Over at the in-house studio, in what is her first-ever ASA shoot yet, Ayanda Mafuleka, FASSET CEO, seesaws gracefully back and forth between a camera crew, make-up artist, and yours truly. She’s a vision of loveliness in an A-line princess skirt and Afro puff bun − a look that’s commensurate with some of her shots on the Internet.
Between shots, the conversation runs the gamut from current affairs to pop culture, including slain rapper Kiernan Jarryd Forbes. Ayanda’s erudition reveals the sort of person in the habit of reading shelves of thick books and the latest social and business news.
A CASE FOR STRONG LEADERSHIP
Naturally, we talk about ethics, the glass ceiling, and social exclusion. Against a background of election season, she gives us the works about the leadership crisis in the country. ‘As far as leadership is concerned, as a country we are going through a leadership deficit where ethical leaders seem to be far and few between,’ she says.
‘The issues we are facing could easily be addressed if we have ethical and courageous leaders that are gonna make decisions and be decisive.
‘As it stands, we continue to bear the brunt of corruption and unethical behaviour. In Africa, we lose close to a trillion US dollars through corruption and illicit money flows.’
Exclusion of women in the workplace, particularly in the financial services sector, incenses her. ‘In South Africa, we currently have one black female who is a CEO of one of the big banks. In Nigeria the picture is different − as a matter of fact, we have more than five female CEOs leading the banking sector. I can bet my bottom rand that this sector in Nigeria is gonna thrive,’ she says.
‘Women have always been instigators of change. In 1956 it took about 20 000 women to march against the introduction of pass laws. One of the women who fascinate me is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was Africa’s first elected female head of state. When she took over she dealt with the civil wars and thanks to her, Liberia has been peaceful then.’
BUSINESS UNUSUAL AT FASSET
Ayanda talks often about transformation and women’s empowerment, particularly in the financial services sector. Using FASSET’s seven strategic priorities, which include the transformation of the finance and accounting sector, she’s covered the ground well, ensuring that the country is consistently able to provide skilled individuals for the finance and accounting services sector.
Ayanda’s tenure has been marked by innovation and commitment, particularly when it relates to the upskilling of students through various skills programmes, learnerships, internships, bursary grants, financial and digital training, and research.
Three years ago she signed a landmark five-year contract to support the Thuthuka Educational Upliftment Fund, breaking away from the tradition of renewing from year to year.
‘As FASSET we’ve trained cooperatives and up-and-coming entrepreneurs. We’ve also trained unemployed students to be able to create employment themselves. But in the main, our programmes are aimed at young people and that is why we have a partnership with SAICA through the Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund, aka Thu-thuka, where we are funding various Thuthuka programmes.’
The partnership with Thuthuka is one of FASSET’s legacy projects, she says. ‘We see Thuthuka as one of our strategic partners, especially in the transformation of the sector that FASSET is demarcated to do. We also see the support as our contribution towards the skills shortages in the country around CAs, mostly black CAs [only 8 610 (17%) of the 51 152 registered CAs are black]. The board appreciates the vexed question around the shortage of black CAs.
‘In context, less than 10 000 of 51 000 registered CAs are black. That’s in stark contrast to the country’s demographics [almost 81% of South Africans are black].’
A RESOLVE TO PURSUE EXCELLENCE
A native of Umlazi, a township in the South of Durban, she was shipped off to St Francis College in Mariannhill, a Catholic school whose alumni includes the likes of Sizwe Nxasana, venerated business executive who is the founding partner of SizweNtsalubaGobodo.
Then she went to the University of KwaZulu-Natal where she read for a qualification in commerce. Graduating with a BCom degree in 2002, she set off for Gauteng, where she set about launching her career.
Ayanda has been described as someone who strives to leave a legacy that has a lasting impact. A practitioner of excellence who believes in leading high-performing A-teams, she’s often lionised for shattering performance records, and for challenging her teams.
With a finance career that spans more than 20 years, she’s been synonymous with a whole host of public institutions, including Transnet, Anglo Platinum, South African Post Office, National Treasury, Robben Island Museum, and the Department of Home Affairs, National Credit Regulator, among others.
Press search intimates her strong work ethic, revealing that she’s been instrumental in leaving legacies of clean audits. She also gets kudos for implementing turnaround strategies.
Ayanda chalks it up to her humble upbringing and the Catholic school system. ‘Going to St Francis College in Mariannhill, KwaZulu-Natal, I encountered a Latin phrase Ora et labora meaning pray and work,’ she says. ‘The phrase in question resonates with my approach to life. I pray and work.
‘In a sense that has instilled in me a sense of purpose and working hard. I derive my purpose from God. Whatever I do at FASSET is not just a job that pays the bills for me. I’d like to believe that I’ve been put there for a certain purpose and every day as I go about exercising my responsibilities, I always ask God if I’m still aligned to that certain purpose.’
FASSET WOMEN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES YIELD RESULTS
By all accounts, Ayanda has been diligent about her work to empower women through a series of dedicated FASSET Women Legacy Programmes. The work entails smart and strategic partnerships with a whole host of entities, including the Graça Machel Trust, International Women’s Forum of SA, Duke Corporate Education and Wits Business School, among others.
FASSET has introduced the Executive Development Programme (EDP) with the intention to provide support and guidance to executives in the sector however with the call for more female representation at the executive level the model was reviewed and curated as a response.
Since the start of 2022, FASSET has launched two programmes under this initiative, attending to the development of female professionals at different levels. On 3 March 2022, FASSET launched its partnership with the International Women’s Forum South Africa and Duke Corporate Education to mentor young women earmarked for executive positions in their respective sectors.
In the two years of its existence, the programme has produced, among its alumni, Dr Mampho Modise who was recently appointed deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank.
‘We’ve come up with executive programmes for women because we want to develop women leaders who are going to take up spaces in both the public and private sector,’ Ayanda says. ‘Dr Mampho Modise was in the first cohort of the programme so she is the alumna of the FASSET IWFSA Women’s Development Programme. So for us, we want to make sure that we produce bold and decisive leaders. What’s more, we wish to produce ethical women leaders who will make sure that they elevate their voices and say ‘enough is enough and let’s change things’. So, transformation is on the horizon.’
Another partnership with Wits Business School was launched on 15 March 2022 to enhance the leadership skills of female executives. ‘FASSET’s mission to develop and grow skills required in the sector while also facilitating transformation in the finance and accounting services sector is well articulated through the Executive Development Programme, More than 400 women have graduated through the programme by March 202,’ said Ayanda following the launch of the programme.
FASSET MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Established in April 2000 in terms of the Skills Development Act (SDA) of 1998, FASSET is the Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) for the Finance, Accounting, Management Consulting and Other Financial Services sector.
FASSET’s vision is to facilitate the achievement of world-class finance and accounting service skills. Its mission is to increase the flow of new finance and accounting services entrants to employment.
It also aims to develop and grow skills required in the sector and facilitate the transformation of the finance and accounting services sector. FASSET achieves that through its funding and skills programmes, among other initiatives. ‘You cannot even begin to talk about economic growth in isolation from the issue of skills development,’ Ayanda says. ‘We need those skills that are gonna drive the economy. ‘It’s really humbling to be part of that bigger machinery that is supposed to drive the economy in order to take this country forward.’
The conversation reverts to ethics and Ayanda speaks at some length on the subject of leadership. ‘South Africa is blessed with economic resources but we have a deficit of leadership. We are going through a phase where the public sector, and even the private sector is grappling with widespread corruption and unethical behaviours and we seem to not putting the people and service delivery first,’ she says.
She laments the fall of state-owned enterprises. ‘Our SOEs were the envy of both the continent and the world,’ she says. ‘In Africa, SAA was the airline, and Eskom was ranked among the best electricity utilities in the world. We also have Rand Water, which is the largest water utility in the African continent.
‘South Africa was the envy of the continent and the world and that could only be chalked up to how we conducted ourselves and how we have led. Having said that, South Africa is a country with huge possibilities. And I believe we can self-correct by fixing leadership and governance so that we go back to our former glory as a country.
‘At FASSET we are very intentional and deliberate about grooming ethical leaders. Through our programmes − aimed at developing leaders − we’ve been resolute about grooming leaders that are going to be ethical. (Not long ago, we funded a programme on ethics awareness because even the auditing profession has also had its own share of unethical behaviour.)’
When it comes to the issue of making a difference- a message championed by SAICA- she exhorts other CAs to pay it forward. ‘I’m yet to meet a CA of colour who can say “for me, it was the smoothest journey I’ve ever embarked on”,’ she says. ‘The journey is not easy, but it’s worth taking.’
‘SAICA came through for me through a FASSET-funded programme for ITC and APC for repeat candidates … It afforded me much-needed financial and academic support to pass both board exams to qualify as a CA. It is with pride that FASSET continues to fund such programme.
‘CAs should look for opportunities to assist other aspiring CAs because it’s not gonna be only SAICA and FASSET that are consciously going to bridge this gap. Wherever CAs are placed, make sure you leave a legacy. Make sure that you leave a legacy to say a CA was here.’
We shake on it.
Author Mpho Tshikhudo | Photographer Theana Breugem
