Chief Financial Officer of the Bosasa Group, Andries van Tonder understands that turbulence and unpredictability are the inevitable realities of the next five years. In uncharted waters the competencies of a Chief Financial Officer extend beyond the conventional to the provision of navigational financial maps, risk buffers and data analysis for daily decision making. The strategic appointment of Andries van Tonder as Chief Financial Officer has not only fulfilled these criteria but also provided financial blueprints for making each essential business function more resilient and effective.
He has also earned himself a well earned niche in the scientific community for his proactive contributions to data collection and error free analysis. Andries van Tonder has been described as a ‘blue skies’ lateral thinker. His prowess lies in unconventional evaluation of global research for forecasting performance and converting scientific parameters / intellectual capital into financially sustainable models for both local and international investors.
Andries Van Tonder is noted for his experience in delivering due diligence criteria sought by bankers and financiers for investment decision making. His ability to extract meaningful scientific and financial data, coupled to application in the great Plains software, has earned Andries van Tonder global acclaim by Microsoft who unsuccessfully sought to market the products that Andries developed. Andries describes his journey in his own words:
“I have been considered an authority on financial modeling in which we have had to serve the bilateral interests of the client and Bosasa Group of Companies, as a leading vendor. I attribute much of my success to ‘focused engineering’. Working with the customer’s deliverables in mind, I usually work backwards from the end goal. I test all my processes against the client’s non-negotiable criteria with integration of hardware and software functionality. But that is not where I started.
My Origins
“I studied at Pretoria University and Rand Afrikaans, graduating with a B.Com Hons. Accounting and financial management. My beginnings with Meritum were quite frankly, probably worse than humble. I suppose you would call it downright meager. I replaced light bulbs, replenished drinks in the boss’s bar and manned the switchboard as early as 6 a.m. Two years later I was confronted with a choice of working for a company I was becoming accustomed to, to one that was changing hands. I took a leap in faith and joined Dyambu. I Have not regretted that decision since. I started as a clerk. There were only two computers at the time. I remember that we did all the books by hand, the cashbooks, the creditors’ books and the debtors’ book. These were large books and I mean ‘large’ and difficult to handle. It was this time that I learned about basic bookkeeping. I pay tribute to Gavin Watson who really introduced me to the world of progressive business.