Zinhle Simamane, CFO: International Business at Traxtion
Full Name: Zinhle Simamane
Position and Company Name: CFO: International Business at Traxtion
Main Activity of the Company: Provision of freight and rail services across the African continent
Date and Place of Birth: February 9, 1989, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Schools and Tertiary Education: I matriculated from Roedean School and attended the University of the Witwatersrand
First Job: Articled clerk at PwC
Size of First Pay Packet: Less than R10 000 a month
Career Path to Date: I completed my articles at PwC in the Banking and Capital Markets division. As part of my training, I was seconded to Kenya to join the engagement team at a banking institution in Nairobi towards the end of my final year. After qualifying as a chartered accountant in January 2014, PwC requested that I stay on to provide support for the audit of a client whose engagement I had been part of since my first-year articles. I was a ‘pseudo’ manager before eventually leaving PwC for Barclays. To gain exposure to finance beyond the audit environment, I participated in the Young Chartered Accountants Programme (YCAP), a structured two-year rotation-based programme that gave me exposure to four different disciplines across the Barclays Africa Finance department, including a six-month rotation in one of the group’s Rest of Africa businesses. Upon completing the YCAP, and after my six-month rotation at the Barclays Ghana Finance office in Accra, I decided to permanently join the Projects: Rest of Africa SWAT team, where I was able to add value by introducing viable finance-related solutions and provide support to the various teams I was deployed to, improving processes and procedures aligned with the Barclays policies. I was also involved in the roll-out of an IT- and finance-related project to provide a new financial accounting and reporting system in Zambia and Seychelles. From Barclays I joined Makalani, an investment management firm, as fund financial manager. Thereafter, I joined Traxtion as a commercial and financial analyst, and was promoted to CFO of the International Business division in early 2020
Value of Assets under Your Control: Traxtion is a private company, so I cannot disclose its market capitalisation. However, it has the largest privately owned rolling stock fleet in Africa
Number of People under Your Leadership: The company’s staff complement is about 310, with 109 being cross-border staff through foreign entities and multiple service providers
Management Style: Because I prefer to be left alone after being taught something to embed the information and test my own knowledge, I tend to initially manage others in that way. However, my preferred management style can be adapted, depending on the needs of the person I am managing
Personal Best Achievement: Being recognised as a leader in the Mail & Guardian Top 200 in 2022 for accomplishments within my field
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My mother, Nomahlubi Simamane, who has managed to persevere through tough situations, juggling the different facets of womanhood with a career, raising four children and excelling in her own right
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: My mother
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Beyonce – because she’s Beyonce
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Again, Mama dearest – her career has been impressive, and even now she sits on the boards of several companies, both JSE-listed and otherwise
Philosophy of Life: To find enjoyment in all aspects of life, with the view that happiness is a choice. It doesn’t look the same to everybody so know what enjoyment and happiness mean to you and keep on doing things that bring you enjoyment and happiness
Biggest Ever Opportunity: There is experience to be gained from all opportunities, so I can’t say what the “biggest” has been
Biggest Ever Disappointment: Failing CFA Level 3 exams the first time around
Hope for the Future: That Africa comes to understand the power it wields and that it uplifts its people so that it becomes a leading continent in the world
Favourite Reading: I am a horror and fantasy fan. So, from each genre, almost anything by Steven King and, despite all the recent controversy around the author, the Harry Potter series
Favourite TV Programme: Everything from medical dramas (Grey’s Anatomy) to cop shows (The Rookie), horrors (American Horror Story) and drama (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)
Favourite Food/Drink: Italian food, along with Italian sparkling wine (Prosecco)
Favourite Music: Old school R&B and the likes of Adele and Sam Smith
Favourite Sport: Netball
Hobbies: Travelling, reading, and staying fit through a variety of exercises
Car: A bright red Audi A3 that turned ten this month
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Someone chewing, even if that someone is me