Buhle Hanise, the Chief Financial Officer of BAIC SA, a Motor vehicle manufacturer, has been appointed President of African Women Chartered Accountants Forum. Her determination to succeed is an inspiration for female black South Africans on pursuing their goals and being the best they can be.
The story of BAIC’s CFO, Buhle Hanise, who has been appointed the new President of accounting body, AWCAF, can be summed up by the expression, “Fortune Favours the Driven”.
Buhle’s rise to the Presidency of the African Woman Chartered Accountants Forum (AWCA) is about inspiration and drive with the luck of meeting just the right people in her journey. Of course, not every aspiring chartered accountant could be as privileged as her, but as the chestnut goes “One creates their own luck“.
Mthatha-born Buhle was inspired to purse the accounting career path by black pioneers like Wiseman Nkuhlu and Nonkululeko Gobodo, having been good at maths and accounting, she was determined to follow the footsteps of her two role models.
Buhle generously credits her rise to the pinnacle of the accounting professional to selfless people – whom fate dictated she would meet somewhere at some point – who have contributed building blocks to her career. She speaks glowingly about Professor Themba Zakuza from the University of Transkei, who helped her get funding after passing her BCom Accounting. She does not forget to laud the role Lwando Bantom, SAICA’s project director for transformation and growth, played. Lwando introduced Buhle to the Thuthuka programme, which resulted in her benefitting from the Upliftment Fund and furthering her studies in Cape Town, earning an honours degree. “Lwando saw my potential and saw to it that I got the necessary assistance and help I needed to further my studies and career,” she says, gratefully.
Buhle, the type who has an unbridled drive to realise her goals, found Cape Town a bit tame and laidback, then elected to the Johannesburg. While in the City of Gold an opportunity to do articles opened up at KPMG.
Buhle then joined the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA), an organisation that supports aspirant CAs. She is greatly indebted to the body for support in overcoming the hurdle of passing a board exam, after failing at first attempt. “The board’s intervention was life changing as it resulted in qualifying as a CA in 2009,” says Buhle, who has been with AWCA for more than ten years.
Having broken the ceiling in a what was hitherto a male-dominated field, Buhle is committed to contributing to the cause of the gender balance reaching parity by encouraging more aspiring female black CAs to join the purse their dream. She feels it is only natural and noble to play her part in career development of female black CAs. “There is no reason why, with my background, that I should not give back and help others.”
After joining the board of AWCA in 2014, she became deputy president, and is delighting in her new role, though she has no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead. Though, she draws inspiration from the AWCA’s motto: “Develop as you lead.” The AWCA’s mandate is nurturing and training black women who are completing their articles and newly qualified black women CAs. .
