THE WHOLE IS BETTER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS... CHANTELL HUSSELMANN
Chantell Husselman is the PwC Namibia Tax Leader. She leads the Firm’s Tax Department with a focus on a distinctive culture that attracts, develops and retains top talent, builds trust in society, solves complex client problems and has a positive impact on society. Chantell is a chartered accountant and has spent more than 20 years at the firm between the Assurance and the Tax Service Lines. She is an Indirect Tax expert, specialising in VAT and Customs and Excise consulting for the past 15 years. She is passionate about developmental programmes, knowledge sharing and is also the leading PwC Business School Partner. Chantell is a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Namibia (ICAN) and a former board member of the Public Accountants and Auditors Board.
the concept to the interconnected world of commerce. He wrote in a 1993 Harvard Business Review article: ‘Successful businesses are those that evolve rapidly and effectively. Yet innovative businesses can’t evolve in a vacuum’.
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Chantell Husselmann
his wise expression coined by philosopher Aristotle defines the today widely used concept of synergy. It echoes that together we achieve more. When pondering on the topic of Business Ecosystems, the concept nailed by Aristotle stuck with me and motivated me to focus on practical examples on how PwC Namibia embraces and fosters ecosystems, eventually leading me to dwell on how relevant and important the concept is to the entire Audit and Professional Service rendering profession. Natural ecosystems were defined in the 1930s by British botanist Arthur Tansley to refer to a localised community of living organisms interacting with each other and their particular surrounding environment. Business strategist, James Moore, imported
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At PwC, we believe that ecosystems accelerate learning, innovation and growth. Though we operate in a very regulated environment, being part of the larger society and operating in that mindset should be at the core of everything we do. This is emphasised by both our purpose which is building trust in society and solving crucial problems. Our core values are: act with integrity, work together, make a difference, and care and re-imagine the possible. In a small market such as the Namibian market, it is not financially viable to keep certain skills in-house on a full-time basis for PwC. This is especially so for highly specialised technical skills that are needed on projects that come by only once or twice every year, or even every second year. Skills such as engineering, for example, are not needed on a full time basis as the firm does not have many projects that would need such skills. To ensure that PwC delivers on projects that would require such skills, PwC makes use of sub-contractors for individuals or teaming-up agreements for companies. Through a well-crafted, risk-averse and structured approach labelled Joint Business Relationships (JBRs) we are able to join hands with other corporates in tackling complex problems or delivering Thought leadership interventions to our clients, the business community or society at large. An example would be our annual hosting of the National
Budget Gala Dinner in collaboration with the Minister of Finance, Standard Bank Namibia, Liberty Life Namibia and Namibia Media Holdings (Pty) Ltd. The event is well attended by business leaders, representatives from the government and the business community. Through this JBR, where each organisation plays a part, we have successfully managed to have the tabling of the National Budget analysed and timely communicated to stakeholders for over ten years. Through this event, the Minister of Finance as the main stakeholder has an opportunity on the day of tabling the National Budget to address the business community, reaching Namibian households with live streaming of the event and is available to take questions from the audience and viewers. At PwC we regard our role of analysing the announced budget and tax proposals as key to the JBR. We also use this opportunity to influence tax policy developments and contribute via the ICAN Tax Committee on various technical taxrelated topics. Another example would be our approach to delivering short-course training at the PwC Business School. Being relevant to our course offering, we find it imperative to engage with trainers/institutions outside our firm as opposed to only making use of PwC facilitators. As part of this strategy, in November 2019, the Business School signed a JBR with the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST). Through this JBR we are one step closer in our drive of firstly upskilling recent graduates and preparing them for the workforce and, secondly, we can join hands in keeping our nation informed and educated about