In this short interview, Chantelle talks about her experience, her professional and personal passion ("they are the same!") and her aspirations for CFO South Africa. Chantelle is a Chartered Marketer with extensive experience, ranging from working in branding and communications at the agency Ince to a managing role at recruitment firm Advtech Resourcing. In between that, she somehow managed to work as a fitness trainer and coach at the Virgin Active too!
So isn't it now a bit boring to work with finance professionals and accountants? "On the contrary," Chantelle says with a broad smile. "Throughout my career, I have worked a lot with finance professionals. Stereotypes are dangerous. Most people are very interesting, busy types. Finance leaders can really be some of the most fascinating, creative people you will ever meet. I love connecting people and I highly value lasting relationships. That is my vision in life and it fits in neatly with what CFO South Africa stands for."
Humility and the ability to relate are some of Chantelle's greatest strengths, so as community manager, she does a lot more than greet people and hand them their name tags during CFO events. "I want to get to know our CFOs and aspiring finance leaders," she says. "I want to help build CFO SA into a strong organization that is entrenched in the minds of each and every finance professionals and anybody interested in the CFO target market. As CFO South Africa, we strive to be well-connected and to be thought leaders. We understand the people that we service. I want finance people to aspire to come to our events, no matter what they have on their desk."
Chantelle is also planning to focus a lot on talking to partners who have messages for the CFOs. It doesn't surprise her that more and more South African companies are knocking on the door of CFO South Africa, wanting to become part of their high-level events. "When I first met CFO South Africa, what attracted me to the brand and the events was that they were really classy, stylish events. Executives love to attend them to find out what's going on globally and locally and to have the opportunity for peer-to-peer discussions. I saw that CFO South Africa had a great recipe and that enticed me to have a conversation with founders Alex van Groningen and Melle Eijckelhoff."
Chatting to CFOs at our latest two events in Johannesburg, one on Corporate Growth and one on Digital Transformation, Chantelle says she has noticed a growing demand for organised networking and growing satisfaction with CFO South Africa's get-togethers. "I ask people about the value of our events and many of them say they normally only attend internal events. External events are often very expensive, they take up a lot of time and they are often focused on one particular brand. People are looking for independent events like ours, which offer high value content and quality networking opportunities."
Being a hard worker who doesn't distinguish much between her professional and personal life, Chantelle admits she also suffers of 'FOMO' - fear of missing out "That is why this organization is an amazing environment for me personally as well," she says. "I have an insatiable need to keep learning, to connect people and to build lasting relationships."
