryan Groome

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Bryan Groome, CFO of Verimark, said that his company’s policy is to promote from within.

by performance. What he learnt is that others are

The relationship between a mentor and a mentee is about getting to a destination together.

managing your style and environment.

“I see it as a journey,” said Catalin Lupu, the global VP for procurement and real estate at UiPath – Robotic Process Automation.

other people,” he said.

She said that the success of a company is based on its culture. “It’s about how you make people comfortable, and allowing people to feel that they have made a contribution.”

that this is pushing her out of her own comfort zone,

driven by praise or financial reward and it is about

“You will find lots of challenges if you don’t adapt to

Mpolaheng said her mentee is teaching her how technology has shifted the world. She has realised but is also helping her embrace technology. “It has been an eye opener,” she said.

They all advise mentees to seek out a variety of

Blind spots

mentors during the different phases of their career.

Mpolaheng advises people to seek advice from mem-

All healthy relationships are a mutual exchange of thoughts, ideas and insights, and the mentors on this panel have seen how they are also learning.

bers outside their own departments based on their skills, be it performance, juggling family respon-

For example, Bryan decided to get some feedback from the members of his team and his mentees to understand how he is faring as a leader. Some of the insights he received created discomfort, but he is

sibilities or managing conflict. “You can’t expect everything from one person,” she said.

With so many positive outcomes, mentors who have so much to offer sometimes have their goodwill

grateful for the feedback.

rejected. Mpolaheng said that not everyone is ready

Bryan's mentees allowed him to get a view of his blind spots. He said the biggest was understanding that, “just because it ticks for you doesn’t mean it ticks for them”. He was referring to how he is driven

to receive what a mentor has to offer, and that there are a variety of reasons for this. The parting advice she gives is, “You need to understand why you want to mentor and always be true to yourself.” 

“You will find lots of challenges if you don’t adapt to other people.” - Bryan Groome, CFO of Verimark

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Connect with company purpose The finance function is about more than just numbers and predictive analytics – it is about adding full value to the business as a whole.

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BY CHUMA MXO

uring a Finance Indaba Conversation titled, ‘Living the value-adding finance team dream’, sponsored by ACCA, Nico Esterhuizen, CFO at JAM international, shared that in every single organisation he has worked, there have always been challenges.

He painted a picture of what they are currently faced with at JAM in Angola and the challenges they have to work through.

“Angola is on the brink of a food security and nutrition crisis because of the ongoing drought. More than 1.3 million are facing severe hunger, and the main drivers of malnutrition have been poverty, hunger, malaria and poor access to water and sanitation.

Furthermore, there are few hospitals that treat malnutrition,” he said.

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Nico said this is very emotionally taxing and draining for their accountants, so they have a rotation plan where they give each other some time off the field clinics, to make sure they keep sane.

“I was in Kenya not so long ago and we had a discussion about the severity of the situation on the ground and it hit me so hard. We sit here as accountants in the back office, but what else can we do, and what is our value-add?”

Nico said one of the key ways he and his team have found to add value is to have a deeper connection with the purpose and vision of the organisation itself.

“The connection to organisational and personal purpose unlocks value-add even in a tough work environment,” he said. “Without a purpose and vision, a leader cannot function

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Jo-Ann Pöhl

Lucas Ndala

and cope with the complexities of our business.”

5. Digital

He added that when operating with purpose, businesses own the criteria for success and are focused on objectives beyond the task, job role or immediate business. “Purpose echoes our passion, and values; and steers us.”

6. Collaboration

Invest in yourself

“Invest in your personal wellness and leadership.

Emotional intelligence is critical in today’s changing business environment, so leaders need to upskill and re-skill and also, avoid avoidance,” he added.

Nico explained that the are so many changes and demands in today’s world of work, and highlighted ACCA’s seven capabilities needed by professional accountants: 1. Expertise 2. Insight 3. Ethics 4. Sustainability

7. Drive He said these are linked with adding value, and investing in yourself is important to add value to your organisation.

Pieter de Wit, CFO at Afrimat, said accountants should stop being accountants and bean counters. “What I mean by that is that we are trying to write up the books and report on historical figures and the world is now changing so rapidly. It used to work in the past, but you can’t do that in the current reality,” he said.

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“I agree with what Nico said that as accountants we need to add value to assist the organisation to navigate through the turmoil and changes in the current times. And we need to help the business to be able to forecast what will happen in the future, using predictive analytics,” he added.

have a car with a diffuser, low suspension – are you taking a car that you should be driving at the Kyalami racetrack to the bush? In that case, you’ve got a fundamental problem.

“As a new accountant, it is really appreciating the lay of the land and understanding the organisation and industry within which you operate, and then, most importantly, investing in yourself.

Understand yourself and your own abilities in the environment within which you operate.”

Jo-Ann Pöhl, CFO at iOCO, said that Nico’s presentation struck a chord with her. “As finance professionals, we’re not limited to reporting on the hard numbers. We need to stop saying no and start saying yes – because modern finance professionals have shifted our reputation from that finance function of being the bean counter, and the perceived handbrake in the business.

Lucas Ndala, CFO at BCX, said one of the key things for accountants is becoming a trusted adviser to the business. “We are sitting on a lot of repository information and there are so many relational insights that one can build with that information. We need to ask ourselves how we start to provide valuable and informative information to businesses that can assist in informed decision-making.”

“It’s about not saying no to risky investments and to spend what’s required for forward momentum. And when we shift the language to yes, it’s to ensure that we’ve considered options that allow us to focus on agility and adaptability,” Jo-Ann said.

She added that the aim really should be to evaluate – not eliminate – risk.

Lucas also highlighted that the other critical skill accountants need to learn is how to handle conflict and how to mediate, because we tend to be in a lot of instances between the various chiefs where they don’t see eye-to-eye.

Lay of the land Thuli Manyoha, financial director at Old Mutual Insure, said, “I think the new accountant needs to understand what car they are driving: do you

“What will take people forward is if they are in unison and are headed in the same direction,” he concluded. 

“We’re not limited to reporting on the hard numbers.”

- Jo-Ann Pöhl, CFO at iOCO

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Finance leaders of the future Critical thinking, foresight and the ability to interpret big data are necessary traits to drive sustainability.

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BY THANDO PATO

he fourth industrial revolution has begun and even accountants – people whose core skills were considered indispensable – are being affected. Globalisation and technology are changing how companies operate and CFOs are no longer just required to forecast and reconcile budgets.

The Finance Indaba Conversation, ‘Get ready to be the finance leader of the future’, was sponsored by The South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA). During his brief introduction, Professor Rashied Small, executive at SAIPA, said that the role of future accountants is no longer reactionary but

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future thinking.

“Critical thinking and foresight are now a requirement. Accountants need to be able to interpret big data to help solve problems and drive sustainability,” he explained.

Panellist Zoliswa Mashinini, finance director: Africa and Middle East at G4S, said that the accountant of the future needs to have integrity, be an excellent communicator and a problem solver to be effective.

“You need to know what you stand for and demonstrate good ethics. You need to drive internal stakeholder engagement and understand the business and you need to solve problems. CEOs are looking for CFOs who are problem solvers,” she explained.

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“We will need to become creative because we won’t just be reacting to information.”

- Rachael Madziwanyika, CFO at Bühler Southern Africa Rachael Madziwanyika

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Rachael Madziwanyika, CFO at Bühler Southern Africa, said, “If we don’t upskill and match the fast-changing digital climate we will be obsolete.”

Versatility Rachael said a key role of the future accountant would be making sense of big data.

“The future accountant will have to predict the future and create efficiencies. In fact, we will need to become creative because we won’t just be reacting to information,” she said.

In addition, Rachael explained that accountants would also need to know how to merge financial data with non-financial data and communicate with people at all levels of the organisation, including clients.

Zoliswa said she learnt early on in her career that versatility was important because now in her role as CFO she finds herself stepping into sales pitches or standing in for her CEO at meetings.

Some organisations are going as far as rebranding the CFO title, explained Siphiwe Madonsela, chief finance and value management officer at Standard Bank.

“The mandate of the CFO is expanding. The core function is still finance; however more commercial skills are required. Organisations are building the skills of financial staff, so they can also operate in the boardroom to help find optimal solutions. Finance teams are increasingly becoming multi-disciplinary teams,” he said.

Rachael added that accountants can no longer rest on their laurels.

Seen in the chat

All-rounder “We need to learn to be competitive in what we offer, otherwise we lose value because you are competing with a global market. Process-related jobs are now held by machines, not people.

Artificial Intelligence is a reality for many international organisations who are replacing people with software and machines. Globalisation is creating a smaller world and things that happen in other countries have an impact on us, which is why we need to upskill ourselves so we can compete in the global village that we are living in,” Rachael said.

But competing in a global village, Rachael continues, comes with its challenges. She is based in South Africa, but her team is based in Prague.

“Cultural barriers and differences are real, and they are big. It’s not an easy transition,” she explained.

In conclusion the panellists agreed that the accountant of the future needs to be an all-rounder.

“You can’t be the jack of all trades and the master of none. You need to master some of the new skills required and accept that you will be stronger in some than in others,” said Zoliswa, “You don’t have to master everything.”

Rachael said that the role of the CFO was still critical, and that while AI can take over certain roles, it could never replace the role of the CFO. “CFOs add value by thinking in a future-thinking manner. What you can’t automate is what you think of the business in the future,” she said. 

....

“Budgeting is moving away from just filling in a wish list table for departments. It needs to be aligned to meeting the set KPIs on a rolling forecast throughout the year. Hence, business partnership is becoming core for the future accountant.” – Zandile Thwala, Silver Spoon Asset Management “I run a small accounting practice and engagement with my small business owners/clients is crucial. I engage them all the time.” - Farial Fakier, Faes Accounting and Business Solutions “The accountant of the future should be able to know how to ask the right questions because of their business understanding and rely on the team to provide the right answers.” - Jonathan Ramsamy, FranklinCovey South Africa

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STAKEHOLDER WEALTH The power of leadership with a human touch can drive profits and sustainability.

BY PUSELETSO MOMPEI

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nder the session titled, ‘Embracing the soft skills finance now needs’, finance leaders spoke about the value they have garnered by growing their own soft skills.

Oz Desai, GM of the session’s sponsor, Corporate Traveller, said that in his business, people are a major catalyst to organisational success. He shared that the impact of Covid-19 has been brutal on the travel industry, and he has found that navigating the challenges by employing soft skills such as empathy, care and fairness had been critical.

Oz said that all leaders want to succeed and grow – and need people in order to do so. As a leader, he believes that growing and investing in people is an enabler, as is having the right values, vision, and culture.

He said the future lies in embracing technology while at the same time harnessing the greatness of people.

Mark Gounder, Hulamin CFO, agreed with Oz and said that people tend to put the highest value on an organisation’s physical assets, but those don’t drive profits and sustainability, it’s the people who do.

He said that especially now, we need strong leadership to stand up with a clear plan to create value and be brave enough to lead on the path to get there.

Unique risks MARS SA CFO Sam Hopwood said that in the last year and a half, the context has changed rapidly for CFOs: there is a lot more ambiguity, a quicker rate of change and they have had to prioritise without the robustness of information from the past.

“We have the responsibility to build the bigger picture for the entire organisation, so we need to be more strategic in thinking and robust in problem solving,” he said.

Eddie Fivaz, the FD of TWK Agri, said that for most finance leaders, leveraging soft skills has been difficult because that’s not an area that comes naturally for accountants.

He said that the Covid-19 pandemic kicked up a lot of fear and uncertainty, which left leaders no choice but to respond.

He noted when there is unaddressed fear, people lose focus, make bad decisions and in the long run, you risk losing the stars of your organisation. He says the Covid-19 crisis has posed its own unique risks because in the remote working environment, if a team is hopeful and digitally connected it is powerful, but if it is hopeless and digitally connected, it can be dangerous.

Sam said that as professionals get higher up in an organisation, they spend less time on finance-related matters and are brought in to address matters such as organisational development, career development, and policy review, and tackle issues such as how the office of the future will function.

He says being a CFO is not just about being a functional head, but being a leader in the organisation broadly and in that context, leadership capabilities and behavioural competencies become more important.

Mark said that as a leader you are expected to have a clear plan and strategy to grow business.

He says previously, the value of the CFO was measured around profit, now it’s about stakeholder wealth.

“The pandemic has taught us that if you don’t have win-win relationships with suppliers and debtors, one of you will go out of business, and that is where CFOs with interpersonal skills and leadership make a difference; when you have to navigate complex situations,” he said.

Mark added that leaders have a responsibility to help their teams develop and become more resilient as well. He said that leaders with EQ allow people to learn from mistakes and have the self-restraint to not meddle in how people do their jobs, because that is part of empowerment.

He said that creating an environment of trust means giving people room to make mistakes, and letting them learn from fixing those mistakes.

For Eddie, it was crucial to maintain a well-connected team through the disruption of the

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Mark Gounder

past months. He said that as a leader, he made it a point to maintain and spread positive energy throughout the team.

EQ and vulnerability He said that with working remotely, the risk of losing team spirit and not transferring knowledge was real. So he started a programme whereby all team members read a book every month and through informal discussion, they shared what they learnt from the book, which provided a great way to connect and learn.

In addition, he wanted to make sure the team does not lose sight of their ‘why’ and provided clarity on decisions being taken, consistently giving feedback and updates to the team. He believes that a combination of leaning into soft skills such as constantly checking in, taking the pulse of the team and having a strong strategy resulted in the company being able to grow and increase profits, despite the

Sam Hopwood

economic downturn.

Mark said being vulnerable is challenging because you are expected to make hard decisions, but by being upfront and sharing that you are also learning every day, you create a sense of togetherness and the joint goal of creating value in business as a collective. He said leaders need to be brave enough to offer guidance and be humble enough to ask for feedback.

Sam and Oz emphasised that being a leader who listens is vital. Sam said this trait applied throughout the organisation: “Having curiosity, and being eager to learn gives an organisation an edge. If you become open and embrace feedback and drop being defensive, it’s a game changer.”

Mark agreed and advised future leaders to “listen to people, to learn from other’s experiences and believe that you can continuously work on your EQ”.

“It will take you far,” he said.

“Listen to people.” - Mark Gounder, Hulamin CFO

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The value of digital transformation Covid-19 and the disruptions that came out of the pandemic have forced organisations to act on and accelerate their digital transformation strategies, catapulting CFOs to the digital and data-centric leaders of the business.

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BY PUSELETSO MOMPEI

red Portal, Workday’s OCFO Solution Marketing Director for Financials, says pre-pandemic, some organisations felt there wasn’t enough time and money to transform, and those who resisted were on the backfoot as crisis ensued.

Fred’s view is that finance transformation is no longer a choice because organisations that hold back won’t be able to withstand the requirements of the digital marketplace or maintain a competitive edge.

The constraints of operating businesses during the pandemic caused many to change tactics and pivot to utilising technology to stay in business. The impact was that accounting

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structures had to change and for CFOs, that entailed calculating costs and profit differently while figuring out where the smartest, most lucrative investments lie. Making these decisions is very difficult when your system is not agile.

Fred says the value of digital transformation became clear when organisations that were already on the journey at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis demonstrated the benefits of being more agile. Transformed organisations saw a drop in processing costs and had healthier margins than non-digital competitors, and Fred says this is why finance transformation is now a must-have.

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“Today’s environment demands a shift from finance leaders as gatekeepers to business partners.” - Fred Portal, OCFO Solution Marketing director, Workday

Fred Portal

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Strategic imperative of steering through a crisis

The future-ready CFO Fred notes that today’s environment demands a shift from finance leaders as gatekeepers to business partners. He says in addition to keeping an eye on the inner workings of their organisations, CFOs need to watch global markets and the dynamic socio-political environment we live in closely, then go a step further and share their findings with the broader organisation.

The pandemic forced finance leaders to put more robust plans in place as their organisations tried to navigate an uncertain future. As organisations rushed to replan and reforecast in the new environment, the pressure on finance to deliver more analysis and insight became heavier, and finance’s ability to generate data across the organization from HR, sales and operation, and turn it into intelligence the enterprise can use to make strategic decisions became of immensely valuable.

He emphasised that it’s important to consider the people change management element in the organisation when transforming, so people understand the vision and buy in as active participants. He says leaders need to invest time in that process and skipping that step risks slow momentum and can create fiction.

To be a full business partner, finance has to be able to automate processes and deploy cloud solutions so that their company can process increasing volumes of data with optimal efficiency. Taking on this added function will require a mindset shift from predominantly dealing with core accounting, to moving to a co-piloting role and guiding the C-suite on digital initiatives that need to happen in the organisation.

Fred says, “We have been used to speaking to auditors, shareholders, regulators. The new finance role has a broader audience, one that requires moving to be closer to the business, to support it, listen and communicate back numbers and offer guidance.”

Tomorrow’s CFO must therefore have strong interpersonal skills to not just collaborate with the rest of the business, but to implement data-driven change and get buy-in across the organisation.

Enabling new capabilities “Pre-pandemic, we didn’t think we could close books remotely. Proof that we can work differently has changed the way the function is working within organisations. Finance was previously behind the scenes, now its role has expanded to be a more business facing role,” says Fred. He asserts that in that context, finance leaders need to be able to adopt the perspective of those across the table from them, collaborate with the rest of the business, communicate financial forecasting, and work with the c-suite to make fast decisions.

Fred adds that the pandemic has given people time to pause and think about what they want to do with their lives, resulting in a lot of mobility between organisations and within finance.

Keeping and retaining talent in finance is also a question of finance leaders promoting the value they deliver to the organisation, what he calls a ‘rebranding of finance.’

He says that companies need to bring in and keep talent in finance through modern tools, train those teams and keep them evolving because that is what is now required. He says new entrants are digital natives and expect the workplace to be strongly digital and because of that, finance has to be more open and agile. 

It was very hard to have a clear vision of numbers before, but now technology has advanced and with new data tools, finance leaders can analyse insights and make decisions timeously. With Cloud and ML in play and delivering a new level of agility and ease of adoption, finance can be up to date with every aspect of the business.

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Digitisation: Right time right space CFOs unpack how to balance automation and human interaction, and the advantages of robotics.

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BY THANDO PATO

he future is already here. Remember when you used to watch the Matrix or Star Wars and think artificial intelligence (AI) was something that would happen in the future? Over the last 18 months, thanks in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, digitisation has been fast tracked.

In the world of finance, however, AI has been in development for years and increasingly more CFOs are introducing software into their departments to help take over mundane and repetitive tasks.

At a Finance Indaba Conversation sponsored by CaseWare Africa, Theuns Holthousen, business executive – Africa markets kicked off the session Getting the most out of people and tech, with a brief presentation in which he emphasised the importance and value of technology in supporting CFOs. Mary-Anne Musekiwa, CFO at Coronation Fund Managers, said the past 18 months has taught us all that the future is not far off. “As accountants we have built in conservatism when it comes to new ways of doing things,” she said.

“We like to thoroughly investigate our options

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taming your robots

“Technology without people will never be successful.”

- Mary-Anne Musekiwa, CFO at Coronation Fund Managers

Brad Wentzel

before adopting anything new, but even we can’t ignore digitisation.”

Mary-Anne said she relies heavily on the advice of her IT department, which she describes as passionate. “I am not tech savvy, but I am fortunate enough to have a team of people who are able to explain products to me in layman’s terms. I view them as knowledge experts who can help improve the business and our functions.”

Amanda Ndlovu, vice president for finance at Renault South Africa, can attest to the power

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of AI. In March 2020, a bot was introduced to take over certain finance functions and immediately, she said, processes were improved.

“When done manually, the same functions would complicate the reporting process and take days, whereas a bot takes hours,” she said, adding that her team now has more time on their hands to expand their skills set. “It has allowed people in our teams to learn different aspects of finance because their time has been freed up and they are not spending days on mundane tasks.”

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Client-centric

Empower yourself

Mary-Anne said it’s important that CFOs are not driven just by cost and the bottom line, but can see the bigger picture when it comes to introducing robotics into the business systems.

In conclusion, the panel agreed that the modern CFO is more diverse than a traditional bean counter because they see the entire picture, but they can’t be expected to know everything.

“It’s important that we are client-centric in our thinking. We must ask questions like: Is it going to make them more efficient? What am I able to improve from a customer point of view? When you answer those questions, you can justify the cost of spending,” she explained.

But while digitisation has advantages, not everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. Brad Wentzel, CFO Douglasdale Dairy, said the introduction of new technology is often more challenging for smaller businesses and more must be considered.

“In the SME environment things are different.

We have not implemented robotics because we are quite cognisant of the impact it will have on our labour force. We understand the advantages and how it will open capacity for individuals and add value to projects. We are looking forward to implementing it one day. Our business is like a glacier, we do things slowly,” he said, laughing.

Besides assisting with mundane tasks, AI is also important for data collection for reports used by various stakeholders, said Amanda. “The advantage of technology is its ability to create one version of the truth and to customise it, so it has what people need. Different people look at data differently, and because of that what happened in the past is that you ended up with siloed information.”

But while technology is a game changer and its advantages can no longer be denied, you still need people, said Mary-Ann. “Technology without people will never be successful. You need to take people on the journey by using change management principles to go through the process and introduce new technologies.”

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“Make sure you have very smart people around you. Be thoughtful of who you surround yourself with so they can help you grow and empower you with information,” said Brad.

After 45 minutes, the panel discussion was divided into two breakout room sessions, featuring the panellists. There was a diversity of industries in breakout rooms, with participants discussing their company’s case and how they’ve dealt with change, communication and introducing new programmes.

Lionel Billings, CFO of the Coega Development Corporation, went into detail about how the parastatal dealt with technology integration that involved the introduction of laptops, modems and virtual meetings due to working from home, and then finally going completely paperless.

“We are now 95 percent paperless. We transferred every single document that would be required by the Auditor-General for audits to soft copy. We are very proud of ourselves, but Xerox is most probably not happy with us because we are no longer using their printing machines,” he said.

For some consulting firms, the move to remote working and digital was less jarring. Nolubabalo Wayiti, finance manager at Robust Consulting, says because they have offices around the country, the team was already accustomed to virtual meetings and communication, and so working remotely did not affect the business. The next technological step the organisation is taking, she said, is going paperless. 

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taming your robots

Win with tech

CFOs reveal that it’s no longer about what technology can do, but what finance professionals do with it.

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BY ANG LLOYD

n enlightening, tech-centred conversation was hosted by CFO South Africa’s community manager, Brian Chivere, and featured panellists Tamuka Mpofu, CFO at Finclusion Group, Paul St Quintin, intelligent automation capability lead at EY Africa, Beyond Mobility CFO Veliswa Rozani, and Riaan Koppeschaar, financial director of Exxaro Resources.

The interactive conversation was enabled in partnership with Kyriba, a complete treasury management solution. Keith Stewart, sales manager at Kyriba, began the session with a short presentation about the company and how their platform can benefit CFOs, particularly in the South African market, as the Dubaiheadquartered Kyriba recently opened an office in Johannesburg.

According to Keith, Kyriba’s cloud-based platform is used in over 140 countries, and it has 65,000 active users. It began as a SaaS platform in 2002 but has since evolved into an “active enterprise liquidity management system” to assist with strategic finance objectives, risk man-

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agement, visibility, reporting decisions, and intelligent insights. In fact, a recent International Data Corporation report ranked Kyriba as one of the global leaders in the finance management industry.

Tech saves time Paul began the conversation by talking about limitations – or rather, the lack thereof. “It’s no longer about technology and what it can do, but what we do with it,” emphasised Paul.

He added, “We have to ask ourselves, ‘What are the things that we, as the finance function, need to do to achieve our strategic objectives?’ Then, from an operational or client perspective, what do we need to activate to achieve that; what digital capabilities are needed to deliver fundamental value?”

According to Paul, tech can help CFOs be more effective at their jobs – it’s not about replacing humans, it’s about ‘taming robots’.

“The focus right now is how to leverage technology so that it helps us become more effective and efficient,” he said.

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Riaan Koppeschaar

Veliswa Rozani

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Riaan pointed out that Exxaro, which is a mining company, has embarked on leveraging digitisation to provide visibility for the entire value chain. This has proved highly beneficial: through RPA (Robotic Process Automation, an advanced form of business process automation), output has increased by five percent.

Tamuka highlighted how his company provides a user interface that offers a one-stop financial solutions shop, which is supported by an ever-evolving tech stack.

“That doesn’t sound like much, but in the mining industry it’s hundreds of millions of rands,” he said.

“It’s process automation, and it has saved hundreds of hours. Technology like this unlocks value from the finance team so they can focus on other, more important tasks,” he said.

Before Exxaro embarked on their RPA journey, they had to ensure the correct backbone was in place – otherwise it would’ve been a huge waste of money.

He added that his company has moved away from IT and finance being in separate silos – the CTO and CFO work closely together.

“We have mines in remote places; there’s no Wi-Fi, and underground there’s no coverage. So, we had to do a lot of work beforehand to get things in place, like installing 5G networks,” said Riaan. He admitted this comes with a hefty price tag, so it’s crucial that processes are optimised before any tech is implemented.

“The relationship is mutually beneficial, collaborative, and symbiotic,” said Tamuka.

‘Garbage in, garbage out’ “If you have an inefficient process and just impose a robot, it’ll be a case of garbage in, garbage out,” he said.

For Veliswa, digital strategy should always be part of the larger business strategy. She shared that the finance function at Beyond Mobility employed a tech solution by focusing on one process that needed improvement – payment allocations. It was taking four hours to complete, and a robot was put in place to make the process faster and more efficient. This is exactly what happened, and many hours have been saved since the deployment.

“There might be a few issues to sort out manually, but the payments and debtors team could now spend time on value-add tasks, like providing insight into the business’s operations,” she said.

“It has saved time, and time is money. Of course, there’s a lot of investment that goes into it, so it’s important to see the benefits not only in rands, but also in happy customers with their accounts in order,” Veliswa added.

Expect change, embrace change According to Veliswa, while buy-in from senior leadership is essential for any tech implementation, it’s important to give people time to get on board and adjust.

“Change generally makes people unsettled. Especially in a Covid-19 world with job losses, you have to reassure people that the technology is there to help them, not replace them. It’s not always about cost-cutting, either. It’s underpinned by investment. But humans don’t know what tomorrow holds; they need to trust the strategy and see the value it brings. The proof is in the pudding.”

Riaan added that the role of finance is changing, as it’s no longer “just about numbers”. Riaan pointed out that his finance department now deals with everything from greenhouse gas emissions to governance matters.

“Finance isn’t backwards-looking anymore,” said Riaan. “We are custodians of relevant information, and technological tools enable us to extract that information so we can share it more reliably and faster.”

“Tech is an evolving space; it’s fast-moving,” concluded Tamuka. “Expect change, embrace change – it’s going to happen.”

“Expect change, embrace change – it’s going to happen.”

- Tamuka Mpofu, CFO at Finclusion Group 50

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taming your robots

The art of finance Tech has not changed the science of finance, but it is changing the way the finance function creates value.

BY CHUMA MXO

“

Embedding AI, machine learning and smart bots into any financial solution doesn’t change the fundamental science of finance. But what it actually does change, is the fundamental art of finance,” said Akesh Lalla, director of cloud solutions at Oracle South Africa, at the Finance Indaba Conversation ‘Real-life stories from the automation revolution’.

Akesh added that business gets done better, faster, risk is removed, and more decisions are made with confidence. He also noted that in the past year, tremendous stress and change has been thrust on all of us, and the speed of change is only going to increase.

He shared the changes that Oracle has gone through. “We have moved from a traditional product company to a customer service organisation. We’ve actually gone through this

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journey of embedding all of this technology within our organisation and we are utilising that experience to assist our customers on their journeys using our Oracle Software as a Service (SaaS) applications,” he said.

Akesh noted that something they are really proud of at Oracle is that, “Over the last several quarters, with the help of our AI, machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA), we’ve managed to close our books, submit our numbers, and have our conference call on day 10. Not 10 working days, but 10 days after the close of our quarter.”

Aarti Mohan, director of business development (ERP) at Oracle, explained that AI is already here. “It’s not far away, it’s right here right now,” she said.

She added that at Oracle they did a survey called Money and Machines last year, to see if

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taming your robots

Rudolph Janse van Rensburg

Sean Doherty

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taming your robots

CFOs trust machines for managing the money that they have in the organisation.

“And we realised that 87 percent of the CFOs said that if they don’t shift their thinking towards adopting these technologies, they will fall behind,” Aarti said. iOCO CFO Jo-Ann Pöhl said what’s been important for their company is that technology has played such a critical role in how they strengthen and monitor their controlled environment.

Enhancement “The future of finance is two things: how we deliver value, and what enables us to do so. And so some of the pieces around the control framework are really critical – to get the basics right, and to then do the other components around the business partnering.

“Tech has given us an opportunity for enhancement, and people need to be really honest. It’s not a means to an end. And from a system perspective, we have to be more deliberate to be able to execute one system,” she said.

Sean Doherty, CFO at Transaction Capital, said some things are reconciliation heavy, some are volume heavy and some are system heavy.

“You can fail but you can also win,” he said. “There’s no excuse for not having tried the AI route, but if you don’t get your foundations right, you can’t do this. And it’s relatively simple. You have to master data, and have transactional data entered in right, and entered in right the first time and things will become quite easy,” he said.

“It’s all about discipline. If I look at companies and companies that go wrong, they go wrong from a discipline perspective in all sorts of ways,” he added.

Rudolph Janse van Rensburg, CTO at TreasuryOne, said one of the things they did right when they deployed the system in their organisation internally was communication to everyone at the same time.

“What you don’t want is top level first and everyone else follows. And we also advise our clients to do that as it removes some sort of resistance. Also, be honest in terms of what your goals are if you want to be more scalable and competitive,” he said. 

“The future of finance is two things: how we deliver value, and what enables us to do so.” - iOCO CFO Jo-Ann Pöhl

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Brings It All Together

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doing good business

Value for the future CFOs said a human-centred approach is key to creating a sustainable business, with people powered by technology integral to defining the value of your business.

“

BY JANE STEINACKER

There are three things that a business needs to focus on when it comes to defining its true value: innovation, environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), and most importantly, a human-centred approach,” said Thobeka Ntshiza, CFO at Avis South Africa.

She made the comment during the Finance Indaba Conversation, titled ’Defining value for business of the future’, which was sponsored

by Envestnet Yodlee.

Thobeka believes that of the three, paying attention to people is the most important. “This extends beyond customers, but to your employ-

56

ees and suppliers as well,” she said.

Anusha Ramraj, CFO at CCI South Africa, the country’s largest call centre, agrees.

“Before I make any decision I think about it as being human beings first – that’s before I put my CFO hat on. If you want to do business smartly, you need to invest in the human element of your business,” she said.

Dzingira Matenga, managing director of Accenture, was in full agreement.

“In Africa we must not leave our people behind.

People want to buy and do business with people who look like them,” he said. This is one of the reasons that a focus on transformation in the business is vital to a company’s success.

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doing good business

Thobeka Ntshiza

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doing good business

Human-led

Sustainable business

All the panellists agreed that the value of people’s ability to better service clients or to perform their work is best served by the use of technology.

She believes that if you are looking at risk scenarios, by understanding the limitations an employee may have during extraordinary times, like not being able to go to work or be able to work from home, it assists with not just planning but also how the business invests in its future.

“A human-led but technology-enabled solution is the winning formula,” said Mohammed Shaik, director of strategy and operations at Deloitte.

Anusha said that there are so many people worried about technology taking their jobs, but for the continent with the youngest workforce in the world, it will enable and not disable growth in the employment sector.

“Bots, AI and the use of data can help our employees provide a better service to the customers that they serve,” she said.

The systems behind a business, in amplifying positive customer service, is a game changer.

Jason O’Shaughnessy, head of international sales from data aggregation and data analytics platform at Envestnet Yodlee, said, “There is a power to accessing data that business and users can benefit from.”

He noted that the financial platform business can connect users' data to third party applications. This means that a call centre agent would be able to give a customer live, real-time feedback on a loan application, for instance.

Focusing on the human element also assists with risk planning, as Anusha demonstrated. She said the challenges they faced during Covid-19 lockdowns were further exacerbated by the civil unrest that took place in KwaZulu-Natal – where the majority of the company’s 8,000 employees are based.

Anusha gives the example of how the company is re-evaluating the geographical areas in which it operates to disperse risk, but also at what it invests in.

“We have started re-evaluating where we invest in buildings, infrastructure and how many desks and chairs we should be ordering, and even looking at data packages and how to deliver technology to people’s homes,” she said.

Dzingira said that ESG has moved from being a “nice to have or feel good” company philosophy to one that offers sound financial benefits for a business.

“It’s not just about being more self-sufficient, but also reducing the costs of power and water, leading to a more sustainable business,” he said.

But, said Anusha, while environmental and sustainable business practices are incredibly valuable, failure to comply with governance requirements has the potential to put your entire workforce out of business.

“If you’re not compliant, you don’t have a business,” she said.

Legal violations with implications of fines and/or imprisonment can kill the business. 

“People want to buy and do business with people who look like them.” - Dzingira Matenga, managing director of Accenture

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doing good business

Culture and values count Good business goes beyond compliance and extends to purpose, collaboration, transparency and good data – all of which build culture.

T

BY REABETSWE RABAJI

he Finance Indaba Conversations session sponsored by FCM Travel, on ‘The new principles of good business’, kicked off with a presentation on business and environmental sustainability by Raylene Pienaar, the company’s head of account management.

Next up was Bothwell Mazarura, CFO at Kumba Iron Ore, who shed some light on what good business means from a mining perspective.

For Bothwell, good business goes beyond compliance and he stressed that values and purpose should be aligned.

“Beyond compliance is about making sure our communities where we operate still thrive, even when we’re not around. One of the reasons why I’m in mining is that I believe we

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have to use the resources we have in order to better our lives,” he said.

Bothwell added, “Last year, when businesses couldn’t operate, it really opened our eyes to how important we were to our communities.

We provide water and hospitals to these communities and if we couldn’t work, they would be affected, so we applied to the government to get permission to continue to operate.”

Employee safety was Kumba’s biggest priority at the time, and they put the necessary protocols in place.

“We don’t operate in isolation, so whatever protocols we put into place for our employees, we also put into place for the communities. We are providing vaccination facilities for our employees, their families and the communities,” he explained.

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doing good business

Megan Pydigadu

Bothwell Mazarura

“Values cannot be aspirational, you have to live them every day.”

- Megan Pydigadu, CFO at EOH

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Collaboration According to Bothwell, collaboration plays an integral part in doing good business. “We had to collaborate with the communities and municipalities around us, including our supply chain, so that our operations were not disrupted. We also collaborated with other countries to understand who was still under lockdown and even collaborated with our competitors, considering that we use the same suppliers, so we had to exchange ideas.”

For Jayne Mammat, ESG lead at PwC, good business requires good data and tracking that data as you go along.

“It’s about measurement and KPIs, as well as figuring out how to track them and putting a process in place to track them on a monthly basis,” she explained.

Solidarity Fund was introduced, we were responsible for setting up its website and we got it up and running in a week.”

EOH is also passionate about education and supports Belgium Campus iTversity with resources.

The company also provides training to youth looking to enter the tech space.

Culture During the breakout room discussions, Megan pointed out that in order for a business to change its culture, it has to be aligned from the top all the way to the bottom and that is okay to get rid of the bad apples.

“You must communicate that change to the entire business,” she said.

EOH’s principles of good business were really put to the test as they had experienced a few bad apples within the organisation. Megan Pydigadu, CFO at EOH, said that to regain employee trust, the company had to overhaul its culture.

“We were faced with a significant amount of corruption and unlawful payments in the organisation.

So in order to rebuild trust, we had to change to win over the hearts of people. Through this process of change, we all agreed that we had to change the culture of the organisation and get buy-in and really showcase what ethical transparent leadership meant,” she explained.

“You also have to let go of people who are not aligned with the organisation and its values. Finally, you have to be very specific about your values and culture. Values cannot be aspirational, you have to live them every day,” she added.

Megan also believes that part of doing good business is about creating opportunities for others, so EOH prides itself on saving and creating as many jobs as possible during these very trying times.

According to Richard Osborne, technology consultant at Technogym, good business is all about culture, which has changed during the pandemic.

It is also about showing compassion towards your employees.

According to Megan, the amount of corruption and unlawful payments could easily exceed R1 billion and was a direct cost of bad business, both on the part of the individuals concerned, and not having the right measures in place as a business.

“We created a WhatsApp group during the pandemic, where our people could share their experience and concerns with us and for those who had financial difficulties, we gave out food parcels,” he said.

On its journey of rebuilding its reputation and restoring dignity, EOH collaborated with the Rebuild South Africa initiative, a network of volunteers, NGOs, sponsors and donors who are assisting in rebuilding communities and small businesses who were affected by the recent riots.

For Bonnie Smith, general manager at FCM Travel, the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted two things, mental health and environment awareness.

“Our company built a chatbot where communities could engage and link up and help each other out to rebuild the country,” she said. “Also, when the

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“As a travel company, Covid-19 taught us that you can look after people’s mental wellbeing even while you’re working remotely. It also made us even more conscious of the impact we make on the environment and how we can help other businesses improve their carbon footprint,” she said. 

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doing good business

Business resilience basics Resilience is the ability to cope with ever-changing dynamics, and this extends to company culture.

A

BY ANG LLOYD

n informative Finance Indaba Conversation on the fundamental elements of business resilience featured panellists James Wilkinson, TFG chief strategy officer, Welela Dawit, CFO at Microsoft South Africa, and Deon Fredericks, group CFO for Famous Brands.

based on a shared-value approach to profitability and purpose.

The interactive conversation was enabled in partnership with Sage. Jordaan Burger, Sage vice president of finance for Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, led a short presentation on the role of digital transformation in providing solutions that drive resilience.

“Doing good business should challenge us, and make us think beyond ourselves, like taking the environment into account,” added James.

“It’s about changing the way we think and adding a level of plurality.”

“Businesses in South Africa have faced many challenges in the last 18 months,” he said.

“Covid-19 has had a huge impact on different industries, and then there was the civil unrest, but there is a silver lining – and that’s where digital transformation comes in.”

For Welela, resilience is the ability to cope with ever-changing dynamics. “Do you have the muscle to anticipate challenges, both internal and external, and pivot as needed? No one could’ve predicted the pandemic; we need to be able to constantly assess and look round the corner,” she said.

“It’s where multi-stakeholder capitalism comes in, the idea that success for us is also success for our customers,” he said. He admitted that these aren’t always easy conversations, and organisations need to understand the context that the business operates in so that everyone can fully benefit.

Deon added that a realistic approach is needed. “Being sustainable is now a given; businesses have to consider the planet and people’s wellbeing. Profit is no longer everything, and it’s about how you operate ethically,” he said.

“Doing good business isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, it’s holistic. As finance people, we must balance it with acceptable returns and a measurable, sustainable outcome,” he added.

Welela emphasised that a north star is a fundamental starting base, with the alignment between employees and the organisation’s purpose being critical.

“Employees need a clear understanding of what the business’s objectives are. If they’re aligned to the values of the business, the purpose, that’s when you’ll get the best out of

Plurality and a growth mindset According to James, doing good business shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be

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doing good business

“Doing good business should challenge us, and make us think beyond ourselves.” James Wilkinson, TFG chief strategy officer

Deon Fredericks

employees, even in the most challenging of times,” she said.

as looking at digital clothing resale, which has become huge for Gen Z influencers.

She added that a growth mindset is essential, too.

“The world is changing; having the ability to be continuously curious and to remain competitive is key.”

“Slowing down fast fashion is a big part of our business resilience – and it’s all part of doing good business,” he said.

Timelines and stewardship Business resilience has taken many forms during the past 18 months. Welela shared that at Microsoft, instead of doing a yearly budget, the company is now budgeting in six-month intervals.

“Intelligent insights can also determine what the next six months will look like. We’re leveraging bots and AI in these processes, and budgeting now requires little manual manipulation so we can be flexible,” she said.

According to James, resilience also covers “product stewardship”, or resilience in the product that is being sold. “Businesses need to look up and down the value chain, and have an extended responsibility beyond the factory gate,” he said.

James shared that TFG is getting involved with fabric recycling start-ups in Cape Town, as well

Seen in the chat

The participants agreed that there is still friction for South African businesses, and it remains a challenge to get the fundamentals right. With the likes of Covid-19, load-shedding, and civil unrest, business resilience – and doing good business – will need to go back to basics, and company cultures will have to shift.

“In times like these, you’ll need to focus on interim solutions: get back to basics and stabilise the business, then accelerate,” said Deon.

“Company culture that hasn’t changed, despite the world changing, is also a problem – a holistic approach is the answer.”

James added, “It’s amazing how we can act with speed and agility when there’s pressure put on us.

I won’t say for a second that Covid-19 has been a good thing, but it has changed the way that we work and do business. I think that we won’t go back to the old ways of doing things, ever." 

....

“Getting the fundamentals right has a lot to do with business-model maturity levels. Corporate culture influences people’s behaviour and buy-in.” – Roy Vareta, EZEETILE “We had to adapt to survive. We did remote auditing for international clients, and now we’re looking into wearable tech, automation and digitisation. We’ve realised that we have to move forward and bring in solutions.” – Tina Maharaj, SABS

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courage under fire

Make the tough decisions Notice the key warning signs that show there’s something wrong and prevent a ‘two minutes to midnight’ situation when dealing with crises.

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BY REABETSWE RABAJI nicus Tax SA is a tax dispute specialist with a 100 percent success rate, mediating disagreements between taxpayers and the South African Revenue Services (SARS). For most taxpayers, this is a time-consuming and frustrating process with extremely long

deadlines.

The biggest issue for taxpayers is that they believe SARS is not listening to them, and as a result, taxpayers inadvertently allow themselves to dance to SARS’s tune, which does not have to be the case, said Nico Theron, the company’s founder, who was speaking at the Finance Indaba Conversations on making difficult decisions and making them work.

Jo Mitchell-Marais, restructuring services leader

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at Deloitte, told participants the audit firm is typically parachuted into crises and this is because these crises are often left too late, in a “two minutes to midnight'' situation.

“Managing stakeholders, bringing trust, long-term strategic objectives and calm back into the conversation is what we primarily do at Deloitte,” she said.

Jo pointed out that determining the key warning signs in your business that show something is wrong should be the primary focus for businesses during a crisis, and if you allow the situation to get to a point where the lenders dictate the process, it can put you in a tough position.

“The biggest issue is that management does not want to be seen as those who were on the lookout when the crisis occurred. In order to manage a crisis,

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Bongi Ngoma

Jo Mitchell-Marias

“This meant that we had to trust our staff even more, because we weren’t all in the same place.” - Bongi Ngoma, head of audit at the Auditor-General of South Africa

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early detection is critical, as is bringing in specialists when you don’t know what you’re doing,” she explained.

Employee mental health According to Bongi Ngoma, head of audit at the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), the past 18 months have provided organisations with opportunities to learn.

“We led the crisis nerve centre, where we had to make difficult decisions, and we decided to prioritise our people, because people are critical to our mandate. We benchmarked against companies that had previously faced similar challenges and took those lessons on board,” she explained.

The AGSA implemented a hybrid model in which employees could work from home and in the office, which their employees greatly appreciated.

“This meant that we had to trust our staff even more, because we weren’t all in the same place,” she explained. “But as people worked from home, it added up to working longer hours and we had to pay attention to things we didn’t have to prioritise before the pandemic hit, like employee mental health.”

When Omnia was experiencing financial difficulties, it had to make some difficult decisions and focus on stabilising the organisation, finding strategies to sustainably fund the business, reducing costs, and generating returns for shareholders, all while weathering a perfect storm. Things got even worse when they were targeted by a cyber-attack.

“It was a huge challenge in the environment, but we made it,” said FD Stephan Serfontein.

He shared some key learnings that stood out, focusing on people, trust, purpose, and culture.

avoiding them builds trust, which allows us to build effective teams to manage the difficult times we faced,” he said. During the breakout room discussions, panellists mentioned that while working remotely gave people the opportunity to take up job opportunities overseas, it did eventually cause a skills shortage for South African firms.

Difficult decisions According to Derick Truscott, CFO at SnapScan, working remotely has created a demand for people with strong digital skills and capabilities in the tech space.

“Remote working has given people more options and encouraged them to pursue work opportunities overseas, resulting in a talent shortage in the South African tech space,” he explained. “Overseas firms are paying more, and we simply cannot compete.”

Derick added, “We are now aggressively hiring and encouraging people to join, buy into our cause, and emphasise that SnapScan is a great place to learn and grow.”

Wikus Swart, tax manager at Unicus Tax Specialists SA, agreed with Nico that SARS was the most difficult obstacle a tax consultancy had to overcome.

“During the pandemic, our biggest challenge has been dealing with disputes and dealing with SARS. We do, however, have a recipe for dealing with disputes, but it is a balancing act; you must stand your ground while also understanding where SARS is coming from,” he explained.

Panellists agreed that when making difficult decisions, you must approach them with humility, accept when you’re wrong, let go of assumptions, and involve everyone in the decision-making process. 

“We were able to build trust by getting to know our people and understanding their challenges.

Leaning into difficult discussions rather than

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courage under fire

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courage under fire

Courage and commitment The pandemic has tested the mettle of experienced CFOs, who have needed to make difficult and unpopular decisions for long-term benefit.

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BY REABETSWE RABAJI

inance professionals told participants that displaying bravery now has never been more important, especially during a global crisis, in a session on courage under fire sponsored by TransUnion.

With businesses experiencing a significant number of cyber-attacks during the pandemic, TransUnion’s head of emerging solutions, Davina Myburgh, said that if businesses want to regain consumer trust after a breach, they need to respond quickly.

Samara Totaram, CFO at Stadio, shared how people lack a full appreciation of the courage you must have to wear the CFO badge.

“The CFO job is sometimes a lonely and hard one because you are the ‘no’ person and nobody wants to be the ‘no’ person,” she said.

For Samara, making unpopular decisions is also a great display of courage. Stadio made a significant investment in an R311 million mega campus, which began in 2019 and was scheduled to open in 2021 before being halted

by Covid-19.

“The campus was supposed to open this year, but when Covid-19 hit and businesses couldn’t operate, we lost access to the site,” she explained.

She added, “We had to make an unpopu-

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lar decision to pause the project because we didn’t know when we’d be able to resume it; it was a stressful time because we had multiple stakeholders. We couldn’t exist without our suppliers, and they couldn’t exist without us, so we had to work together.”

New way of working Fortunately, as the country gradually opened up in September 2020, Stadio continued with construction and has now completed the project.

“We are pleased to announce that we have completed the campus and will open our doors in 2022,” Samara said.

According to Samara, the pandemic’s uncertainty was a blessing in disguise because it forced them to change their way of working.

“We had to prioritise our employees’ health and safety, ensure that teaching and learning continued, and that no student was left behind, as well as pivot into the world of online learning. Fortunately, we were able to complete the academic year,” she said.

Courage under fire, according to Senele Mbatha, CFO of Discovery Vitality, meant making difficult decisions during the pandemic and lending a helping hand while your own future was uncertain.

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“The CFO job is sometimes a lonely and hard one because you are the ‘no’ person and nobody wants to be the ‘no’ person.” - Samara Totaram, CFO at Stadio Hit hard by the lockdown and grounded for months, Kulula was simultaneously undergoing business rescue, which affected its parent group, Comair. They were in desperate need of help: Discovery heeded the call and partnered with the two companies in a deal where Discovery Vitality members could book Kulula flights using their membership.

“When our partners ran into financial difficulties, they filed for business rescue and asked us for help. We had to put our own beliefs to the test and ask ourselves, ‘Should we opt for self-preservation?’ This was during a hard lockdown, when no one was travelling, the leisure market was suffering, and we were also unsure of our own future,” he explained.

He added, “They required financial backing and guarantees, and we provided this financial assistance. Such decisions, whether right or wrong, I believe, must be made, and it helps reaffirm your values as an organisation; prioritising one stakeholder over another is never an option at Discovery. This decision also strengthened our relationships with our suppliers; in retrospect, this was a wise decision.”

The future During the discussion, the most divisive issue was whether or not vaccination against Covid-19

Senele Mbatha

should be mandatory. Discovery was one of the first local businesses to require all employees to be vaccinated.

“I personally support this decision; it was not made hastily; it was supported by data,” Senele said. “This mandate was widely debated, and we had to properly look through the data, engage with our people around this issue, and we were pleasantly surprised to discover that not everyone was anti-vaccine.”

According to Samara, Covid-19 will most likely be with us for a few years and so will the country’s needs. “The most common mistake organisations make is losing focus, spending more time focusing on their competitors rather than themselves and what they need to do to make their organisation thrive in the future,” she explained.

“Our main focus will be on expanding access to education, our students, opening up the new campus, getting students back on campus, creating better support mechanisms, and students feeling that Stadio has aided them through their journey,” she added.

Discovery’s main mandate will be to create a healthier society because they believe that healthier people perform better and contribute to better organisations. 

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Learning during extreme change Finance had to find the courage to lead through the pandemic, and shift to being more people-focused.

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BY CHUMA MXO

t a Finance Indaba conversation themed Courage Under Fire, sponsored by Workday, CFOs discussed how they overcame challenges throughout the pandemic.Edward Bass, Workday’s global account executive, said that the Workday story is very aligned to helping customers come out of the pandemic a lot stronger. He shared some of the things that motivate Workday and the reason they are where they are today.

“What we have learnt throughout the years by talking to our prospective customers and listening to them, is that there are two things that we really need to achieve within a financial management environment,” he said.

“One is to take care of the business – but we need to do that in a way that is faster and more effective. So we strive to get information in and out of the system very quickly by using the same solution that managers are using,” he

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explained.

Edward said the second is to be intentional about listening to people.

“We try and create a frictionless finance environment, so that you can automate as much as possible and be able to spend less time assembling the numbers, and much more time working with the business and being a true business partner with them,” he said.

He told the finance community that there is a different way of doing things and it is much more focused on the business, with finance at the centre of driving the culture shift, decision-making and doing that by enablement around the data.

Power of information Edward highlighted that people can be incredibly courageous if they have the information, plans, and ability to replan, rescore, and course-correct as they go.

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Nopasika Lila

Zaf Mahomed

“You can’t just work with finance without thinking about the people.” - Edward Bass, Workday’s global account executive 73

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we know, but if we work together and we listen to each other, we can learn so much from each other,

“You can be much more courageous if you have access to that than if you are blind to the information,” he said. “Another thing that is worth noting is that people are at the heart of businesses, and you can’t just work with finance without thinking about the people.”

and come up with new ideas.”

“On the personal front, it was also a bit of a challenge: my daughter started at a new school just at the beginning of the pandemic, and she’s an only child. So it was extremely hard for her, because she had not forged any relationships, really, and my husband just started a new job. And when he was meant to fly off to the UK, the borders were closed. As a family, that was a big challenge for us,” she added.

Nopasika Lila, CFO at Barloworld, shared that the shift has been standard for everyone during the pandemic: “What has shifted from a work perspective, is that the shift has been away from the core of finance, back to basics, and into the greatest of assets being the people,” she said.

She added, “From a personal space perspective, there’s been looking at the real learning under fire, under extreme change – just making sure that one remains abreast with everything that’s happening.”

But Adri’s daughter was the saving grace in the midst of all the stress: she came up with an idea that every Saturday the family should dress up for a theme evening, and have some family fun together. “That became the centre of our lockdown excitement,” Adri said.

Nopasika shared that the pandemic had tested everyone in ways they had never been tested before. But she said, for her that’s an opportunity, because each and every individual gets to experience and explore opportunities about themselves, family, work, even in the workspace itself.

Cell C CFO Zaf Mahomed said black swan events like Covid-19 are not unusual, even though they are fairly disruptive both professionally and personally.

“If there was any change at work, it was always structured, steady, and planned. The pandemic did not allow us to plan. This time, it was about having the courage to trust your intuition, about courage, and about giving support to your team members.

The shift came with being adaptable to a number of things in life, even working remotely,” she said.

“I think the beauty of humanity is that we find a way to cope with these things. Yes, there are mental and wellbeing issues, but the reality is that this is not really new in itself,” he explained.

He shared that at Cell C they had just started on the path of reinventing and reimagining their business model and had already been in the throes of that when the pandemic hit.

Doing the right things

“And so Covid-19 was an opportunity for us to re-evaluate whether we were on the right path.

From a professional perspective, everybody looked at the CFO because cash flow is king. And most businesses were in trouble: there was unemployment with businesses closing down,” he said.

Adri Fuhri, CFO at e4, said when Covid-19 started she lost a lot of sleep, worrying that if she did things wrong, or didn’t make the right decisions from a financial perspective, people’s livelihoods and families might be adversely affected.

“I’ve never been one to really focus on being part of conversations or reading up about things because of the type of set-up that I usually operate in. But what I found during the pandemic is that talking to other people and listening to them sharing ideas in forums, whether it be CFO forums or Osaka forums, really became so valuable,” she said. “Because in isolation, we only know what

Zaf added, “What Covid-19 told us is that we were on the right path and that we chose the right strategy and we had time to execute it. So, I think, yes, courage comes from having the courage of your convictions that you’re doing the right things.

It also comes from the courage to say, yes, this is a problem, but we see the opportunity.” 

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