CFO Awards interviews

Photos: Patrick Furter Claudelle von Eck, CFO Awards judge and founder of Brave Inflexions

No aspect of their working lives goes unexamined for the CFOs who submit themselves to the intensive interviews that decide the CFO of the Year. T he last week of January is always a significant one on the CFO South Africa calendar as it’s reserved for interviewing the CFO Awards nominees. This year, the interviews took place at key awards sponsor Deloitte’s offices in Woodmead. This is the start of the judging process that will culminate in the announcement of CFO of the Year – along with nine other prestigious awards – on 14 May 2020 at the Polo Room in Inanda. The annual ‘Oscars for South African finance professionals’, which is now entering its seventh year, sees CFOs of listed companies, large corporations, state-owned entities and government institutions are recognised and rewarded for their outstanding performance and leadership. This year, 26 nominees compete for the coveted title. The judges agreed that their interviews revealed that the South African finance profession is of an extremely high calibre, made up of individuals who are truly exhibiting world-class competence and are changing the world by leading the change in business. Previous CFOs of the Year have included MTN CFO Ralph Mupita (2019), AngloGold Ashanti CFO Christine Ramon (2018), and Vodacom CFO Till Streichart (2017) and many more. While a CFO’s job is centred around analysis and performance assessment, they don’t often have the opportunity to turn this lens on themselves. Many of the nominees who go through the rigorous interviews express that it’s an incredibly rewarding – although stressful – process that gives them the opportunity to reflect on all they have achieved and contextualise their responses to the challenges they have faced. Taken together, these responses will be judged, scored and audited to reveal who the 2020 CFO of the Year will be. The commitment shown by the nominees to business excellence is revealed in their willingness to open themselves up to such intensive scrutiny, and to champion the successes that they and their businesses have achieved. l

Dion Mhlaba, CFO Awards nominee and RH Bophelo CFO

Simon Ridley, CFO Awards judge and previous Standard Bank Group FD and CFO Awards winner, and Kevin Black, CFO Awards judge and Deloitte audit partner

Ted Willcocks, CFO Awards nominee and PepsiCo SSA CFO

Shabeer Khan, CFO Awards nominee and CFO of the Department of Trade and Industry Tsholofelo Molefe, CFO Award nominee and Telkom Group CFO