The offer of a full scholarship to pursue a degree in engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) was an attractive prospect for Harmony CFO Boipelo Lekubo. After all, she was quite good at both mathematics and sciences.
‘It was definitely tempting,’ she recalls. ‘But I always wanted to be an accountant, so I declined the proposal.’
In 2001 Boipelo joined the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2001 to begin her journey to become a chartered accountant. She graduated in 2003 and completed her honours degree at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) the following year. Since she had received a bursary from KPMG, she joined their offices in Pretoria.
‘I was based in Pretoria, which is a smaller office than the one in Johannesburg. As a result I got to work in different sectors pursuing a variety of tasks. It was a blessing in disguise because many of my colleagues in bigger offices ended up specialising in a single sector. And often it is a sector that they did not chose in the first place.’
After completing her articles contract at KPMG, Boipelo was itching to leave auditing and get into the corporate arena. She accepted an offer to join Total Coal SA in January 2009. ‘I enjoyed the interview and got the sense that it would be a great place to work. It ended up being a good decision because I worked with Etienne Ferreira who was a really wonderful mentor. I learnt a lot from him, including how to engage with third parties, working within teams and more about the technical aspects of my role.’
As Group Financial Accountant she had month-end reporting responsibilities and was assisted by a team of accountants. ‘We were reporting to the head office in Paris and the French really impressed me with how well they worked. They are very efficient; things are done properly during the month. Come month end, it is only a matter of tying up loose ends and closing out the reporting. They have very good systems which other companies should emulate.’
In search of career growth in the listed environment, in May 2012 Boipelo decided to join Northam Platinum Limited. It was a step up from her previous position as she was now responsible for budgeting and was involved in integrated reporting.
In August 2014, Boipelo was head-hunted for the CFO role at Atlatsa Resources Corporation. She considered it a good move since Atlatsa was listed on the Johannesburg, Toronto and New York stock exchanges, but admits it was rather intimidating going into the new position. She faced several challenges, including going concern issues because the operation was struggling to generate sufficient cash flows.
When Boipelo joined Harmony as a CFO in June 2017, she was again head-hunted for the position. She would work under Financial Director Frank Abbott. ‘What won me over was the opportunity to be mentored by Abbott, who is a seasoned financial leader in the gold mining industry.’
This article is an extract from the Masters of Money book by KC Rottok Chesaina (JONATHAN BALL PUBLISHERS)
