From her childhood in Lenasia shaped by a stay-at-home father and a determined mother, to steering financial turnarounds in the public sector, and now holding the CFO seat at the Market Theatre Foundation, Devi Padayachee’s career has been defined by resilience, diversity of experience and a deep belief in empowering others.
Devi Padayachee, CFO at the Market Theatre Foundation, describes her upbringing in Lenasia as happy and well-balanced, though with a dynamic that shaped the way she thinks about life and work.
“My father assumed the role of a stay-at-home parent due to health reasons, while my mother transitioned from being a homemaker to becoming the family’s primary breadwinner,” she recalls. “This dynamic shaped my perspective significantly. I benefited from extensive time with my father, gaining valuable lessons in strategic thinking, critical analysis and the importance of challenging assumptions. At the same time, I observed my mother embark on her professional journey and achieve her qualifications at the age of 39, which served as a strong motivator for me to fully embrace the opportunities available to me.”
Devi excelled academically, consistently receiving top achiever awards throughout her schooling. She explains that her strong results were somewhat unplanned, yet they motivated her mother to ensure she pursued higher education. Despite limited resources, her mother found a way to secure the necessary funding, determined to see her succeed. Devi went on to enrol at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), now the University of Johannesburg, where she approached her studies with determination and focus.
“I was focused on success, and for me that meant completing my studies as efficiently as possible to enter the working world,” she says. “That is exactly what I did, I avoided the scenic route and dedicated myself fully to my studies. They consumed most of my time, but I loved what I was doing, knowing it would unlock the future I envisioned.”
After completing her degree, she joined PwC where she completed her articles in the mining and metals division. “As soon as I completed my articles, I knew I wanted to be in commerce and I joined the commercial industry,” she says.
A significant shift
From that point, Devi made deliberate career choices to broaden her experience across multiple sectors. She believes diversity is essential to remaining fresh and relevant, and it is important to continue facing challenges. She gained experience at Barloworld Equipment and in other industries including retail, manufacturing, construction and local government, and is now with the Market Theatre Foundation. Her move into the arts and culture sector marked a significant shift.
“The Market Theatre Foundation is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and I am very pleased to be part of that journey,” she says. “As an entity of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, the environment is very different from what I was used to, but it has been a valuable learning curve and an exciting new chapter. The most rewarding aspect is being able to apply my expertise to balance limited resources against high demand in the arts and cultural space. I know that the work I do ultimately benefits society, and I feel truly fortunate to be in this role.”
Her career path has always aligned closely with her personal strengths. Even from a young age, finance made sense to her, it came naturally, and she found satisfaction in seeing things balance and often felt in a state of flow when working with numbers. For her, finance was instinctive.
She attributes much of her accelerated growth as a CFO to the guidance of exceptional mentors. “I had the privilege of working alongside leaders who were not only invested in shaping my capabilities but also in fast-tracking my development,” she notes. One of the most influential figures in this regard was and still is Johnny Mulder.
“He played a significant role in my journey by guiding me on how to accelerate my path to executive leadership,” she reflects. “It’s not only about technical or theoretical knowledge, but also about shifting your mindset and pushing yourself beyond perceived limits. Often you’re closer than you think, it’s just a matter of how quickly you want to get there.”
Empowering others
The result has been a career defined by navigating complexity and empowering others. Over time, she has honed the ability to address challenges, identify practical solutions, and cultivate long-lasting relationships. She sees her greatest strength in grounding her leadership in personal values, while fostering the growth of others and creating a culture where people feel empowered to develop, take ownership and embrace accountability. Reflecting on her journey, she notes that while knowledge was once guarded as power, she has found that sharing it creates empowered teams that operate with true synergy.
Devi joined the Market Theatre Foundation on 11 August. She explains that the foundation had just completed the financial year-end and audit. After receiving a clean audit, they are now in the process of finalising budgets. “It has been a fascinating journey, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Whenever you join a new organisation, you need to be equipped and ready to hit the ground running,” she says.
Her experience at the Ekurhuleni Housing Company prepared her to navigate challenges in highly constrained environments. She explains that government institutions are often perceived as fully funded, but in reality, resources in South Africa are limited and must be maximised to have an impact. This forces innovative thinking.
“At the Ekurhuleni Housing Company, we were providing social housing to tenants and during the Covid-19 pandemic many stopped paying rent. This reduced collections from about 95 percent to 35 percent and placed the entity in a financial survival crisis,” she recalls. “The priority became ensuring the organisation’s sustainability, which required proactive and very careful manoeuvring.”
Her philosophy is simple: real-time visibility, revenue innovation and disciplined cost management are the cornerstones of organisational resilience.
The key pillars are clarity in cash which means maintaining real-time visibility of financial positions to make agile, informed decisions, revenue with vision which allows her to continuously innovate and expand revenue streams to unlock sustainable growth.
The fourth pillar is discipline in costs, having control of what can be controlled to preserve liquidity and strengthen resilience, and empowerment through knowledge, so that she can share insights openly to build capable, accountable and synergised teams.
Clean audits and financial discipline
For Devi, clean audits are the result of discipline and accountability. As a team leader, she emphasises the importance of continually assessing the control environment, reviewing both internal and external audit outcomes and identifying areas of weakness and risk. Her approach is to start with the highest-risk exposures and work backwards, implementing mitigation measures and strengthening controls to ensure robust governance.
She believes that rigorously updating policies and procedures is key to strengthening the control environment. For her, every action matters, whether it is a routine payment approval or a complex transaction, the standard remains the same: ensure completeness, accuracy, maintain a clear audit trail, provide justification for variances and sign off with full accountability. “Once we take accountability on every small thing it’s like little pieces of a puzzle. The bigger picture is a clean audit,” she says.
Finance is a partner to the business, true sustainability comes from collaboration, addressing root causes and focusing on long-term value rather than short-term fixes.
“We must be innovative and willing to challenge our primary sources of income,” she explains. “If those streams are depleted, we need to consider how best to reposition ourselves in the market to remain sustainable, while still delivering a quality product that people will value and purchase. At the heart of this is collaboration, working together to develop and offer a reputable product that stands out.”
On costs, she emphasises the value of open dialogue with suppliers, noting that her most effective strategy has been negotiation. She would regularly engage suppliers, explain the organisation’s circumstances, and invite them to propose solutions and cost-saving measures. “More often than not, suppliers responded with ideas and concessions that exceeded what I had projected in my forecasting models,” she reflects.
“The key lies in negotiation, creating space for stakeholders to rethink, resize, and contribute to sustainable solutions,” she adds.
All about priorities
Devi is focused on equipping the foundation for the future, with her immediate priority being to ensure the organisation delivers on its strategic goals while building a legacy that will endure for the next 50 years.
“I want my tenure to be defined by laying a solid foundation, one that ensures the organisation not only endures for the next 50 years but continues to grow from strength to strength,” she says.
Being part of the foundation at such a milestone moment is deeply meaningful for her. At this stage in both her career and personal journey, she was seeking an opportunity to add value and leave a lasting legacy. When the role at the Market Theatre Foundation arose, she had an immediate sense that this was exactly where she was meant to be.
“The daily exposure to creativity is energising,” she says. “Engaging with artists, experiencing their perspectives on life and being immersed in something so different is truly inspiring. It’s easy to take these things for granted, but here I get to witness diverse expressions of art and live performances. That motivates me to work harder, stretch resources further and ensure we can bring as many productions to life as possible.”
And for her excellence begins with honesty, each year starts with a fresh risk register, a clear-eyed assessment of the environment and capabilities, and an unflinching view of the risks to achieving strategic objectives.
“Once you assess the probabilities, you’re in a better position to establish mitigating controls. The whole goal of risk is to still achieve your strategic objectives whilst mitigating those risks. If your thinking is that the risk register is an admin process, it doesn’t work. It needs to be a live document as risks emerge, to ensure your objectives are met,” she says.
Defining moments and personal balance
For Devi, being appointed CFO was a defining career milestone. From early on, she pursued diverse experiences with urgency and intent, driven by her ambition to reach directorship by the age of 35.
“When I was appointed CFO at the Ekurhuleni Housing Company, it was my proudest achievement, because it confirmed that I was ready,” she says. The role represented not only the culmination of years of preparation and deliberate career choices, but also a platform to apply her skills in a challenging environment. For her, it validated the sacrifices, the pace at which she had gathered experience and the ambition that had driven her journey. Most importantly, it gave her the confidence and credibility to step into executive leadership with assurance
She maintains balance through discipline and intentional personal practices. “Work-life balance and personal well-being are imperative,” she says. “True success comes from achieving balance in all aspects of life. Outside of work, I exercise, meditate, and spend time outdoors. I also love cooking and preparing healthy meals, which has kept me strong and energised.
“Even though I serve as a CFO, I cook, clean, tend to the garden and even maintain the pool. I believe that in every aspect of life, we need to be hands-on and grounded. Recently I’ve even learnt how to care for a pond. Most importantly, I cherish the time spent with my two children, teaching them and watching their own journeys unfold.”
One of her practical strategies for maintaining balance is meal preparation. “I do my meal preps on a Sunday, so I know exactly what I’ll be eating for lunch throughout the week,” she explains. “It’s usually a salad bowl or a one-container meal, but always balanced. I believe it’s essential to look after the mind, body, and soul by fuelling them well. The key is preparation and planning, it keeps me on track.”
