This year, six CFO Awards nominees are competing for the Young CFO of the Year title.
On 16 November, CFO South Africa will crown the 2022 Young CFO of the Year at the glamorous “Oscars of the finance profession”. This person will have shown remarkable professional development in the last year, and would have been of great value for the board.
Aged up to and including 40, the Young CFO of the Year is someone who has moved up through the ranks of the corporate world. They are praised for their leadership, work ethics and for taking responsibility at the moments of truth.
This year, the CFOs competing for the Young CFO of the Year title are:
- Boipelo Lekubo, FD at Harmony Gold
- Julian Palliam, group CFO at Foskor
- Kagiso Lerutla, CFO at City of Ekurhuleni
- Mpolaheng Mohlopi, CFO at Lanseria International Airport
- Tinyiko Sihlangu, CFO at Royal Bafokeng Holdings
- Yusuf Bodiat, CFO at FEM
Who will be the winner joining the list of Young CFOs of the Year?
Previous winners
In 2014, at the first CFO Awards, then CFO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Aarti Takoordeen won the Young CFO of the Year Award.
In 2015, then CFO of Discovery Health Brett Tromp received the award, saying: “The next generation really needs to make a difference in this country. I love this country, its people and the opportunities it brings, and I want to transform it for the better.”
That year, four of the awards handed out on the evening went to CFOs under the age of 40, confirming the importance the next generation of CFOs have to play in the future of any company, economy and country.
Brett also received the High-Performance Team Award that evening.
In 2016, SANParks CFO Dumisani Dlamini walked away with the Award. “I remember being a little boy from the dusty town Claremont, then moving to Johannesburg where I sat in my first boardroom, and now leading the conversation in that boardroom as the CFO. This is for that boy, who has worked hard to be where he is today,” he said. Dumisani also won the Public Sector CFO of the Year Award in 2016.
The next year, then Cipla South Africa CFO Nishant Saxena won the award, as well as the High-Performance Team Award. In 2018 Dis-Chem CFO Rui Morais won the award. Rui also walked away with the Strategy Execution Award, as well as the Finance & Technology Award that evening.
In 2019, City of Tshwane CFO Umar Banda was crowned the Young CFO of the Year. Upon receiving the award, he explained that: “When you work in this environment, it’s sometimes hard to recognise that you’re still under 40, especially when you realise that all of the senior executives around you are close to retirement.”
Echoing the thoughts of the 2015 winner, Umar said that, “this country really needs young people to provide ethical leadership to make sure that we get out of the mess that we’ve found ourselves in”. He encouraged his fellow young CFOs to bring a South Africa that “we all want to see our children live in one day”.
Read more: Meet Young CFO of the Year Award winner Umar Banda
In 2020, the DTIC CFO Shabeer Khan won the award, along with the Public Sector CFO of the Year Award, and Compliance & Governance Award. “This award is a truly humbling experience: it’s a recognition of the skills and talent we have in the country and will inspire other young, aspiring CFOs to achieve greatness.”
Last year (2021), then CFO of Fedgroup Sheldon Friedericksen received the award, describing it as a “surreal moment. There is such great talent in South Africa, and just to be nominated was a significant achievement,” he said. “However, winning the award and being recognised by CFO South Africa and the judges as the Young CFO of the Year is a great feeling.”
He explained in an interview with CFO South Africa that he is still “riding the euphoric wave” of the recognition of the impact he has made in Fedgroup, his teams and the industry they operate in. “This award is truly a team award, in that everything we do at Fedgroup is a collaborative team effort, with many people bringing their particular skill sets and enabling us to achieve some amazing goals.”
Read more: Sheldon Friedericksen resigns as Fedgroup CFO after Young CFO of the Year win
