Highlights from the 2019 Finance Indaba

On 16 and 17 October 2019, CFO South Africa hosted its annual Finance Indaba at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. Over the two days, more than 5,000 finance professionals made their way through 40 partner stands and seven breakaway rooms, and attended more than 69 sessions. These were some of the highlights.

Kicking off the first day of the Finance Indaba, The Beancounter founder Marnus Broodryk delivered a keynote address in which he talked about how many of the rules in business serve as barriers to success. “We need to asses whether those rules are guides or gates, and we need to ask questions and challenge things," he said.

MTN CFO Ralph Mupita shared his unconventional journey to becoming a CFO. Ralph has run his career by his own rules and, unlike his counterparts, doesn’t have a CA qualification. Instead, he is a civil engineer by training. “I think coming from an engineering background has helped me a lot in the finance profession. Engineering teaches you about pattern recognition, observing trends, using and trusting data to make decisions. These skills help when it comes to problem-solving in finance,” he said.

Public sector CFOs not only have to manage numbers but also deal with corruption. On a panel, the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations CFO Innocent Gumbochuma said that the biggest challenges for his organisation are bogus colleges and the misrepresentation of educational qualifications.

The political situation also has an effect on tourism. SANParks CFO Dumisani Dlamini said that tourists look at many factors when choosing a holiday destination, whether it is the distance of the destination from their own country, the crime, and in South Africa, land grabs. “There were 7 million tourists that arrived in South Africa last year, and this figure has declined to 6.6 million this year.”

changes but to embrace them because their productivity can be enhanced, especially when it comes to onerous processes such as corporate income tax returns. Caseware Africa’s Nienke Kruger echoed Mncube’s session, saying that, as part of integrating your financial ecosystem you need to improve the software you use for reporting.

In a panel discussion, Discovery Health CFO Brett Tromp and Flight Centre general manager, technology Bonnie Smith shared insight into how their companies have improved customer service by embracing technology. Bonnie said Flight Centre has come a long way from the traditional world of travel booking to using technology to engage with customers throughout their trips. Brett echoed this, saying: "We use technology to interact with our customers seamlessly, so technology is part of doing business for us.”

Cell C CFO Zaf Mahomed and Bowmans CFO Jo-Ann Pohl emphasised not trying to plan your life too well, and letting things happen instead, as the lessons learnt along the way give you direction in the end – both personally and professionally.

Zaf said CFOs need to create safety nets that allow for failure, mitigate its cost, and solve problems quickly. “Young people entering the finance space aren’t taught to fail: too much pressure is put on them to not fail instead of preparing them for it.”

In a different panel discussion titled ‘Advice from my younger self’, Hatch Africa CFO Craig Sumption, Peninsula Beverages FD Andrew McMaster and Discovery Vitality CFO Sanele Mbatha agreed that not every decision CFOs make is going to be right.

Craig told the room: “We were not all born leaders and being in a leadership position doesn’t mean you have all the answers.”

Andrew agreed, saying that you should acknowledge when you don’t know something and take the initiative to find out and come back with something.

In a panel titled ‘Our duty to make the world a better place’, Kumba Iron Ore CFO Bothwell Mazarura, Hatch Africa FD Craig Sumption, Discovery Health CFO Brett Tromp and Walter Leonhardt, Coca-Cola FD, shared the ways in which they are working towards a better future.

For Bothwell, a better world is where the mining industry makes a positive impact. For Craig, a better world means working towards better corporate governance and growing the economy. Brett agreed, saying that the only way to change people’s lives for the better is if we are integrated into communities. Walter believes there’s too much inequality. He said: “We need to ensure that people start more at an equal than an unequal footing and help them become successful.” l