YOUNG CFO OF THE YEAR 2014 BY JOËL ROERIG
An interview with award winner Aarti Takoordeen, CFO at the JSE Limited.
Transform, innovate and give back In an exclusive interview with CFO South Africa, the winner of the Young Talent Award 2014 talks about her ‘homecoming’ to a South African company and her passion for transformation and innovation.
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n her previous role at HP and Johnson Controls International, Aarti Takoordeen received multiple international employee awards, but it was only when she realised that Professor Ben Marx of the University of Johannesburg was on the panel of judges for the CFO Awards, that she accepted her nomination for the 2014 CFO Awards, she reveals. “I have a lot of respect for Professor Marx, so I decided to accept. Normally, I decline to be in the limelight. I prefer that rags to riches stories are not written about me.” CFOs of 40 years and younger qualify for the Young Talent Award (now renamed Young CFO of the Year Award), so at just 33 years old, Takoordeen was a natural contender. “Former colleagues from the multinationals I worked for were teasing me, as if I am still an undiscovered talent…” But when messages from students and young professionals started pouring in via social media and email congratulating Takoordeen on winning CFO South Africa’s Young Talent Award, she saw that young South Africans need a role model and she has somewhat of a responsibility to be just that. “I did not realise the extent of inspiration it generates, I was pleasantly surprised.”
CFO MAGAZINE • CFO.CO.ZA
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