Taryn Woodbridge, CFO at Mercedes-Benz South Africa, believes it’s important for people to understand the role they play as individuals in how they contribute to an organisation’s success.
Winner of the 2024 Finance Transformation Award Taryn Woodbridge took on the role of CFO at Mercedes-Benz South Africa at the end of 2022.
Prior to becoming CFO, she served as the company’s senior manager of plant accounting and controlling, where she was responsible for overseeing all finance aspects related to the luxury car manufacturer’s East London plant.
The qualified CA(SA) with a master’s degree in taxation from Rhodes University counts this period as one of her career milestones, as she was one of the only female senior managers on the plant management team at the time – and the first South African to get the role.
“I never thought [becoming a senior manager] would be a possibility because that role, since I had been with the company, was always occupied by a German expat and was never held by a South African,” says Taryn.
“In an international organisation with a German mother company you accept that. Due to a combination of language barriers, networks and technical aspects, certain positions are reserved for expats. That was my assumption. I just carried on doing my best and continuously improving myself,” she adds.
Along the way, Taryn explains, her superiors, as well as predecessors who had held the position of CFO, recognised her potential. She didn’t know it at the time, but in succession planning discussions held in Germany, Taryn’s name would come up.
She was recommended by a few of her previous bosses who had returned to Germany after their assignments had been completed. (Taryn succeeded Klaus Eser as CFO, when he retired.)
“I share this with people I mentor and coach, that it’s often those moments when you don’t realise it that others are observing you and creating a 'profile' in their mind of how they perceive you. That can open doors without you even knowing it, based on how you show up, deliver, how consistent you are, how you communicate, and how you follow through,” she explains.
Milestones and purpose
As CFO, Taryn also believes it’s important for people to understand the role they play as individuals in how they contribute to an organisation’s success. “For example, Mercedes-Benz wants to build the world’s most desirable cars. The finance team must consider: What do I do that contributes to that strategy? So, I discuss with the team and discuss what each person, and what part of our finance portfolio, contributes towards that success.”
What does that practically look like to someone on the finance team? Taryn notes that it could mean the delivery of financial results that is first class and on time.
“If we can deliver high-quality and accurate work, so that information is available on dashboards to our decision-makers in real-time, that’s our contribution because we are enabling fast decision-making,” she elaborates.
“It’s about breaking that down. If you look at a team member who has just joined the organisation you must have that conversation. Otherwise, they will never identify with the organisation’s purpose unless they know their individual contribution towards it,” she says.
In November 2023, Taryn celebrated her 20th anniversary at Mercedes-Benz South Africa. It was a significant milestone, and although she concedes that the two decades feels like it’s gone by in the blink of an eye, it’s been an incredible journey that she wouldn’t change in any way.
“I’m very proud to work for this wonderful company; I think the Mercedes-Benz star is embedded in my heart, in everything I do,” says Taryn. “It’s a company I always wanted to work for and over the years it’s like being part of a family; it’s a culture we’re blessed to have as an organisation.”
When Taryn first started at Mercedes-Benz, she had just finished her articles in 2001, then completed a stint at the Auditor-General. She realised that auditing was not her passion, and she wanted to get into commerce. A position opened at Mercedes-Benz, but she admits, as a young finance professional, she never thought she’d be at the company 20 years later.
Hungry to learn
She credits her longevity at the German car manufacturer to a combination of abundant opportunities and a willingness to put her hand up to grab them.
“The company gives you a diversity of opportunity, and a chance to learn and grow by moving into different areas of the business,” she says. “A lot of it is self-driven, so you need to also be willing to play your part.”
For Taryn, holding different positions within the same company has helped her connect the dots. It has enabled a broader business perspective so that when she did get into a leadership position, she could make faster and better decisions, because she had a solid understanding of how the business operates.
“The culture has always been very supportive with learning and development, whether through workshops, courses or job rotation. With our international network, so many colleagues have gone overseas on assignments and come back. I think that’s why many people stick around; we have quite a low job turnover, so retention is high. I’ve also just always loved what I do. I started at the bottom as an analyst in the product controlling department and I was hungry to learn,” she says.
“I’ve had a lot of support in the company and great mentors along the way supporting me in my development,” she adds. “I honestly wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else.”
