Wisani Mhinga was born at Sandton Mediclinic on 25th January 1988. He is the youngest of four children. He had an unsettled start to early schooling attending boarding school at Bishop Bavin St. George’s School in Bedfordview until grade one before joining Brother’s College in Klerksdorp for grades two to four. In 1999, he joined St. David’s Marist Inanda where he remained until matriculation in 2006.
Unsure about what to study, Wisani was influenced to pursue accounting by his older sister who was doing her articles at Deloitte.
‘What convinced me was the idea that becoming a chartered accountant would allow me to pursue different career fields and I have always liked having options,’ says Wisani. From 2007 to 2010, he studied accounting at University of Johannesburg and then he joined Deloitte for articles.
It was Wisani’s first encounter with failure when he failed the board exams three times. It knocked his confidence. After the second unsuccessful attempt, he resigned from Deloitte in 2012 and took a six-month sabbatical to focus on his studies. He joined EY in 2013 to continue his dreams of becoming a chartered accountant. He passed his fourth attempt in the mid-year board exam and used the momentum to write and pass his second and final board exam at the end of that same year. He completed articles in 2014 and spent three months in Dallas Texas on secondment at the beginning of 2015.
The USA and Mexico are the only countries Wisani has been to overseas and he took the opportunity to travel after his secondment in Dallas Texas.. In May 2015, he returned to SA and took up the role of Assistant Tax Manager at EY. He resigned a year later to go into commerce by joining the FNB Bank home loans division where he was exposed to credit and financial instruments. In 2021, he left to join the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as a financial reporting manager.
Surprising thing about you – I grew up listening to music. My late sister was a South African Music Awards winning artist and we are generally a music-loving family. As a result I can dance like Michael Jackson, the spin, the quick, the moonwalk…. Everything.
Dream car – I currently drive a Mercedes Benz CLA but now that I am married with a little son, I have become more family orientated. So, my dream car right now is the Ford Everest – the latest top of the range one with all the best specifications.
Favourite restaurant – Hussar Grill. Their steaks are always juicy.
Hobby – Hiking. I love the outdoors. I also enjoy playing Fortnite with friends after an eventful work day.
Meal – Pasta. Any kind of pasta. I am a very good cook under instruction, we subscribe to this thing called Ucook who deliver groceries and the exact ingredients that you need to cook for each meal in a week with clear instructions of how you should cook them.
Favourite app – I won’t say Instagram or Facebook. I deleted them because they are both energy and time consuming. Favourite app at the moment is Easy Equities, I like to play the stock market even if lately it has been really bad!
Holiday destination – I need to stop going to Durban and Cape Town, there is more to see in the world. I have only been to the US and Mexico so I need to do more of overseas. I would love to go to Zanzibar, I have heard great things about that island.
Favourite book – The Alchemist. It is a fine mix between fiction and self-help. It has pearls of wisdom.
Favourite movie – The Avengers End Game… If you asked me about series, I would say Breaking Bad. It’s funny that I really enjoy series that involve the drug trade like that one and Narcos.
