FIC
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.
