Mike Davis, the CFO of Nedbank Group, has been voted CFO of the Year at the 2024 CFO Awards.
He was honoured on 13 November at the “Oscars of Finance”, which took place at the Polo Room, Inanda Club in Sandton, Johannesburg.
“I am very super chuffed to embody the award. This job comes with a lot of work time spent away from home so I would like to thank my wife,” Mike said, after receiving the award from Spiros Fatouros, CEO at Marsh.
Mike added, “You have heard the CFOs in the course of the evening always acknowledging their finance teams. I would also like to take the time to thank my risk teams, compliance teams, our ethics teams, who are working in the frontlines. They take on risks, all of this ends up flowing to us and into our portfolios and we have the privilege of reporting about all these numbers. Thank you to the Nedbank Group.”
Mike was also the biggest winner of the night, taking home both the Compliance and Governance Award, which was handed out by Linda Buchler, MD of investor marketing at Ince, and the Strategy and Execution Award, which was handed out by Siya Mnyanda, strategic account lead at Workday.
Since joining the Nedbank Group in 2020, Mike has been involved in a core banking modernisation project, developing the tech stack and assisting with digital migration. He has also played a critical role in conveying Nedbank's strategy to the market, including guiding ESG efforts, for which the bank has strong ESG credentials and is a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor.
Bridgestone’s executive director of finance, Mikaeel Tayob received the Young CFO of the Year Award, from Ahmed Moola, CFO at MakwaIT, and also walked away with the High-Performance Team Award.
Mikaeel, who took on the FD role in 2023, has supported the transformation agenda by focusing on end-to-end profitability, sustainability and restructuring of loss-making businesses. The result was a R900 million profit turnaround in three years. Bridgestone was the first tyre manufacturer in South Africa to receive Level 1 B-BBEE rating, up from Level 7 three years earlier, with Mikaeel focusing on procurement and skills development.
“It is very difficult to express how I feel right now, this award goes out to my dad who was the biggest supporter of my career; this award is also dedicated to my wife sitting here, who has been the second biggest supporter in my life,” Mikaeel said during his Young CFO of the Year Award acceptance speech.
“This is for Bridgestone and a wonderful recognition of the work we have done in the last 4 years so well done to all of you. I am deeply humbled by this award,” he added.
Innocent Gumbochuma, CFO at the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), was named Public Sector CFO of the Year.
The award was in recognition of Innocent’s work in revitalising SAQA’s revenue generation strategy, ensuring financial stability and current focus on driving a comprehensive digital transformation as both CFO and CIO. Under his leadership, SAQA has achieved clean audit outcomes for two consecutive years.
“We salute all the people that work in the public sector, we do a great service to the government,” he said.
Innocent added, “Two years ago we had to retrench more than 100 employees and it was not easy to try and do a turnaround in the organisation and achieve a clean audit outcome, not just an audit but to impart an impact in our society.”
Looking into the audience, he ended his speech by saying: “There is still a lot of work to be done. Some companies are not truthful in representing their qualifications and we are coming for you!”
Winning formulas
The Transformation & Empowerment Award was presented to Sandiso Gcwabe, CFO at Wesgro by Blessing Utete, managing executive: Old Mutual Corporate Consultants. Sandiso successfully returned Wesgro to a clean audit for the fiscal year 2023/24, the agency's first clean audit in five years. Sandiso additionally professionalised the finance team by hiring suitable individuals and upskilling existing employees. His leadership has streamlined procurement processes, improved risk management, and optimised resources.
The Finance & ESG Award went to Riaan Davel, CFO at DRDGOLD. The company has no sustainability team as the finance team stewards its long-term assets, with a capex programme of close to R10 billion over three to four years. In terms of transformation, Riaan focuses especially on procurement, where he believes they can make a big difference, and on prioritising women in mining, and on his finance team.
Taryn Woodbridge, CFO at Mercedes-Benz South Africa, took the Finance Transformation Award. She has been focused on integrating two finance teams based in East London and Pretoria and is responsible for advancing the strategic ambitions of Mercedes- Benz in South Africa towards sustainable growth.
Sean Capazorio, Group CFO at Aspen Pharmacare, scooped the Finance & Technology Award, which was presented by founder and CEO of Decision Inc Nicholas Bell. Sean has been instrumental in implementing Aspen's sterile manufacturing strategy and increasing its global commercial pharma base, thereby resolving the group's significant debt levels following Covid-19.
The full list of 2024 CFO Awards winners:
- CFO of the Year – Mike Davis, Nedbank Group
- Young CFO of the Year – Mikaeel Tayob, Executive FD at Bridgestone Southern Africa
- Public Sector CFO of the Year – Innocent Gumbochuma, CFO at South African Qualifications Authority
- Strategy Execution Award – Mike Davis, CFO at Nedbank Group
- Transformation & Empowerment Award – Sandiso Gcwabe, CFO at Wesgro
- High-Performance Team Award – Mikaeel Tayob, Executive FD at Bridgestone Southern Africa
- Finance & ESG Award - Riaan Davel, CFO at DRDGOLD
- Compliance & Governance Award – Mike Davis, CFO at Nedbank Group
- Finance Transformation Award – Taryn Woodbridge, CFO at Mercedes-Benz South Africa
- Finance Technology Award – Sean Capazorio, Group CFO at Aspen Pharmacare
The judges for the 2024 CFO Awards were:
- Ben Marx, Chairman at the Department of Accountancy at the University of Johannesburg
- Bongi Ngoma, Head of National Audit, AGSA, CFO of the Year 2021
- Christine Ramon, Non-Executive Director, Former CFO at AngloGold Ashanti, CFO of the Year 2018
- Christo Els, Senior Partner at Webber Wentzel
- Claudelle von Eck, Founder at Brave Inflexions, Former CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors South Africa
- Kevin Black, Audit Partner at Deloitte Africa
- Leon Crouse, Former CFO at Remgro and Vodacom, Winner CFO Lifetime Achievement Award 2016
- Ramasela Ganda, Chief Executive Officer at Zeda, Public Sector CFO of the Year 2017
- Shabeer Khan, Accountant-General at the National Treasury of South Africa, 2020 Young CFO of the Year
- Victor Sekese, CEO at SNG Grant Thornton
This year’s CFO Awards were hosted in conjunction with Awards partners Decision Inc., Ince, MakwaIT, Marsh, Workday and Old Mutual Corporate. Associate Partners AICPA & CIMA, Allan Gray, and Caseware AdaptIT. Table sponsors were BDO, Coupa, Stanlib, Bridgestone, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Dreyton Glendower, King Price Insurance, Mercedes-Benz, Nedbank, Ory Technical Services, Sanlam, Walter Sisulu University and Zeda.
