Coffee with Thato
A strong Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is crucial to ensuring our company’s financial stability, strategic planning, and informed decision-making as we strive to make sustainable, quality healthcare more accessible and affordable for everyone – and AfroCentric has the right man for the job!
In this edition we get to know our new Chief Financial Officer Thato Moloele, who tells us more about his career journey, his home life and what inspires and motivates him.
Q: Tell us more about your career journey so far – some of the highlights?
A: My career has been interesting. I started out as an article clerk at Deloitte, where I did my articles for three years in the general audit field. I also did audit work for a brief but amazing three-month secondment to Deloitte’s offices in Los Angeles. After that I started my foray into corporate finance at Deloitte Corporate Finance, where I serviced and advised various clients on mergers and acquisitions related activities in the listed and unlisted space.
The big shift in my career came when I took the leap into financial services by joining Momentum Metropolitan Holdings (Now the Momentum Group), initially as a junior analyst but being promoted to a Principal DealMaker in 18 months. At Momentum, I helped the group to develop and execute on its Africa exit strategy and assisted them to scale their short-term insurance business.
After that I joined the Sanlam Group as a Senior Consultant, where I led, negotiated and implemented several key strategic initiatives, including the formation of Sanlam Allianz Africa (the largest insurer in Africa), the acquisition of the Alexander Forbes LISP (resulting in Glacier becoming the largest LISP in SA), Sanlam’s exit from its funeral insurance joint venture with Capitec, and more.
Now, I am at AfroCentric and I’m excited to make a positive contribution to the Group!
Q: What are you most excited about in joining AfroCentric?
A: I am most excited about being part of a team that will propel the company to a prosperous future. Many people often wish to be great, but I always say that to be great, you must do great things and challenge yourself to do something that you have never done before or that you think is difficult to do.
So, being at AfroCentric and contributing to the reset strategy is a great opportunity to make a real impact on the lives of all our stakeholders, and to really stand up and differentiate myself as a real changemaker in the healthcare industry. It’s especially great to share this vision with so many people that also wake up every day with the same goal, commitment, and ambition to really make an impact.
Q: What’s your favourite and worst part of your role?
A: My favourite part is doing work that matters, that assists in creating value for employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. Ultimately, it’s important to see tangible results of the work you do – and this is what motivates me. The worst part is probably the number of hours one must put in, especially if that takes me away from my family, but putting in the hours is a part of the process!
Q: What’s your top productivity tip to get the most out of your day?
A: Wake up early and get your most important tasks done as soon as you can – don’t procrastinate, focus and get it done so that you can handle any curveball that pops up during the day knowing that you’ve already delivered on what you had initially set out to do. Life is unpredictable, so be prepared! Linked to that is to prioritise the important things first, always!
On a personal note
Q: Tell us about your family background, where you grew up?
A: I have a small immediate family comprising of my parents and a younger sister (we have a 9-year age gap), but then my extended family is much bigger. I spent most of my early life in a few places, but notably in Soshanguve in the City of Tshwane, where I was raised by my great-grandmother until I was three years old. I have been in Johannesburg ever since.
Q: How do you relax and recharge?
A: I’m a home body. I generally enjoy simple things like exercise, taking a walk, being with my family, watching a good action movie or reality TV show. I also enjoy a nice glass of wine on occasion – and when the budget allows a nice holiday also helps!
Q: What’s on your playlist right now?
A: I listen to almost anything and everything that sounds good. Recently I’ve been playing Chris Brown repeatedly after going to the Breezy Bowl last year (Residuals and Sensational are my top tracks right now), 90s/2000s RnB is always a vibe and almost anything from Davido, AKA, Burna Boy, 2Pac.
Q: What book are you reading/TV show are you watching?
A: I just started watching Dare Devil Born Again. I am knee-deep in the MCU – if you know, you know!
Q: What is the one thing nobody knows about you?
A: I am an extroverted introvert and a world class comedian 😊
