There is no air of self-importance surrounding the co-founder and CEO of Nkonki Inc., Sindi Zilwa. In fact, if you did not know her, you would walk past her without a second glance.
Born 45 years ago in the city of Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape Province, she has come a long way to become one of the most important women in South Africa’s corporate world. Zilwa’s dream was to see more black women become chartered accountants (CAs).
“I lost sleep over the fact that I was the second women to become a CA,” she says.
Nonkululeko Gobodo, executive chairperson of SizweNtsalubaGobodo, was the first and because they came from the same city it was inevitable they partnered to form Filtane Nkonki Accounting Consultancy in Mthatha.
But before she opened the consultancy, Zilwa had pursued her dream of producing more black chartered accountants by lecturing at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and the then University of Transkei (Unitra).
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“I was in a hurry to see more black CAs but the people I wanted to see qualifying were not in a hurry, there was a misalignment.”
“I was so sad when I marked the scripts and realized that no one with an ambition to become a CA was willing to work hard for it. Others wished to become CAs but they didn’t do what it costs to become a CA,” says Zilwa.
Zilwa had come from the same poverty stricken background—her mother was a hawker—as her students and was not willing to take any excuses.
“Based on that I said, ‘Let me try to use my time in some other way’. So, I decided to concentrate on my practice.”
That practice was established in late 1992 when Zilwa moved back to Mthatha after leaving Deloitte in Johannesburg. Three years later, the two partners decided to go their separate ways.
“If the car you are driving from here, Johannesburg, to Butterworth, a town near Mthatha, continuously gets tire punctures, you need to make a decision whether you want to continue with that car. For me reaching Butterworth, the destination, was more important; I just had to find another vehicle,” she says.
That vehicle came in the form of her brother, Mzi Nkonki, who was working as a chartered accountant in East London. The siblings joined heads and formed Nkonki&Nkonki in 1996. It was clear that Zilwa—whose maiden name was Nkonki before she married lawyer Sivuyile Zilwa—would become the CEO.
“When we won a contract worth R5 million ($565,000) from the Bisho government to do their audits, we really felt our confidence grow,” says Zilwa.
In 1998, 31-year-old Zilwa caused waves when she was voted Businesswoman of the Year by the Businesswoman Association of South Africa. The hard work was paying off and the partners decided to expand nationwide.
Nkonki Sizwe and Ntsaluba accounting firms joined hands to form the first national black-owned accounting firm, NkonkiSizweNtsaluba. Zilwa was the CEO of the joined entity. This relationship lasted for six years before it was disbanded. Interestingly, Nonkululeko Gobodo has since replaced Nkonki as part of SizweNtsalubaGobodo.
“At brand level we did well but at administration level we didn’t do so well. I could only share in the liabilities and profits in the Eastern Cape but where I was based, in Johannesburg, I didn’t get anything,” says Zilwa.
The Nkonki siblings decided to revert back to working alone after another short-lived joint partnership.
“We made a commitment never to burn our fingers again. When you merge you move ten steps forward but if it does not work you move twenty steps back. I think that was the problem,” she says.
Today, Nkonki Inc. has more than 55 partners and directors based in the country’s major cities, with 300 staff and a turnover of around R60 million ($6,7 million). Although it is a thriving business which counts, amongst others, South African Airways, Hernic Ferrochrome and Eskom as clients; the company still experiences many challenges.
“As a black firm you are more inclined to get public sector work because you get more support from there. All the medium-sized firms are owned by the white middle class so they tend to get private sector business more,” she says.
Never one to back down from a challenge, instead of complaining the mother of two shows that she is a solutions-driven person.
The first time she opened her accounting firm, Zilwa wrote to the then Reserve Bank governor, Tito Mboweni, to tell him about the challenges faced by black accounting firms.
“I always aspired to audit a bank because that is an intellectual hub of knowledge, so I wrote to him because of the conditions.”
“Companies wanted you to have 10 years of partner experience but none of us had that experience. Where would you have been a partner for 10 years back then?” she asks.
This was to be the beginning of her other career as a member of a number of boards including Aspen, Woolworths, PRIMEDIA and the Billion Group.
“The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank gave me call and said I should come up to Johannesburg to meet him. That really opened doors for me,” she says.
The first board she sat on was the Wiphold Group, which was once listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Currently, she is making waves as part of the high performing Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, led by FORBES AFRICA Person of the Year nominee, Stephen Saad, which he started with deputy CEO, Gus Attridge.
“She is an extremely warm-hearted person with a great sense of humor, which makes her instantly likeable. I admire her career and personal achievements as a person who has reached the heights of her profession when she was afforded no privileges in her upbringing or early education,” says Attridge.
Zilwa has come a long way from being instructed by her brother to study accounting to being a leader in the accounting industry.
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