As CFO of Webber Wentzel, Aneshree Naidoo may have reached the upper rungs of the corporate ladder – but memories of a childhood spent climbing mango trees near the sugar-cane fields after school remind her that no matter how high you go, you should never forget your roots, or your humanity.
Aneshree reflects that, sometimes, you must go slowly to go fast. Her paradoxical view is born out of her own experience: although she repeated her Board 1 exams many times, her ascendance through the corporate ladder was rapid once she had qualified.
This isn’t surprising, given the skills that Aneshree had developed through a meandering childhood which eventually led to a fast-paced career. ‘I was born in the sugarcane fields of KZN – literally − at the sugarmill’s clinic!’ she laughs, adding that it was her father’s role in the sugar industry that led to this start. His career shaped her upbringing, too: because he was often taking on new roles, the family moved around – a lot. Aneshree attended no fewer than eight schools, some private, some public, some monastic, some co-ed. Some of the moves took place during the thick of Apartheid, adding to the challenge of adjusting. But rather than being daunted by the differences she encountered in each new community, she turned her situation to her advantage. ‘I learnt about resilience and flexibility,’ she says, ‘and I learned how to take the good and discard the bad and how to step in and step up when you have no alternative.’
Two years before matric, Aneshree’s schooling situation became considerably more stable when she was offered a bursary at Crawford North Coast, opening the opportunity to go on to study. ‘Before that, tertiary education simply wasn’t an option – in fact, I am the first person in my family to go to university.’ As it was, she had a choice between studying chemical engineering, having been offered a bursary from Sasol, but with parallel bursaries from E&Y, PwC and KPMG on the table, accounting was a close contender. In the end, she opted to go the CA(SA) route because she had only just met the man who would become her husband 11 years later. She thought she should give the relationship a chance, and that it would be easier to conduct a long-distance relationship from Pretoria – although her proficiency with numbers and accounting also swayed her decision.
Go slowly to go fast
Aneshree’s choice turned out to be a good one. Her career got off to an exciting start. “From the outset, I loved auditing. I was part of a team that audited Telkom, so I was exposed to large volumes of data, transactions and complexity – it was a great learning opportunity.’ Aneshree was able to learn about systems and IT; this is where she got her first view of how IT systems can come together in business to create value and profit, and the insight would prove to influence the course of her career.
In the meantime, though, Aneshree had to pass her Board 1 exam – and because she prioritised her audits and usually preferred to visit her family back in KZN during the study break, this was taking a long time. ‘I didn’t mind, though – I was always up to date with changes and developments. This helped me develop the habit of staying relevant and continuous professional development. I contributed meaningfully on accounting, audit and tax technical topics at various audit clients during my articles.’
Passing the Board 1 exam on the fifth attempt, followed by a right-first-time second Board exam in the same year, means that Aneshree qualified as a CA(SA) later than planned – but it also made her technically strong and able to ‘contribute to the deeper understanding, functionality, or solving of a problem’.
Learning about leadership
Eager to flex her professional muscles, Aneshree’s start as a newly minted CA was at TrustLink − again a position with a strong technology element. After two years, she earned a leadership position at the tender age of 27 at Alexander Forbes, followed by leadership roles at other leading global firms, usually within the IT sector, before joining Webber Wentzel in 2020.
This track record reflects her strong interest in how parts of the business eco-system fit together structurally, and how these parts can be improved; how leaders can pivot from what is not working to what will work. ‘That’s the engineering side of me!’ Aneshree says, adding that this fascination with business dynamics plays out in her approach to leadership too. ‘My passion is to enable people and to support their career growth. I am privileged to have had inspirational leaders take an interest in my career, and I enjoy paying this forward.’
In addition to helping her along her path, many of these leaders taught Aneshree about the kind of leader she aspires to be. ‘I am fortunate to have worked alongside inclusive, authentic, visionary and balanced leaders; but I have also worked alongside people who have displayed a leadership style I would not like to emulate – people who are not progressive in their thinking, who are territorial and poor decision-makers. The people I admire are those who are client and teams-centric, their decisions are made in the best interests of the organisation and with its sustainability in mind. They have a heart for business and leave things better than they found it.’
Aneshree includes her parents amongst her mentors: she values the work ethic her father instilled in her, and the example he set by deciding to complete his matric once she was born, adding several qualifications over the years. ‘He taught me that you don’t have to be defined by your circumstances,’ she says. Her mother, meanwhile, is their family’s nurturer, and taught Aneshree the value of belonging, heritage and community.
It’s a spirit that she carries through to this day, and which manifests in her ongoing contribution to society. ‘I am deliberate about lifting others as I rise,’ she says, indicating her interest in women empowerment and advancing the accounting profession. She is a member of CFO South Africa and the World Finance Forum and frequently takes on speaking or facilitation engagements and mentoring activities. She is equally passionate about promoting Africa, and as an ambassador for the continent, takes part in various global forums where she enlightens the rest of the world on the continent’s opportunities and potential. At a personal level, she continues to support the children’s homes she started visiting as a child, passing on the tradition to her own daughter, who celebrates her birthdays at children’s homes, as well as to her colleagues. If we want to cultivate future leaders, we need to start at the earliest stage of life and with those who need the support the most,’ she says.
Working your network
One of the most valuable aspects of Aneshree’s career climb has been exposure and access to great minds. She maintains that it is vital for any woman intent on furthering her career to develop her own network; to be thoughtful about who to include and potentially shadow, and who is best placed to give advice, depending on the situation at hand.
