According to analysis by Thomson Reuters, the value of announced M&A transactions with any sub-Saharan African involvement reached $10.1 billion during the first quarter of 2017 – the highest opening quarter total in six years.

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.

Foreign exchange, global trade and banking intermediary company BeztForex has joined Finance Indaba 2017 as a silver partner and will make its debut at the event at the Sandton Convention Centre in October.

Today’s world requires innovation to remain competitive, and with the changing nature of consumers, businesses cannot afford to be on the wrong side of technology. CFOs need to be on top of tech.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya’s economy grew 5.8 percent during 2016, slightly short of forecasts (government officials estimated the economy to have expanded by 5.9 percent), but a little above the 5.7 percent growth it saw during 2015. Moreover, the current account deficit narrowed 11.9 percent in 2016, to 5.2 percent of GDP.

Mastercard is working with South African partners to bring biometric cards to local consumers, reportedly by the end of this year. South Africa is the first market in the world to test the technology, with two trials already having been conducted with Absa and Pick n Pay.

S&P Global has revised the credit rating of restructured African Bank upwards. The ratings agency revised the bank’s outlook from negative to stable, also affirming its B+/B global scale rating. Its national scale rating was raised to zaBB from zaBB-.

Nasdaq, one of the world's leading providers of technology and services to the capital markets, has announced the launch of a venture investment programme, Nasdaq Ventures, dedicated to discovering, investing in and partnering with unique FinTech companies worldwide. The programme's main objective is to identify and collaborate on new technologies and groundbreaking services and solutions which align with Nasdaq's clients' needs and the company's long-term objectives in the global capital markets.

Cheaper data and more accessible connectivity will drive the growth of the cloud infrastructure and professional services market in South Africa – which has the potential to become a $2,3 billion market over the next three years.

The internationally successful FinTech Academy kicks off in South Africa at The FinTech Academy Africa on 24 and 25 April 2017 at the Duke Corporate Education Leadership campus, Bryanston, Gauteng.

South Africa, recent ratings downgrades notwithstanding and economic and political volatility aside, has made it onto the 2017 AT Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, entitled ‘Glass Half Full’, after a two-year absence.

Pick n Pay posted an 18 percent rise in full-year profit, as the supermarket chain targeted labour costs amid political tensions and significant pressures exerted on the South African consumer. Headline earnings per share was 264.35 cents in the year to end-February compared with 224.04 cents a year earlier, while sales grew 7 percent and a dividend of R17.30 per share was declared.

CEO of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) Terence Nombembe is one of the captains of industry shaping the accounting profession and has been a champion of the Finance Indaba since day one. Calling the Indaba a "unifying event that will help us build the nation" in his presentation, the former Auditor General of South Africa outlined his strategy for transformation of SAICA, which is based on effective collaboration and responsible leadership.

Raj Jandu (pictured) has been appointed Neotel CFO – a role that has stood empty since late 2015. Jandu joins Neotel from Liquid Telecom, where he has been CFO for the East Africa region since 2013. Liquid Telecom group officially acquired Neotel earlier this year, at a cost of R6.55 billion.

A need for increased profitability in a low-growth domestic economy and increased global uncertainty are pushing chief procurement officers (CPOs) to add more value to their organisations. Defensive strategies being implemented by CFOs are demanding rapid, sustained cost reduction in parallel to a greater focus on risk from procurement. Traditional procurement operating models are therefore changing, driven by a lack of talent and an increase in digital innovation.

Consistent, transparent investor communication can encourage ongoing evaluation and accountability, sheds light on new investment opportunities, attracts new investors and bodes well for future growth. Global financial services giant EY has gained some key insights into effective investor communication from discussions with CFOs, investors and executives as part of its Master CFO Collection of studies. Here are five EY tips on gaining investor confidence.

The CFO Awards are not just about celebrating the achievements of finance leaders and having an enjoyable night out, but it is also an opportunity for learning and networking.

Sibanye Gold is looking to raise some R13.3 billion in equity ($1 billion), to partly fund a takeover of US-based Stillwater Mining Company, the country’s sole platinum and palladium miner. It will raise a further $1 billion in debt, most likely in the bond market, it has said.

FinTech has become a truly global phenomenon, with hubs popping up in cities around the world, although established players such as London and Singapore continue to be the top centres, according to a report by Deloitte. The study is the second output of the Global FinTech Hubs Federation, an initiative by Swift's innovation arm Innotribe and the UK's Innovate Finance to create a cross-border and open platform that brings established and emerging hubs together.

“I believe in four aspects of a leader: commitment, appreciation, respect, and trust. If you put the first letter of each of those words together it spells CART. A cart has four wheels and those form part of the carriage of a company and a team going forward. If I have those four aspects to my team, I believe we’ll be successful together,” says Hiten Keshave, CFO of PRP Solutions, a company in the business of people resource planning and which provides a management-by-exception workforce-based management system that operates in the cloud.

Ride-hailing service Uber, the South African branch of which is doing well, and recently launched Uber Assist, generated some $6.5 billion in revenue during 2016. According to Reuters, its adjusted net loss was $2.8 billion – excluding the operation in China, which it sold last year.

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.

African telecommunications firm Liquid Telecom has joined Finance Indaba 2017 as a gold partner and will make its debut at the event at the Sandton Convention Centre in October.

In this age of multi-channel communication, we need to be diligent about our communications because the consequences – be it at home, in the workplace or in the M&A environment – can be far-reaching.

After winning approval from Australia’s foreign investment regulator to sell the bulk of its mines to a company controlled by China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. for $2.45 billion, Rio Tinto Group is closer to an exit from thermal coal.

Takealot has received a R960-million investment from Naspers; an investment which will make Naspers the majority shareholder in the company. This follows investments from Tiger Global and Naspers in 2015. The deal forms part of Naspers’ strategy to invest in internet firms in emerging markets.

Christine Lagarde, MD of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), addressing an audience at a recent event in Harare, said that the global economy needs a foundation of sound domestic policies combined with a steadfast commitment to international cooperation.

Pan-African FinTech firm MFS Africa has announced that Michael Joseph (pictured) has joined its board as an independent non-executive director. Michael served as CEO of Safaricom in Kenya from 2000 to 2010, and is widely credited with spearheading M-Pesa, the world’s most successful mobile money service.

Amazon Web Services, which incorporates its cloud business, is currently on an upward trajectory and is Amazon’s fastest-growing and most profitable division.

Millennials, or those born between 1981 and 1996, – rightly or wrongly –have earn reputation for being enigmatic, difficult to work with and somewhat entitled. Their personalities have been shaped by rapid changes in personal computing and technology and a laissez faire approach to parenting. Empower your millennial employees, however, and you will be able to turn confusion into productivity. Here are five tips on getting the most out of millennials.

Datatec, an international ICT company dual-listed on the JSE and London’s AIM, is currently in discussions to sell a major share of subsidiary Westcon’s operations in a deal with an $800 million price tag.

JSE CFO Aarti Takoordeen is an award-winning finance professional who is in great demand at industry forums for her views on the evolution of the CFO role. A chartered accountant, she began her her career as a finance manager at NamTech and later served as a TSG Finance Manager for Hewlett Packard. After working for Johnson Controls as its Finance Director, she became the CFO of JSE Limited in February 2013. She was named the Young CFO of the Year at the 2014 CFO Awards.

Anglo American has announced that it will sell its Eskom-linked thermal coal operations in South Africa for $166 million. According to Reuters, Anglo will sell the assets (New Vaal, New Denmark and Kriel collieries) to Seriti Resources Holdings. The mines, along with four closed collieries, have a supply agreement with Eskom.

In recent decades, voluminous and increasingly complex quarterly and annual reports have lost much of their relevance for their primary users: investors. In their book, The End of Accounting, Baruch Lev and Feng Gu empirically prove that the relevance of accounting information is indeed lost, and go on to explain why this happened. Then they introduce new ways to make the reports relevant again.

Afrimat FD Pieter de Wit has been nominated for the 2017 CFO Awards. The annual 'Oscars for South African CFOs', to be held on 11 May, recognise CFOs of listed companies, large corporations, state-owned entities and government institutions, and awards them for outstanding performance and leadership.

PSG-controlled Zeder Investments, the JSE-listed agri-investment company, reported a rise in recurring headline earnings per share of 0,5% from 42,4c per share to 42.6c per share during its annual results presentation for the year to February, on Monday. Although relatively modest, the rise was perceived as strong in view of the worst drought to have impacted South Africa’s agricultural sector in over 30 years and ongoing political uncertainty.

Despite a currently difficult retail environment, Verimark has said it expects improved profits for the financial year ending 28 February 2017.

Stellenbosch-based FinTech Entersekt has scooped the Best Mobile Security Technology going in the Banker Africa Southern Africa Banking Awards for the second time.

Originally, from Bangalore, India, Wipro Technologies’ Kiran Kumar, has been living in South Africa for close to five years, initially sent here to reinvent the company’s processes and controls. He was elevated to head of finance towards the second half of last year, though he still shoulders the responsibilities of his previous role as finance controller. “I enjoy the visibility of the entire business. I don’t think anybody other than the finance team has such visibly of a company; it’s all encompassing.”

Pick n Pay has said it anticipates its full-year profit to increase between 15 and 20 percent, bolstered by disciplined cost measures and higher productivity in stores. Headline earnings per share for the 52 weeks ending February 2017 will be between 257.65 and 268.85 cents per share, compared to 224.04 cents per share in 2016.

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.

Digital and data solution provider Keyrus has joined Finance Indaba 2017 as a silver partner and will make its debut at the event at the Sandton Convention Centre in October.

In November 2016, Christiaan Engelbrecht joined Ster-Kinekor as CFO, a highlight in a finance career that started at Deloitte and Vodacom. He keeps a monthly diary for CFO.co.za to share his trials, tribulations and triumphs. This is part 3: how ego shapes the corporate world.

ArcelorMittal South Africa is in discussions to borrow R3.5 billion as part of a capital raising plan, though it has not specified what the funds will be used for.

Peter Riskowitz (pictured) has been appointed as CFO and executive director of Brian Joffe’s new investment firm, Long4Life, which listed yesterday on the JSE. Riskowitz’s role, which will take effect from 1 May, will include a strong focus on merger and acquisition activity for the firm.

Brian Joffe (pictured), founder of Bidvest, has successfully listed his latest venture, Long4Life, a R2 billion investment firm, on the JSE’s main board.

Root, an OfferZen initiative, and Standard Bank have teamed up to launch a lightweight bank account, which comes with a programmable credit card, online banking interface, mobile app, and APIs.

CFO South Africa’s debut season of CFO Summits has been a phenomenal success thus far, with the series attracting interest from leading financial executives eager to gain insights from their peers and opinion leaders.

Juan Mostert has left Hitachi Data Systems Sub-Saharan Africa, where he was Head of Finance, and joined Bidvest Prestige as its CFO/Finance Director, effective 1 April.

The downgrade of SA’s sovereign credit rating to junk status after the Zuma administration’s midnight Cabinet reshuffle on 31 March has plunged the country into anxiety and depression. The rand and government bonds fell sharply after the S&P and now Fitch agencies took the step in a reaction to what they see as risks to fiscal policy and political uncertainty. But what does the downgrade mean for financial executives and South Africans in general?

Venture capitalist, entrepreneur and public speaker extraordinaire Vusi Thembekwayo has earned plaudits (including from the likes of Nelson Mandela) and enthralled audiences all over the world with his lessons from the public speaking pulpit, which began when he was a teenager.

Peter Moyo (pictured), Vodacom chairman, has been headhunted by Old Mutual to head its emerging markets arm. Moyo will return to his former employer on 1 June as CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets (Omem). He will replace Ralph Mupita, who resigned in October.

Global entries for the 2017 and second edition of The CFO Case Study Competition closed on 31 March, with over 1,500 entries received – surpassing the 2016 edition by some 20 percent.

For many South African companies, expanding successfully through the rest of the continent is a sort of Holy Grail. Many have been burned in their efforts and some abandon their plans completely after failing to negotiate difficult terrain. Here are three financial executives’ advice on doing business in Africa from our interview archives.

Primedia CFO Chris Patricios has been nominated for the 2017 CFO Awards. The annual 'Oscars for South African CFOs', to be held on 11 May, recognise CFOs of listed companies, large corporations, state-owned entities and government institutions, and awards them for outstanding performance and leadership.

Fastjet, one of Africa’s newer low-cost airlines, has recruited a further two former SAA group executives as chairman and CFO: Rashid Wally and Michael Muller.

FinTech startup Voice IT took the honours at the Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF) 48-hour Recode Nigeria hackathon, sponsored by Access Bank, winning N1,5 million cash, as well as a year's access to the IBM Bluemix artificial intelligence platform and the Microsoft BizSpark developer toolkit.

Alvin Liew, Acting CFO of Monash South Africa, grew up and was educated in Malaysia, completing his articles in Australia. He came to South Africa on an assignment with Laureate Education, the largest private network of higher education providers in the world, which has a global network of more than 70 higher education institutions in 25 countries. Monash South Africa is the first partnership that Laureate Education has embarked on in Sub-Saharan Africa. “South Africa is a great country. It has its quirks and eccentricities, but I enjoy this,” he says. Alvin has worked for Monash South Africa for three years and says that when it comes to reaching economic transformation goals, nothing can have as big an impact as education: “I believe the greatest enabler of economic transformation is education – no other factors come close to the importance of education when it comes to radically transforming a country.”

Aveng shareholders have approved the sale of a 51-percent stake in the Grinaker-LTA business to Kutana Construction, a black women-owned entity, the deal including a 45-percent economic interest for Kutana. The 51 percent interest represents the legal voting position of the shares held by Kutana, while the 45 percent economic interest represents the benefit attributable to the firm.

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.

Cloud solution provider Blackline has joined Finance Indaba 2017 as a silver partner and will make its second showing at the event at the Sandton Convention Centre in October.

Peregrine Holdings Ltd., which operates South Africa’s oldest hedge fund and also owns half of advisory business Java Capital, is contemplating splitting itself to create a new investment firm, by using profits from its stockbroking and wealth-management units.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer, has leapfrogged Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffett to become the world’s second-richest person.

North African startups are eligible for the SANAD Fincluders Startup Challenge in Amman, Jordan, on 3-4 May 2017 and its $15 000 cash prize. The challenge, which also includes Middle Eastern startups, aims to find innovative SMEs focusing on financial inclusion and follows the Arab Day dedicated to increasing access to financial services.

The state of South Africa’s economy and more ambitious tax revenue targets, together with uncertainty on various tax principles and policy matters, has led to an increase in tax dispute matters. Against this background, KPMG and MacRobert Attorneys have joined forces to create a Tax Dispute Resolution Alliance. There is a shared vision between the two firms on how to help clients on dispute resolution matters without adopting aggressive and expensive tax litigation practices.

In response to overwhelming demand, CFO South Africa launched its public sector chapter in 2014 to give CFOs of departments, municipalities and other governmental bodies the opportunity to share knowledge, discuss challenges, network and listen to solutions that partner organisations have to offer. The chapter was quickly endorse by leading figures, including Minister for Finance in the Western Cape Dr Ivan Meyer.

As a tried and trusted resource for financial executives that can be seen on computer screens in virtually every corporate office, becoming an Excel super-user is a great career move for any accountant. The spreadsheet is always expanding and reams of text have been devoted to excelling with Excel. The number of shortcuts and ways to increase your savvy are expanding all the time and there is a big difference between intermediate and advanced knowledge of the program. Here are five more Excel tips for accountants.

South African Auditor General Thembekile Kimi Makwetu was one of the high-profile names at the Finance Indaba 2016. He opened the Finance for Africa programme and shared his vision on the importance of finance and how the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) is enabling oversight, accountability and governance in the public sector.

Capitec Bank has reported record growth of some 1.3 million new clients for the financial year ending February 2017, bringing their total customer base to 8.6 million. This makes Capitec the third-largest bank in the country by way of active clients, ahead of FNB and behind Absa by only a fraction. Standard Bank holds first place.

On Tuesday evening, a small group of leading CFOs gathered for an exclusive dinner on one of the most exclusive pieces of real estate in Johannesburg: The Four Seasons Hotel, Westcliff. Given the complex relationship most large businesses have with property, it was an evening of far-ranging and sometimes unexpected conversation.

Gaming and hospitality behemoth Sun International’s headline earnings per share fell to 223 cents per share for the six months to December 2016, from 344 cents in the comparable year and a sluggish economy, foreign exchange hits and settlement charges saw a 35% drop in full-year-profit. The group grew revenue 31% to R7.7-billion, with the strong growth attributable to the inclusion of its Latin American Dreams SA and GPI Slots’ operations for the full period.

Department of Energy CFO Yvonne Chetty has been nominated for the 2017 CFO Awards, following up her nomination in 2016. The annual 'Oscars for South African CFOs', to be held on 11 May, recognise CFOs of listed companies, large corporations, state-owned entities and government institutions, and awards them for outstanding performance and leadership.

Zunaid Bulbulia (pictured), former MTN CEO and one of the company’s founders, has joined telecoms service company Huge Group as its new CFO, effective 27 March. David Deetlefs, who was serving as the company’s Group FD, will remain on the board as an executive director.

The FinTech Academy Africa, a collaboration between FinTech Circle and the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), is set to launch in SA on 24 and 25 April, in Johannesburg.

“We need to be careful that we don’t make the mistake when going into the rest of Africa of thinking that we have better skills and expertise than others on the continent. This superiority complex will set us up for failure. The fundamental thing is, if you try to exploit the other African jurisdictions to the benefit of South Africa, you’ll come unstuck,” says Damain Matroos, CFO of SacOil, a South African-based independent African oil and gas company. We chatted to Damain about the challenges he faces as a CFO in the oil and gas sector, what opportunities exist, and what it’s like to do business in Africa.

Woolworths announced on Friday that is intends to combine its Australian subsidiaries Country Road Group and David Jones into one group, WHL Australasia, which will be headquartered in a single campus based in Richmond, Melbourne.

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.

Cloud solution provider Capisol Software has joined Finance Indaba 2017 as a silver partner and will make its debut at the event at the Sandton Convention Centre in October.

Perhaps the most underrated aspect of crowdsourcing is its potential to disrupt the current cost structure that supports talent management. Crowdsourcing makes sense when thinking about the perennial constraint that businesses face: costs. Cost containment remains a priority, and with people costs (including salary, training, perks, etc) accounting for close to or over 60 percent of the cost structure of most companies, crowdsourcing offers the potential to greatly reducing this expenditure.

The appointment of a new CEO at SAA will soon be finalised, or so said Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in a recent letter to Baleka Mbete, the Speaker of the National Assembly, wherein he also sought permission to delay the tabling of SAA's corporate plan.

The Sea Harvest Group raised a staggering R1.3 billion by listing 42% of the company on the JSE, where it floated its shares at R12.50 each, leading to a group market capitalisation of some R3.14 billion. The company has said this will allow it to realise its vision of becoming a diversified global seafood company.

Financial services group Sanlam has reached an agreement with asset manager PineBridge Investments, a leading global multi-asset class asset manager, which has operations in Kenya and Uganda, to acquire PineBridge’s majority stake in PineBridge Investments East Africa Limited in Kenya (PIEAL).

Founder of personal management website 22seven Christo Davel has resigned, citing an Old Mutual decision to change strategy. 22seven was acquired by Old Mutual in 2013.

According to Philisiwe Mthethwa (pictured), CEO of the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), the entity is contemplating an offer of R12.2 billion for Mercantile Bank, which recently announced it would be selling its South African bank.

In an ever more volatile world, chief financial officers constantly have to revise their strategies to anticipate changing markets and currencies, particularly when considering large-scale acquisitions.

Accountants across the globe, like their colleagues in many other professions, may feel a tad insecure at the moment, as disruptive technologies and automation continue to make disciplines obsolete and shape the way we work. These technologies are no longer confined to manufacturing, but are beginning to redefine the knowledge economy as well. Machine learning, mobile and automated workflow solutions are having a huge transformative effect on the accounting landscape.

Professor Mervyn King is recognised internationally as an expert on corporate governance and sustainability and is in great demand as an arbitrator and mediator. He is a founding member of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa and for some eight years was the South African judge at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. He has acted as an Inspector of Companies and a Commissioner of Inquiries into the affairs of companies. He has chaired many meetings for the compromise of creditors of companies and the rearrangement of shareholders’ interests and lectured on corporate issues in 38 countries.

“In an age where digitisation, robotics and AI are wreaking havoc with traditional business models, it is easy for executives to focus on superior technology as the solution to ensuring the competitiveness of their organisations and to overlook the human element,” said Ilya Bonic (pictured), President of Mercer’s Career business. Growth rests on engaging and empowering today’s workforce in ways that we are just beginning to uncover, Bonic added. “It takes employees armed with the right skills and opportunities to develop innovative solutions to advance the business and themselves.”

“We are delighted to be associated with CFO SA. This forum provides a critical support mechanism for South African CFOs, where they can access best practice, share information with their peers and be showcased for their contributions,” says Mitesh Patel, Managing Director of Nkonki, a 100-percent black-owned audit and advisory firm and the sponsors of this year’s ‘Young CFO of the Year’ Award. We caught up with Mitesh for a quick chat.

Capetonian Nik Rabinowitz is one of the country’s most well-known stand-up comedians and is renowned for his cutting wit. International appearances include Australia, Canada, Holland, the United Kingdom, the USA, and Zimbabwe. He’s been a guest on BBC 2’s Mock the Week, performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and intentionally driven on the wrong side of the road in Nigeria. We spoke to him about finance, comedy and his appearance as emcee at the CFO Awards 2017.

Bank controller Sasfin Holdings suffered losses to its headlines earnings per share from 334,43 cents to 271,41 cents and reduced its dividend by 18,84% to 80 cents per share after a tough six months to 31 December 2016, marked by credit losses and a write-down in its Efficient Group investment.

Indian mining billionaire Anil Agarwal (pictured) intends to purchase R31.5 billion of JSE-listed Anglo American shares in the market; a deal which would make him the company’s second-largest shareholder, second to the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) is set to experience a boom in fintech innovation over the next three years, propelled by a large unbanked population, VC inflows and the rapid emergence of a host of new startups, according to a state of the nation report prepared by local payment services outfit Payfort and entrepreneurial platform Wamda. According to the report, the number of startups in Mena’s FinTech ecosystem doubled from 46 to 105 over the three years 2013 to 2015 and the region could see a total of 250 FinTech startups launch by the year 2020.

Four powerful women – a mother, a grandmother, an accounting teacher and a career mentor – helped Refilwe Nkabinde to become BCX CFO at age 37. She spoke to CFO South Africa about her remarkable journey. “I feel equipped with all the tools I need to be a CFO.”

The Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) business confidence index, put together by the Bureau for Economic Research, rose to 40 points in the first quarter of 2017 – up from 38 in the last quarter of 2016.

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.

Excel solution provider Excel4apps has partnered with Finance Indaba 2017 and will make its second showing at the event at the Sandton Convention Centre in October.

Where talent management requires reviews to determine who belongs in what box and what to do with them after boxing them, crowdsourcing promises to bring out-of-the-box thinkers who work on a specific project as a team of free agents on demand.

JSE-listed technology services company EOH has posted very good results, with headline earnings per share rising by 22 percent, and revenue that improved by 21 percent to R7.2 billion in the six months to 31 January 2016. Moreover, operating profit margins improved despite tough economic conditions, with profit before tax up by 26 percent to R845 million.

Old Mutual Zimbabwe is taking proactive steps to invest in real assets that preserve value, the company says. This in the midst of uncertainty around the economy returning to the pre-dollarisation era.

Jacques Roux has announced he will be leaving Oakbay Resources, where he was CEO, after just one year in the job, effective 31 March. He will be replaced by George van der Merwe, who will stand as acting CEO from 1 April.

Investment holding group Remgro reported a 15% decline in intrinsic net asset value per share to R257.79 for the six months to December 2016 on the back of a 38,7% drop in the market value of its Mediclinic stake. The London-listed business represents its single biggest investment. The underperforming Middle East division was impacted by a number of operational and regulatory factors, including the new insurance co-payment requirements, doctor vacancies and delayed facility openings.

The 2016 CFO of the Year, Woolworths’ Reeza Isaacs, will be in attendance at the second instalment of the CFO Summit series in Cape Town on 22 March. He will be contributing to the dialogue and taking questions from the forum.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has appointed Sara Bux (pictured) as its new Associate Director: Southern Africa. Bux, who joined CIMA on 7 March this year, has been charged with driving the long-term Southern Africa strategy, and will report to Badibanga Promesse, the Africa Regional Vice President.

“As a knowledge worker, thinking is at the essence of what you do. The key to success in knowledge work (adding value to information) is good thinking, good decisions and good attention,” said Marcel van den Berg from Think Productive. Marcel was giving a two-day productivity workshop, ‘Work Smarter not Harder’, on 14 and 15 March in Johannesburg.

IT projects are notorious for going over budget and have some of the highest failure rates across the industry spectrum. As a finance executive, it can be challenging to rein in eager technologists and projects that cross time and scope constraints. Let’s take a look at a few common reasons why IT projects prove to be so problematic.

Mobicred is a simple and convenient credit facility that allows you to safely shop online with participating retailers. It charges interest rates comparable to those of credit card providers and only levies monthly fees while the account is used. When a buyer – who first undergoes a simple online registration process with Mobicred – pays using the facility, the seller will immediately receive the full amount, without the risk of payment reversals.

“The 2016 financial year was exceptionally challenging, with South Africa’s economic growth essentially flat. Despite this, the company delivered solid results,” said Jose Dos Santos, Cell C CEO, speaking at a recent results presentation where it was announced that the mobile operator had posted its first profit of R540 million, for the year ending December 2016.

“More focus should be given to long-term career prospects, including equity partnerships and senior management and executive responsibility. Transformation is not about the de-racialisation of the overall profession; it is about financial inclusion, ownership and access to markets and opportunity,” says Bernard Agulhas (pictured), CEO of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA). In Agulhas’s opinion, transformation must move beyond numbers and begin to truly empower black accountants and black-owned auditing firms. This includes providing equal opportunities to access the audit market, he says.

Financial inclusion, APIs, India, sentient fridges and blockchain technologies were all on the agenda as some of the continent’s leading FinTech visionaries applied their minds to the hot topic of the future of payments in the first FinTech Africa event of the year, held at Rand Merchant Bank’s Merchant Place campus in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Tuesday.

National Empowerment Fund (NEF) CFO Innocentia Pule has been nominated for the 2017 CFO Awards. The annual 'Oscars for South African CFOs', to be held on 11 May, recognise CFOs of listed companies, large corporations, state-owned entities and government institutions, and awards them for outstanding performance and leadership.

Murray & Roberts has appointed Daniel Grobler (pictured) as its new group FD, effective 1 April. Grobler takes over from outgoing FD Cobus Bester, who was in the position for six years. Bester is retiring and will step down on 31 March.

Global mobile research platform mSurvey, a global mobile-first research platform and Kenyan communications agency Safaricom have launched Consumer Wallet, a platform that quantifies offline consumer spending habits and trends.

“What makes me able to do this job is a strong understanding of the business, its operations and risk, as well as fundamentally accepting the need to grow the business,” says Frencel Gillion, CFO of Kagiso Tiso Holdings (KTH). “I think a CFO should have a strong grasp of the numbers but also be able to intuit what is happening within the business and be able to communicate this to the stakeholders through the financials. It’s not just about regurgitating numbers.”

Nazir Alli (pictured), former CEO of the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), though perhaps best known for his previous role as the champion of the e-tolling system, has been announced as the new Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) chairman, taking over from Popo Molefe. This follows Transport Minister Dipuo Peters’ announcement last week of the dissolving of the rail agency's board.

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.

FX trading platform 360T has partnered with Finance Indaba 2017 and will make its debut at the event at the Sandton Convention Centre in October.

Crowdsourcing promises to make scarce and critical skills available cost effectively, perhaps close to 90 percent cheaper, and disruptively. Yet most companies currently rely on talent management – a human resource function that has been around for over half a century but whose tools and techniques has changed little during its existence – to identify, attract, develop and keep talented people who have these sought after scarce and critical skills. The question is: will crowdsourcing make talent management obsolete?

Shell, headquartered in The Hague, has said that all of its oil-sands interests, with the exception of a 10% stake in the Athabasca mining project in Alberta, will be sold to Canadian Natural Resources. The Anglo-Dutch producer is currently two-thirds of the way through a $30 billion divestment programme to reduce debt.

Security investment is a high priority for banks and financial institutions. Suffering from attacks on both their own infrastructure and on their customers, retail banks spend three times as much on IT security as comparably sized non-financial institutions.