Sindi Mabaso-Koyana

This is how women change the world

After a 27-year career in finance, during which she became one of the most powerful directors in the country, AWCA Investment Holdings (AIH) chair Sindi Mabaso-Koyana has seen the good and the bad of public sector transformation, from the naïve optimism of the early post-apartheid era to the dark days of state capture and dysfunctional state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

She has now refocused her career and committed to the development of a younger generation of black female chartered accountants (CAs) who can become leaders in society.

In 1996, a year after qualifying as a CA, Mabaso-Koyana joined Gobodo Inc as a founding partner, where she teamed up with Nonkululeko Gobodo, who had become the country’s first black woman CA in 1987. It was an exciting period when black South Africans believed they would realise the dreams and promises of liberation. During the same year, Stella Sigcau, the late minister of public enterprises, awarded the Transnet audit contract to APF, a consortium of 11 black accountancy firms, including Gobodo, which worked on the SAA portion of the contract.

Mabaso-Koyana managed key audits at clients that included Armscor and the department of public enterprises.

“Sigcau was a visible champion for transformation whose brainchild was joint assignments in professional services. She insisted that established companies should partner with black-owned companies to achieve a real transfer of skills,” says Mabaso-Koyana.

“We went to work in London at the offices of SBC Warburg, an investment banking company that had been appointed to help restructure SAA. In those days, when we were called to meetings in Pretoria, the message was Ningasiphoxi. Do not disappoint us. They wanted to see us succeed.”

In 2001, at the age of 32, she became CFO of Transnet, the country’s second-largest SOE after Eskom. Transnet’s CEO was Mafika Mkwanazi.

“At the beginning of our democracy, there was the right tone at the top from president Nelson Mandela to his cabinet ministers and top civil servants,” she says.

“We had a political leadership that was committed to doing the right things, including transformation, and giving real opportunities to black professionals. We were developing new ethical standards for our democracy, the highest forms of corporate governance in the public and private sector.

“These included the Public Finance Management Act, a revised Companies Act and the King code for corporate governance. We were one of the first countries to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards and our CAs were respected internationally.

“This was the environment I walked into when I joined the public sector. It was clear that we had to implement a dual mandate and play a developmental role if the entity was financially sound. It was about a broader developmental impact and never about giving an opportunity to a friend,” she says.

“Mkwanazi led a programme to give opportunities to emerging black coal miners in the allocation of export capacity. Striving to achieve the best international standards, we went to Singapore to benchmark ourselves against Temasek, one of the world’s top stateowned investment companies.”

Mabaso-Koyana left Transnet in 2004, soon after Maria Ramos became CEO.

“In those days, even when there were challenges, these were normal things that you would expect in any workplace. You sign up for a company and resign because of managers. When I look back, a shortcoming was that I assumed that all that was required to succeed as a professional was to have very good technical skills. But black professionals must also have a broader understanding of the political and economic environment and the people they work with.”

After a few years in senior roles at accounting firm EY, she went back to the public sector and joined the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) in 2009.

“My passion for the public sector was due to a sense of gratitude that we would not have received the opportunities we had if others had not waged a liberation struggle. In the beginning it was an exciting period at Prasa as we delivered the transport infrastructure for the 2010 World Cup.

“But soon afterwards the tone in Pretoria changed. It was no longer about encouraging us to succeed and doing good for the country. We were being asked to do things that made us feel uncomfortable. When you talked about governance and ethics you were being difficult and could get into trouble.”

Mabaso-Koyana left Prasa quietly and dodged a bullet, although she would never put it like that herself.

A founding member and former president of the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA) forum, during the next phase of her career Mabaso-Koyana focused on developing a new generation of black female leaders and on her own entrepreneurial ventures. In 2002, when AWCA was established, there were only 407 black women CAs. In May 2022, there were 8,588. Impressive progress, but there is still a long way to go. Black women account for 47.2% of the population and only 17% of CAs.

There are very few black women CFOs in JSE-listed companies. Black African women, who account for 41.3% of the population, are the most marginalised group in the economy. They account for 8.9% of all CAs and 5.2% of people in top management in the private sector.

“We are seeing more black women CAs on boards, but fewer in executive positions, including CFOs,” Mabaso-Koyana says. “The private sector is lagging. We are still fighting conscious and unconscious bias. Black women must be given more meaningful positions as executives and provided with the support they need to succeed in their roles.”

In 2008, Mabaso-Koyana founded AIH, a broad-based women’s investment company in which most shareholders are black women CAs. She has been chair since 2012. Today, AIH has investments in companies such as MTN, Hollard, Bidvest Protea Coin and Global Credit Rating.

AWCA receives 10% of its profits. “We wanted to create an endowment for AWCA so that it can outlive all of us. AIH has also started a private equity fund that has mobilised R400m to support black women professionals. We realised that many CAs are very entrepreneurial. They want to start their own businesses rather than work for large corporates.”

In 2018, after Cyril Ramaphosa became president, Mabaso-Koyana answered his Thuma Mina call and returned to the public sector to serve on the boards of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and Eskom, which have assets of R2.5-trillion and R781.6bn respectively. In terms of assets under her control, she was probably the most powerful director in South Africa.

“I served for about two years on both boards on an interim basis. I wanted to help the government to make a change. But in my mind it was always an interim arrangement to help stabilise the companies.” She continues to serve on the boards of large companies such as MTN, Bidvest Group, Sun International and BMW.

Mabaso-Koyana has gone back to what she loves most, mentoring younger people and encouraging them to serve.

“But it is difficult to mentor people in this environment. The culture of materialism and amassing quick wealth is so deep. Young people start questioning the value of education when they see others taking short cuts and succeeding.

“On boards, we need to stop recycling the same people and focus on developing a cadre of young black women professionals. This is the work AWCA is doing. We are running leadership programmes that prepare young black women CAs to serve on boards.”

Mabaso-Koyana praises the role of the National School of Government, where she lectures on corporate governance, in developing a professional public sector. “But many young people are still scared to join the public sector. They think it will be career suicide. When SOEs fail to release annual financial statements on time, it taints the reputation of young CAs.

“We must reform the public sector so that it can attract the best people in society, as we saw in Singapore. Politicians must pronounce on the challenges that black professionals face in the public sector and how we can address the lack of trust. Board chairs must do more to protect executives and give them space to perform their duties.”

Mabaso-Koyana is a national treasure who will not rest until the public sector has transformed.

The tone in Pretoria changed. It was no longer about encouraging us to succeed and doing good for the country. We were being asked to do things that made us feel uncomfortable