Casper’s journey to becoming a CFO began with the choice to become a Chartered Accountant (CA).
“My father encouraged me to become a CA. He founded the department of mathematical statistics at University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1964 and played a role in the development of many actuaries including my boss, Old Mutual CEO Ian Kirk.
The CFO role within MTN South Africa is quite operationally inclined in comparison to other CFO positions. As such Dineo Molefe is involved in the mechanics of running the business. ‘At a senior level, roles are how you shape them. You need to determine what your role will be in the organisation according to what interests you and the talents you perceive you have to better the company
‘The one mistake I think I made was staying in auditing for too long. I definitely should have gone into commerce much earlier and stayed there,” Old Mutual Group CFO Casper Troskie says.
If she could do it all over again, Dineo says she would allocate less time to work than she did at the start of her career. She advises young professionals to be less hurried. ‘It seems as if we are all under extreme pressure that everything needs to happen now.
For Casper true leadership entails giving employees guidance to do their jobs properly while affording them freedom in their roles. “Be a leader rather than a manager. Once you have assessed your people’s ability to execute their roles, you need to trust them to execute the strategy.”