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3 years ago

Opportunity - Issue 94

  • Text
  • Logistics
  • Nemesis
  • Economic
  • Prices
  • Global
  • Operations
  • Procurement
  • Railway
  • Pandemic
  • African
Quarterly journal for business and industry in South Africa Business unusual It has been estimated that the economy will take two to three years to recover from Covid-19 and the subsequent economic collapse. From now to there, the journey will indeed be business as unusual. My pledge, as the new editor of Opportunity magazine, is to provide cutting-edge content that guides our readers on how to rise above the current business trajectory and to circumvent the consequences that are now laid before them. In this issue, Mike Townshend from Foord Asset Management writes, in ‘The evolving politics of oil’ (page 8), that oil has caused wars, assassinations, man-made disasters, coups and still affects every person in the world today. On page 10, Rebecca Major from leading global law firm, Herbert Smith Freehills, shares her insight on how to navigate African oil and M&A deals in these volatile times. Both of these writers will present more on these topics at Africa Oil Week. The transport services sector has been severely affected by the pandemic, but help is at hand. Digital transformation is set to disrupt the sector – technology has transformed the railway industry globally and implementing technological innovations could be a game-changer for rail transport in South Africa. Read more on page 17. Celebrating Women’s Month in August, Opportunity interviews the newly appointed CEO of Petroleum Agency South Africa, Dr Phindile Masangane (page 12), as well as founder and owner of Nemesis Accounting, Shani Naidoo (page 14). The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) has a pivotal role to play in guiding the business of its 22 000 members. The Chamber believes that businesses should actively engage in the strategic and recovery implementation processes towards inclusive growth – read more in the CEO’s message on page 4. Let’s work together in building a resilient, risk-savvy and formidable nation. Alexis Knipe, Editor

Gain your competitive

Gain your competitive edge with Nemesis Nemesis Accounting was born in 2005, with the objective to bring about an holistic approach to business operations and business owner integration that ultimately flows into the sustainability of a business. Opportunity magazine speaks to the owner of Nemesis Accounting, Shani Naidoo. PROFILE From 2010 onwards, Nemesis Accounting has grown steadily, broadening its client base scope to international markets. Its international clients included Ferrero Rocher, Hitachi Power Europe (a Madupi Power Station project), Springer Germany (publisher) and current KPMG international clients that operate in South Africa. Nemesis continuously adapts to market requirements so as to better service its clients. Please elaborate on the services Nemesis Accounting provides. Besides general accounting, tax and financial statement preparation, we have a specialised service profile comprising of: • Public officer services to international companies operating in SA • Strategic Business Advisory Service • Lean start-up business approach • Financial literacy/management • Financial statement reviews • Business internal reviews and compliance Shani, you are the founder of Nemesis Accounting. Please tell us about your journey before you started the company. After obtaining my CMA qualification, I started working in the insurance and banking industry for the first four years of my journey. In 1999, I had the opportunity to enter the accounting, compliance and tax fields at an audit firm in Johannesburg. I was exposed to the audit environment, tax compliance, SARS, and the execution of these services. This was the beginning of a career that was to change so much without me realising it at the time. After six years, I had to resign for family reasons. It was towards the end of 2005 that I decided to branch out and begin my career as a female entrepreneur. Since 2005 to date, I have obtained a few more qualifications. Starting with my CMA qualification, I moved on to acquire the following additional qualifications: a registered FAP (financial accountant in practice), CTP (certified tax practitioner), BRP (business rescue practitioner), Internal Audit Certification, Master NLP Practitioner (neuro linguistic programming) as well as a GCologist – GC Index accredited facilitator and trainer (UK). From 2005 to 2007, I served on the EXCO at Midrand Chamber of Commerce as financial director/treasurer. I also hosted tax workshops for small business through the Chamber. In 2010, Nemesis Accounting was nominated as Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year by the NSBC. I completed the internal audit certificate programme at the University of Pretoria in 2014. The following year marked a new venture as a director of Business Acceleration Specialist (Pty) Ltd, teaching business sustainability skills and development strategies for small business. I completed the Advanced Business Rescue Practitioner qualification that was offered by the Law Society and UNISA in 2018. In August of 2018, Nemesis Accounting hosted its first Women’s Day event at our offices in Kyalami, Business Woman of the Future. It was a very transformational experience and well received. The next month marked the birth of a new company, SME Warrior (Pty) Ltd. Geared for entrepreneurs and business owners alike, this company’s focus is training and development of SMEs using NLP and psycho-social methodologies for the application and execution of the workshops and training material. Start-ups hold a special place and we have special course formulations tailored for them. I qualified as an NLP practitioner in 2018 and in 2019, I completed my Masters in Neuro Linguistic Programming. Being able to maximise the potential of our brain functioning to be our absolute best in what we do and how we live, is what brings the magic to the table in our training and development. In March 2019, together with Y-Connect, we presented the interactive and activity-based Ignite Your Sales & What’s Your Business Money Game workshop. A very new and different approach to business and finance was showcased. NLP-based methodologies were applied in the workshop. Later that year, I embarked on studies with the GC Index in the UK and qualified as a GCologist – facilitator and trainer. The GC Index is a methodology and approach to maximising the highest-functioning element in one’s composition as a person/worker/manager/CEO. The profiling mechanism enables various levels of management to transform their existing team and organisation dynamics to that of game-changing executioner, ultimately improving the organisation’s bottom line and the people involved too. This is an exceptional business tool that I am using with my clients and will be using in SME Warrior with the training and development workshops and programmes. In January 2020, I was appointed as financial director at Safety Boot Camp (Pty) Ltd – a company involved with evolved safety training execution and implementation based on military and black ops methodology. This type of safety training is not applied in South African training situations. Safety Boot Camp focuses on mining, engineering, coal and energy safety applications, which have a 14 | www.opportunityonline.co.za

of Legal, Business, Finance and Entrepreneurship and of People Performance and Development. Why should companies choose Nemesis Accounting? We are geared for the South African SME. Having been through the low end of starting a business to where we are now, puts us in a synergistic position with South African businesses. Also, the fact that we are using psycho-social methodologies in our problem-solving applications with our clients has shown us that this is the way to go to achieve impactful results. We serve an international client base and have been since 2010. Our international clients are all referrals from KPMG. We have intensive experience with the South African Reserve Bank and international transacting. The nature of our game is problem solving and advancement. huge CSI impact in terms of social development and socio-economic upliftment and sustainability. SME Warrior and Nemesis Accounting are involved from a training and learning perspective for CSI and socio-economic execution and development. What has been the highlight of your career? 2010: Nomination for Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year 2018: Our first Women’s Day Event 2019: Qualifying as a GCologist – GC Index (UK) accredited facilitator and trainer and Masters NLP practitioner 2020: The launch of SME Warrior Entreprenuer Academy. An online platform of learning and development comprising of the Schools What should we hope to see from Nemesis Accounting in the near future? As we stand now, we are restructuring our service offerings to include business advisory service as well. We have been working on this for the last year and this will be one of our new features. We will be offering this and additional customised offerings to small businesses. What is your personal mission for Nemesis Accounting? My purpose is to utilise all my qualifications and skills for the benefit and upliftment of skills development and enhancement in a forever-changing economy. The goal is to bring about life-changing sustainability and transformation to businesses, business owners and individuals in their personal capacities. How has Covid-19 impacted your business? At the onset of Covid-19, we already knew the biggest dip would be the small business clients. Fortunately, due to our international client base, this has cushioned the impact a bit. We are continuing and have made slight changes to mitigate further effects. PROFILE THE COVID-19 NEW BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE FUTURE SME Warrior will be hosting a virtual seminar looking at the current/post Covid-19 pandemic business woman. The seminar sets out to address the challenges that lie ahead for women in business current and post-coronavirus pandemic. It will probe what lies ahead for her, the new trajectory she will face, a new way of thinking, new habits and the grounded intrinsic values she will need. Founder of SME Warrior and Director at Nemesis Accounting, Shani Naidoo feels that irrespective of the Covid-19 pandemic, the gains that have been made so far in addressing inequalities faced by women in business have been quite reserved. www.kearney.com “Even before the coronavirus pandemic, women have always been marginalized when it comes to the business world,” says Naidoo. In 2017, Statistics South Africa found that despite women making up just over half of the population, they remain relatively unrepresented in positions of authority and power. The same report by Stats SA found that out of the top 40 JSE-listed companies, only one company had a female CEO. Join us on 28 August 2020, as we talk about these inequalities from the past, the challenges and who women will need to become to surpass this now and continuing after the Covid-19 pandemic. For any enquiries and to reserve your spot, email info@smewarrior.biz or shani@nemesisaccounting.co.za. Follow our social media platforms: LinkedIn: SME Warrior Za Facebook: SME Warrior Twitter: smewarriorza Awaken the Warrior Within

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