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Law firm Bowmans has appointed the highly experienced Jo-Ann Pohl as CFO.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of the Ecobank Group, has issued a $150 million convertible bond on the London Stock Exchange’s new International Securities Market (ISM).

The second Singapore FinTech Festival began this week, featuring over 25 000 participants from over 100 countries and more than 160 leaders from central banks and regulatory agencies, financial institutions, venture capital firms and fintech companies taking to the podium.

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a strong drive to succeed. My father also taught me something at a very young age: ‘Don’t do something unless you’re intending to do it exceptionally well’. I still live by this,” says Liaan Kretzschmar, CFO/FD of Jaguar Land Rover South Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa.

BDO South Africa will be merging with the Cape Town and Port Elizabeth offices of Grant Thornton, effective 1 March 2018.

Do you want to keep up to date with the latest developments in finance, but you are short of time? Don’t worry. CFO South Africa weekly collects 10 of the most important articles from international media for your convenience.

Nigerian online payments provider Amplify has partnered with banks in the West African nation to let clients conduct transactions via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and other social messaging platforms through its innovative mTransfers solution. It will be launched before the end of 2017. Amplify helps businesses accept recurring payments online within minutes from customers in over 100 countries. It plans to bring banks closer to a new generation of social media-savvy clients and provide consumers with a more convenient way of banking. “Social and messaging apps are six of the 10 most popular mobile applications across platforms in Africa. We believe that vibrant and digitally savvy consumers want financial services to meet them where they are, in the channels and platforms they use,” said CEO Segun Adeyemi. “We have built mTransfers to empower banks and other financial institutions to blend their payment process into the everyday lives of their customers and provide an engaging user experience for them,” said Maxwell Obi, the startup’s chief technology officer.

Any business that doesn’t make a shift towards digital is ultimately staring down the barrel of redundancy, says world-of-work guru Raymond de Villiers of TomorrowToday Global. CFOs are key enablers of the decisions that need to be made to make this change, Raymond said, before unpacking eight future-proof elements of successful business models.

Afrimat Limited this week listed on A2X Markets (A2X), South Africa’s newest stock exchange, which began trading on 6 October 2017. Afrimat joins African Rainbow Capital Investments, Peregrine Holdings, and Coronation Fund Managers, all of which are already listed on the exchange.

Chinese vehicle manufacturer, Beijing Automotive Group South Africa (BAIC SA) has appointed Batandwa Mdyesha (pictured) as CFO, effective immediately.

4 Africa Exchange Proprietary Limited (4AX), one of only two exchanges in South Africa with a full licence to trade across asset classes, has announced its first listing in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, CA Sales Holdings Limited.

Fica specialist ThisIsMe stormed to victory at the first time of asking in the Innovative Banking category at the African FinTech Awards 2017, hosted at the Finance Indaba Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre in October. The FinTech firm, which has experienced exponential growth over the past year and has already surpassed the notable milestone of one million verifications, also claimed the overall title along with reigning champion Easy Equities.

Globetrotting head of finance Wayne Beifus has left his position at British American Tobacco (BAT) South Africa, after being promoted to head of finance for the West Europe area, based in Paris.

South African FinTech Jumo has secured $24 million in funding into Africa and Asia. London-based Gemcorp Capital and Finnish development finance company Finnfund were the loan providers.

Cabinet has approved the National Minimum Wage Bill, and draft legislation will now be referred to Parliament for further deliberation. Following this, President Zuma will be required to officially sign it into law.

“Every CFO is now a strategic partner to the organisation and has to be,” says Mgcinisihlalo Jordan, partner and deputy Chief Executive for Deloitte Africa. Better known as Sihlalo, the former leader of the firm’s financial services practice in Africa has an astute understanding of what should be expected of modern finance leaders. CFOs should champion the rise of disruptive technologies within their organisations, he said during an exclusive interview with CFO South Africa, where he also spoke about finance leaders’ responsibility to promote an aligned strategy, future-focussed technology and shining integrity.

In the current environment of global competition, sub-optimal growth, technology disruption, and political uncertainty, South African companies are finding it challenging to put an effective business strategy in place. But what can be done to address this need for planning that remains fundamental to success?

Lushen Pather has been appointed as Divisional Head: Bank Supervision at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), starting on 1 January 2018. He was Sasfin’s chief financial officer and as acting group FD was slated to take over the reins from his long-serving predecessor Tyrone Soondarjee.

After the incredible success of this year’s African FinTech Awards, the annual pitching and prize-giving extravaganza is expected to outdo itself yet again in 2018. Judges for the awards event gathered for a scrumptious breakfast on 7 November to discuss some of the event’s most exciting additions, tweaks and extras.

There is a lot at stake right now and your career and your business require that you make smart choices if you want to effectively navigate your way into 2018. And smart choices start with good information. The final CFO Summit of the year features boasts peer-to-peer learning and debates, plus exclusive insights on South Africa’s economic and political future from leading economist Goolam Ballim (Standard Bank), ZAR X CEO Etienne Nel and Deloitte's deputy CEO Mgcinisihlalo Jordan.

Monetary Authority of Singapore MD Ravi Menon has warned investors to be wary of peer-to-peer lending platforms and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, according to Bloomberg.

A 2016 SAICA Top 35-under-35 finalist, Chantelle Loots, CFO of Bombela Concession Company, says she feels fortunate to be a part of a young group of "fantastic CAs" in South Africa who are leading the way to the future.

Former KPMG chairman Ahmed Jaffer, who resigned amidst the Gupta-linked upheaval at the firm, has been appointed as group CFO of Crestar Printers and Publishers, a Centurion-based business run by his children Ikraam and Salahhuddeen.

Do you want to keep up to date with the latest developments in finance, but you are short of time? Don’t worry. CFO South Africa weekly collects 10 of the most important articles from international media for your convenience.

Venture capital firm Village Capital has partnered with US payment platform PayPal to launch a three-month investment readiness programme Village Capital FinTech Africa, which will see two early-stage African startups walking away with $50 000 in investment funding. Applications to the programme opened last week and will close on 24 November.

The responsibility of Group Head of Trade is both humbling and exciting, says Vinod Madhavan, whose career has taken him across Africa and Asia (living and working in India, Singapore and South Africa). “It affords an opportunity to work in the intersection of my passion and desire to contribute to achieving Standard Bank’s social, economic and environmental (SEE) outcomes.” Vinod says his experience of engaging customers across 25 countries has afforded him the opportunity to learn from the experiences in offering trade and working capital financing solutions to clients in institutional, corporate, commercial and business banking client segments.

Leading governance expert Claudelle von Eck will be one of five members of SAICA's independent inquiry into allegations that former or current employees of KPMG have engaged in conduct which is in contravention of the SAICA Code of Professional Conduct.

Diversified retail group TFG has announced a record turnover of R12,5 billion (interim results to end-September), reflecting 9.2% growth. This despite difficult economic and political conditions in South Africa and the United Kingdom, two of the three major economies in which it trades.

According to Stefan Joselowitz (pictured), CEO of MiX Telematics, a leading global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the company has seen good results in the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2018.

During a riveting Sage event, finance and IT leaders were entertained, educated and inspired by two of Cape Town’s most knowledgeable CFOs and South Africa’s number one Internet of Things (IoT) expert.

Java Capital Holdings has been approved as an issuer agent/ sponsor to 4 Africa Exchange (4AX).

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has released a new open-source software for creating payment platforms that will help unbanked people around the world access digital financial services. The software is designed to provide a reference model for payment interoperability between banks and other providers across a country’s economy. It is available now, free-of-cost, for software developers to adapt and banks, financial service providers and companies to implement. Information on the code can be found at mojaloop.io.

For the fifth year in a row, Investec has been named the best private bank and wealth manager in South Africa at the Global Private Banking Awards in the UK.

Four black-owned South African financial services start-ups each won R1 million on Monday night at a pitching event hosted by AlphaCode, a club for next-generation FinTech entrepreneurs backed by RMI Holdings.

Insurance group Alexander Forbes has named Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita, former ArcelorMittal SA CEO, as the new chairperson of its board. She is the first woman chair in the company’s 82-year existence.

Too many CFOs spend their time as financial gatekeepers and get tangled up in accounting, says Colin Human, financial modelling wizard and CEO of financial management consultancy Goalfix.

The Sun Exchange, a revolutionary online solar power marketplace, retained its Blockchain & Bitcoin title at the African FinTech Awards 2017 at the Finance Indaba Africa in October, with founding CEO Abe Cambridge calling on attendees to sign up on its online platform and begin earning money from solar power generation.

Local strategic specialist ICT reseller and systems integrator, the Velocity Group, has acquired a majority stake in IT services business, MLC Solutions.

Three South African developers who spent time in the USA have created the Slide app, which has the potential to start a payments revolution in the country.

“High return on equity is one thing but with R2 trillion of assets, the bank can really make a difference in people’s lives and the economies in which we operate,” says Standard Bank FD Arno Daehnke.

The Department of Public Enterprises recently announced two executive-level appointments at state arms company Denel: Odwa Mhlwana as the new group CFO and Zwelakhe Ntshepe (pictured) as the new group CEO.

Do you want to keep up to date with the latest developments in finance, but you are short of time? Don’t worry. CFO South Africa weekly collects 10 of the most important articles from international media for your convenience.

Local FinTech Yoco and Mastercard have announced a collaboration that will see the rolling out of 15,000 mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) devices to small and medium-sized businesses by the end of the year, while educating them on the benefits of going cashless.

“Information maturity defines the difference between a good and a great business,” says Nick Bell, CEO of Decision Inc. “Proper use of data is not about impressing during board presentations with clever-looking graphs,” he says. “It’s about using information to improve important parts of the business, like logistics or preventive maintenance.”

Standard Chartered Private Equity has sold its stake in Kamoso Distribution, a Botswana retail and consumer goods company, to a consortium led by Investec Asset Management Private Equity, RMB Ventures, local partners and senior management.

PPC, South Africa’s largest cement producer, and which has operations in six countries in Africa, has received an expression of interest from LafargeHolcim.

London-listed Lonmin has said it intends to cut over 1,000 jobs before Christmas.

South African FinTech Mama Money, which offers affordable cross-border money transfers across Africa, has introduced a groundbreaking Fica registration process using photos and its app.

Agricultural products and services provider NWK has appointed Pieter Kleingeld as its new CFO, effective 1 November. Kleingeld joined NWK in 2015 as group manager for asset management and risk services.

No CFO will admit to enjoying a stress-free working life and one of the biggest sources of angst is tension within the finance team. Economic and political conditions, demographics, and culture shape the challenges CFOs encounter with team members and this is true no matter where they find themselves.

Wim de Klerk, the current CEO of Arcelor Mittal South Africa and a former Exxaro executive, has said he intends to retire in January 2018. He would have been in the role less than 18 months by this time.

The organisation of the CFO Awards in South Africa, CFO South Africa, has suspended all awards received by Anoj Singh, until further notice. This has happened in close consultation with the current panel of judges.

EasyEquities, which offers a revolutionary fractional trading platform that has broadened access to stock market investment, retained its title of overall winner of the African FinTech Awards at the Finance Indaba Africa in October. The winner of the InvesTech category, the groundbreaking firm, headed by CEO Charles Savage, this time shared the honours with Fica-focused FinTech ThisIsMe.

JSE-listed Rolfes, a chemical group, has announced that its current acting CFO Richard Buttle (pictured) will replace current but outgoing CEO, Lizette Lynch.

Africa presents the ideal environment in which to evolve a new cash and payments services architecture – by linking rapidly changing customer expectations with new technologies. This puts banks squarely at the centre of mediating the creative clash of trends and technology – as Africa’s financial institutions harness disruption for innovation and growth.

Earlier this year, Ramasela Ganda won the Public Sector CFO of the Year Award for her incredible accomplishments at Ekurhuleni Municipality. She dedicated the prize to “all public servants that serve us diligently and with honesty” and referred specifically to public sector CFOs who have “lost their lives because they said no to corruption”. Long eschewing a CFO role in the private sector, she left Ekurhuleni at the end of last year and started as CFO: rental and corporate service at Barloworld, which had been courting her for quite a while.

Frantz Scheepers has been appointed the new CFO of Clover Industries, replacing 2017 CFO Awards nominee, Elton Bosch (pictured).

Do you want to keep up to date with the latest developments in finance, but you are short of time? Don’t worry. CFO South Africa weekly collects 10 of the most important articles from international media for your convenience.

Ghana’s Bloom Impact, a machine learning loans marketplace accessible from smartphones has raised undisclosed funding from Engineers Without Borders Canada, EWB Ventures, an early-stage investor in innovative Africa-based social enterprises.

“At Standard Bank, we focus on business opportunities that help our clients grow financially and socially, in all the countries in which we operate,” says Sun? Brugman, chief risk officer for Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) at Standard Bank. “Equally, we aim to bring new business and investment into Africa by connecting the major markets outside of Africa to the continent.”

Maritime & Mercantile International (MMI), a subsidiary of the Dubai-based Emirates Group, has acquired a majority stake in Brand 2 Consumer Premium Drinks Company (B2C), a South Africa-based alcohol distribution startup.

iXBRL is a scary word right now, Linda Buchler, regional managing director at Ince, said at last week’s Finance Indaba Africa 2017, held at the Sandton Convention Centre. She went on to unpack what iXBRL means.

Building a culture of trust is an integral part of team building and ensuring that you have a thriving work environment, conference attendees were told during a discussion at last week’s Finance Indaba Africa 2017, held at the Sandton Convention Centre, between the financial director of Curro Holdings, Bernardt van der Linde, and Sasfin Bank Limited CFO, Lushen Pather.

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) accepted a R1.2 million donation by Trillian in March of this year. It also thanked the Gupta-linked company for the role it played in nation building and furthering its efforts for the chartered accountancy brand in South Africa. This was reported first by EWN reporter Gia Nicolaides.

The economy of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to grow a moderate 2.4 percent in 2017 before gaining steam next year, says FocusEconomics.

“When you work in a multinational you’re up against some seriously smart people,” said Zaf Mahomed, CFO for McDonald’s South Africa, speaking as part of a panel at last week’s Finance Indaba Africa 2017. Expectations are much higher in terms of accuracy and deadlines with the spotlight firmly focused on CFOs, he added.

Anglogold Ashanti has announced that it will sell its newest gold mine, the Moab Khotsong mine, to Harmony Gold for $300 million, along with another mine, the Kopanang mine, to China’s Heaven-Sent SA Sunshine Investment Company, for $7.4 million.

“Who killed our creativity?” asked founder and CEO of I am Jack Frost, Paul Steenkamp, during Finance Indaba Africa 2017, held last week at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Navigating your way to success in the public sector is a matter of hard work, strategic thinking, a duty to serve, and – hopefully – uncompromising integrity, according to Ramasela Ganda and Rajesh Mahabeer. The two were sharing the stage as part of a panel discussion at the second annual Finance Indaba Africa, held in Johannesburg on 12 and 13 October 2017.

Financial services provider FedGroup has announced its acquisition of a controlling stake in Emergent Energy, the largest provider of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) commercial projects in South Africa.

African Bank has announced that its CEO, Brian Riley, intends to step down at the end of March next year. He will, however, remain on the board as a director from 1 April 2018.

"Sometimes I think we overemphasize the success of a business in relation to the numbers and the commercial propositions, instead of the person behind,” said Vodacom CHRO Matimba Mbungela, speaking last week at Finance Indaba Africa 2017, in a session about what CHROs wish accounts knew.

Optimism among UK-based CFOs has recovered from its post-election low and is close to levels seen at the end of last year, according to Deloitte’s latest CFO Survey.

The First World must destroy heavy machinery in order to make room for new technological developments, but because Africa was never highly developed, digitisation can happen faster, Kerushan Govender of Blacfox told technology enthusiasts last week at Finance Indaba Africa 2017, held at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Stadio, the JSE-listed investment firm with links to Curro, which recently announced its plans to develop private higher education institutions in South Africa, has announced that it will be buying the 20-year-old educational institution, Milpark Education, for R320 million

The African FinTech Awards 2017 ended in a historic tie between ThisIsMe and reigning champion EasyEquities for the title of overall winner, but there were many fascinating pitches during an intense two days at the Finance Indaba Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre on 12 and 13 October.

Robotic process automation will not replace accountants. In fact, automation can only make life easier, believes Josh May, senior solutions consultant and product manager at Blackline, who spoke last week at Finance Indaba Africa 2017, held at the Sandton Convention Centre.

It is vitally important for today’s CFO to be tech-savvy, though they should resist the urge to purchase technology for technology’s sake and instead respond to the needs of the business. This was the advice of Christine Ramon, CFO of AngloGold Ashanti, and Wayne Koonin, CFO of Omnia Holdings and winner of the Finance & Technology Award at this year's CFO Awards, during last week’s Finance Indaba Africa 2017, held at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The Zimbabwe-based associate of AB InBev, Delta Corporation, is finalising a deal to acquire a controlling stake in National Breweries of Zambia, the leading sorghum beer producer in Zambia.

Ryan Canin, the CEO of DocFox, which has gone from software development to a truly global business a verification and authentication FinTech, put on a rollicking masterclass in front of a packed house at the African FinTech Awards at the Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October at the Sandton Convention Centre.

If you compare entrepreneurship with what a traditional MBA entails, you tend to find a little bit of a contradiction, said Dr Corne Meintjies, MBA Programme Coordinator and Senior Lecturer at Monash South Africa, speaking last week at Finance Indaba Africa 2017.

With stories of corruption and mismanagement rife in South Africa, there is one thing that will keep us afloat in extraordinary times. “Technology is one of the biggest drivers of change,” said Dr Sarah Bux, associate director for South Africa – management accounting at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), speaking during last week’s Finance Indaba Africa 2017, held at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The Registrar of Banks, part of the SA Reserve Bank, headed by Deputy Reserve Bank Governor Kuben Naidoo, has granted Discovery its banking licence.

Do you want to keep up to date with the latest developments in finance, but you are short of time? Don’t worry. CFO South Africa weekly collects 10 of the most important articles from international media for your convenience.

This is the most transformative era in history and Section 12J venture capital company Kalon Venture Partners, formerly known as Grotech, is expecting to be at the forefront of change in Africa, said CEO Clive Butkow in an informative session at the African FinTech Awards at Finance Indaba Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre on 13 October.

Technology should be enslaved to humanity – and not the other way around. Here’s how to make sure that happens.

What happens when the discipline of finance thinking and the creativity of entrepreneurs collide? MyBucks CFO Ryan McDougall and Evan Tsatsarolakis, FD of Taste Holdings shed some insight into their experiences of start-up culture and working closely with entrepreneurial CEOs in a panel discussion at the Finance Indaba on 13 October 2017.

In an age where cloud computing is fast becoming the standard approach to data management, many companies still work in silos, each division having their own ERP system or cloud platform to work from. This presents a risk as it can lead to having duplicated data, which is not only inefficient but can lead to bad decision-making, advised Sarah George, ERP strategy leader for Africa at Oracle and Ronnie Toerien, HR strategy leader for Africa at Oracle, during their session on 13 October 2017 at Finance Indaba Africa.

The road to the C-Suite might not be a straight line or predictable, but for both Illovo Sugar CFO Mohammed Abdool-Samad and Barloworld Equipment Rental CFO Ramasela Ganda, it was a path walked with clear intention. This pair of top CFOs shared their experiences of career progression during an insightful panel discussion themed “Breaking into the C-Suite”, held at Finance Indaba Africa on 13 October 2017.

An initiative that was started to develop entrepreneurs, Shanduka Black Umbrellas (SBU), through its incubator programme, is at the forefront of mentoring black small business owners. Shanduka CFO Nyasha Dzumbunu, speaking on 13 October 2017 at the Finance Indaba Africa, told small business hopefuls that the idea behind the organisation’s three-year incubator programme caters for small businesses that have the potential for sustainability.

Thought leader and public speaker Martijn Aslander believes that to learn smarter and faster you must think outside of the box. How far outside the box is really up to you, he told the eager crowd on 13 October, during the 2017 Finance Indaba Africa.

The judges could not choose between EasyEquities and ThisIsMe and so, for the first time in African FinTech Awards history, there was a tie for overall winner at Finance Indaba Africa 2017 on Friday, 13 October, after two days of intense pitching battles.

How do you create a culture of innovation in your organisation, Yumna Tayob, a solutionist with Iconoclast, speaking at Finance Indaba Africa on 13 October 2017 asked the assembled finance professionals? “The first industrial revolution took just over a century, in less than a century the second and third had happened, and now we find ourselves in the fourth. This unprecedented pace of change is driving the fact that innovation is a journey and not a destination, and companies that do not adapt to this are going to die.”

What if we could achieve major economic growth in a single generation? What if a lack of good education or even rampant corruption were not barriers to this growth?

As technology evolves, more and more businesses are digitising, meaning that jobs which were previously done by humans are now being done by machines. Speaking at Finance Indaba Africa on 13 October, Thandeka Zondi, director of strategy and business development at SekelaXabiso, said that because of growing innovation in the digital world, companies and individuals will have to redefine their purpose and decide whether certain jobs are still needed.

"Up until about two months ago, KPMG was great. But now it's in the news and they're not great. By the time these kinds of things appear in the headlines, there was a whole system of things that had gone wrong," said Dr Timothy London, senior lecturer Allan Gray Centre for Values Based Leadership at GSB - UCT, at the Finance Indaba Africa on 13 October 2017. Tim gave an extremely engaging and entertaining talk on what companies can do to avoid public relations nightmares like the one currently unfolding at KPMG.

Five years is the minimum you should stay with a company and you shouldn’t focus too much on what you’re earning in your first job – this according to a panel of top CFOs, who spoke on the importance of staying the course, during a session on 13 October at Finance Indaba Africa 2017.

In response to the highly charged ‘Fees must Fall’ protests that began in 2015, South Africa’s students were desperate to be heard, and Standard Bank opened their ears. Jayshree Naidoo, head of the Standard Bank Incubator and CEO of Feenix, spoke to the gathered crowd on 13 October 2017 at Finance Indaba Africa about student access to fees. In the aftermath of the aforementioned movement, the need has become even more pressing, she said.

With InvesTech firms redefining the investment sphere and taking the challenge to bloated traditional institutions in terms of solutions, education and platforms, there was naturally a lot of interest in their pitches at the African FinTech Awards. Some big players and familiar foes in the form of EasyEquities, ZAR X and Wealth Migrate went head-to-head on the second morning of Finance Indaba Africa on 13 October 2017.

Technology has made it easier for people to work flexible hours, which should, in theory, make a work-life balance more achievable. This is, however, not the case. Most people's experience is that they’re working harder because smartphones have created a culture where your work is always with you and people are, as a result, often overworked. 12 October at Finance Indaba Africa 2017 saw Paul Marten, finance director at Microsoft, and Zaf Mahomed, CFO at McDonald’s SA, share their insights into achieving this universally coveted but ever-elusive work-life balance.

Most people incorrectly think that corruption is primarily a public sector problem, said Peter Goss, MD of SizweNtsalubaGobodo (SNG) Advisory and lead SNG corporate governance expert, speaking at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017.

TransUnion Africa CEO Lee Naik opened the second day of Finance Indaba Africa 2017 with a promise that resonated with the eager crowd: The future is brighter than you think and we Africans are poised to make the most of it.

Imagine if you had access to a suite of tools at no cost to help you minimise expenses and drastically improve your revenue. What if these tools included an on-the-ground assessment by senior resources to show you exactly how to improve profits in a very tangible way?

Three category winners were announced at the end of a first day of pitches at the African FinTech Awards, part of Finance Indaba 2017 at the Sandton Convention Centre on Thursday, 12 October, with a couple of familiar faces dominating once again.

Many of the country's municipalities are often found wanting when it comes to the management of their finances, as well as the management of the disciplines that encourage transparency for there to be accountability to the country's citizens. So said Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu, speaking at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017. Citing some of the reasons behind the poor financial performance of municipalities, Kimi pegged corruption and a lack of skills as some of the major ones.

If you could design a banking solution for your startup, would it look like a traditional bank offering? Standard Bank is betting on no, gathering a tech and customer-focused team and giving them major leeway to experiment with the entrepreneur banking model. According to Standard Bank’s Angé Baard, Paton Raman, and Gugu Sithole, who presented the idea to intrigued accountants and entrepreneurs at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017, it is built on the concept of co-creation. The team is so focused on flipping the usual path of product development that they haven’t even named this service yet, calling themselves simply “the offering” or “the proposition”.

More women are finding success in the boardroom these days. Does this mean that the glass ceiling has finally been broken, or was it only ever in the imagination to begin with? Nonkululeko Gobodo, CEO of Nkululeko Leadership Consulting, 2017 CFO Awards winner Debbie Ransby, financial director at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Mary Vilakazi, deputy CEO of MMI Holdings, unpacked the topic during a well-attended session at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017.

Two of the biggest disruptors in South Africa came together in front of a packed house at Finance Indaba Africa 2017 on 12 October, when ZAR X CEO Etienne Nel, and globally renowned public speaker and MyGrowthFund venture capitalist Vusi Thembekwayo, discussed challenges facing the country economically and their organisations, which are shaking up the establishment.

The support of small black-owned accounting firms made it possible for a young woman from rural KwaZulu-Natal to achieve her dream of becoming a CA. “This is the story of changing your life by having a desire to achieve big,” said Sihle Ndzimbomvu, audit manager at Ngubane & Co, speaking at Finance Indaba Africa 2017. “It is not only the story of my childhood but also the story of a black woman who is breaking barriers. Women or men can relate to this story because, although we come from different places, we have faced similar challenges.”

EasyEquities brand manager Carly Barnes never imagined that she would be on a stage at a finance event or be involved in investment in any shape or form. The purple-haired livewire recounted her journey from being an actress and performer to building the EasyEquities brand and her own portfolio during an extraordinary session at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017.

What do we mean by transformation? This was investor Vusi Thembekwayo’s burning question at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017. The entrepreneur made it clear that transformation was not about ticking boxes and counting how many black people, black women and transgender individuals are employed in corporate South Africa but rather, about ensuring the oppressed are no longer oppressed and the poor no longer poor.

Corruption, slow turnaround times and lack of ethics are considered part and parcel of a career in the public sector, but if you stick it out, the personal rewards are worth it, say those who work in government. “It’s a roller-coaster!” Nichola Dewar, CFO of the SA Post Office, admitted to the rapt audience at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017. When the laughter died down, Nichola went on to say that she found it disconcerting writing a memo for a new laptop – a utility she could easily get in the private sector.

Any plans for change in South Africa will never get off the ground unless they involve the people on the ground. This was the key takeaway from Luke Jordan, co-founder and CEO of non-profit startup Grassroot, while speaking at the Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017.

“You have to read other books. If you are just in business for business you will be out of business,” said Martijn Aslander, stand-up philosopher and co-author of the bestseller, 'Permanent Beta', on 12 October 2017 at Finance Indaba Africa. “I want to focus on this because most people don’t focus on how to learn faster,” the highly regarded Martijn told a room packed with finance professionals. “You have to learn as fast as you can without being in a hurry; it’s really about learning how to learn.”

The way we use budgets isn’t working. The concept of Beyond Budgeting aims to fix this – but users need to brace themselves for change. SAIPA’s Professor Rachied Small, speaking at Finance Indaba Africa on 12 October 2017, was critical of the way that organisations create and use budgets.

Standard Bank is putting their money where their heart is, with the launch and growth of two “public good” programmes: the Standard Bank Incubator, and Feenix. Head of the Incubator, Jayshree Naidoo, showcased the work of these projects in one of the opening sessions at the Finance Indaba 2017, held on 12 October.

The organisers of the African FinTech Awards didn’t dally about this year, hauling out the heavy artillery in the form of the hotly anticipated Blockchain and Bitcoin pitches shortly after the opening of the Finance Indaba Africa 2017 at the Sandton Convention Centre on Thursday, 12 October.

If you can't sell something to your own employees, you can't sell it to potential customers. That is what world-renowned culture expert Stan Slap offered to finance professionals during his energetic and thought-provoking speech that officially opened Finance Indaba Africa 2017 on the morning of 12 October 2017.

Thomson Reuters has announced that it will provide ZAR X Equity Level 1 market data on their platforms to all customers globally.

“The marketplace expects CFOs to be certified accountants but organisations are pulling in CFOs who are able to marry their trade of accounting with the technological capabilities and all the benefits that come with that. CFOs previously used technology to drive standardisation through the organisation to gain control, but are now using it to adapt their organisations to a changing environment and to react more quickly to these changes,” says Derek Bose, Oracle’s senior manager for Southern Africa. Derek believes that technology will augment human capability in future and, he says, the role of the CFO is one of the first in line.