Team UKZN, comprising of four Accounting graduates, has made it into the semi-finals of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Case Study Competition.
The team members are Ms Camira Govender, Mr Tim Siepman as well as twins, Mr Steffen Wies and Mr Rudi Wies.
The annual international multi-round business management and leadership-focused case study competition is organised by the CharterQuest Institute.
Team UKZN is one of the initial 450 teams from six continents that entered the contest.
At this stage of this competition, each team had to record a video giving some information about themselves. The public will then vote on the best video and the team with the most votes will receive a two point advantage in the semi-final to be held at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in October.
Team leader, Mr Steffen Wies, who was a member of the UKZN team which finished fourth in the competition in 2016, encouraged the University community to support them by voting for their video so that they can get to the finals and ultimately be crowned the winners.
‘Our video presentation is a summary and key recommendations of the board report based on AB Inbev with specific focus on its merger with SABMiller,’ said Wies. ‘As we are in the public voting stage of the competition, we ask everyone to go to “The CFO” Facebook page, like it and share our video. Winning the competition would be a fantastic end to a two-year journey of personal development,’ he said.
The four, who are all completing their articles at PwC Durban, say the skills they have gained through their degrees have been invaluable in their success in the competition.
‘As team members, we all have our specific roles that, when brought together, contribute equally to the success of the team,’ said Weis. ‘Camira is responsible for performing the team’s quantitative analysis while Tim does research into the qualitative aspects of the challenge and Rudi handles the editing of our work. My role is to co-ordinate the team and ensure its key strategies are highlighted. The skills gained from our studies at UKZN have given us the ability to critically analyse information and provide solutions to problems faced by the case company. We hope to use those skills to make a positive and meaningful impact on the South African economy,’ he added.
To vote for the team’s video follow the link, like and share:
https://www.facebook.com/thecfocasestudy/videos/1574448299331487/
Words: Thandiwe Jumo