Arno Daehnke, chief finance and value management officer at the Standard Bank Group, has been named South Africa’s CFO of the Year at the 2022 CFO Awards.
The CFO of the Year was announced on Wednesday 16 November at the conclusion of the annual gala event for finance executives, held at the spectacular Polo Room at the Inanda Club in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Arno was the big winner during the “Oscars of the finance profession”, which celebrated its ninth edition this year. He walked away with three of the ten prizes, including the CFO of the Year, the Strategy Execution and the Moving Into Africa Award.
Arno is the chief finance and value management officer at Standard Bank, a role that was created to recognise that the role adds value to the organisation through its financial management. This forms part of the bank’s new strategy to focus on value management through partnerships. Arno, who believes that collaboration is important, is proud of this. His seat on the social and ethics committee has made him responsible for ensuring the company’s level 1 B-BBEE status and its Africa-wide strategy to improve the inclusion of more African employees. His role also stretches across the group’s Africa operations. His leadership style is to be approachable, to be open to new ideas, to be supportive and empathetic, and really bring the best out in everyone.
The Young CFO of the Year title was awarded to Mpolaheng Mohlopi, the CFO of Lanseria International Airport. For the past three years, Mpolaheng has been focusing on helping Lanseria and its employees survive the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent travel restrictions. As the CFO, she is also responsible for crafting and implementing the airport’s BEE strategy, which has taken the company from level 7 to a level 3. A risk champion, she has identified gaps in the company’s risk strategy, and implemented policies to fill those gaps. She has also overseen the move from A5 cash books to automated billing processes.
Ashraf Dindar, CFO at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), won the Public Sector CFO of the Year Award. When Ashraf joined the CSIR, he insisted on commercialising the company’s technologies. He has also helped to transform the company’s royalty income from R1 million to R7 million. He has been instrumental in helping the company go from BEE level 4 to level 1 in the last two years, and makes sure the procurement teams are acting in an honest, fair and transparent manner. Since joining, he has also helped the company transform digitally by implementing a new ICT strategy and installing the full Microsoft suite of products across the organisation.
Full list of CFO Awards 2022 winners:
- CFO of the Year – Arno Daehnke, chief finance and value management officer, Standard Bank Group
- Young CFO of the Year – Mpolaheng Mohlopi, CFO, Lanseria International Airport
- Public Sector CFO of the Year – Ashraf Dindar, CFO, CSIR
- Strategy Execution Award – Arno Daehnke
- Transformation & Empowerment Award – Dirk Viljoen, CFO, Hollard Group
- High-Performance Team Award – Deon Smith, FD, Thungela
- Compliance & Governance Award – Deepa Sita, Group CFO, Tiger Brands
- Finance Transformation Award – Risto Ketola, Group FD, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings
- Moving into Africa Award – Arno Daehnke
- Finance & Technology Award – Deepa Sita
The annual CFO Awards are organised by CFO South Africa, the organisation that connects finance professionals through executive events, CFO Magazine, CFO.co.za and social media channels. By helping CFOs share knowledge, exchange interests and open up business opportunities, CFO South Africa proudly contributes to the growth of the country.
Services firm Deloitte was the Principal Partner of the 2022 CFO Awards, while other awards sponsors included Coupa, Standard Bank, TreasuryONE and Workday. Associate sponsors of the evening included ACCA, Cushman and Wakefield | Broll, Ince, Kyriba, SoluGrowth, Thungela and Transparent.
The CFO of the Year Award was handed out by Deloitte Africa CEO Ruwayda Redfearn. The Public Sector CFO of the Year was handed out by Eric Tshabalala, head of audit, Deloitte Africa. The Young CFO of the Year was handed out by Hennie de Klerk, CEO, TreasuryONE. The Transformation & Empowerment Award was handed out by Nina Le Riche, chief growth officer, Deloitte Africa. The Finance & Technology Award was handed out by Ziaad Suleman, chief commercial, EOH. The Strategy Execution Award was handed out by Kirenga Rwigema, head of customer strategy and value, Workday. The Compliance & Governance Award was handed out by Bongi Ngoma, national head of audit at the AGSA, 2021’s CFO of the Year, and member of the CFO Awards Judging Panel. The Moving Into Africa Award was handed out by Karen Van Der Westhuizen, head of consumer South Africa Client Coverage at Standard Bank. The Finance Transformation Award was handed out by David Hamilton, regional director at Coupa Software. The High-Performance Team Award was handed out by Christine Ramon, 2018 CFO of the Year and CFO Awards judge.
