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18/10/2019

Reasons to be Proud - #R2bP: Mandela University Alumnus, Gideon Botha, was named as a category winner in the prestigious South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) list of the Top 35 Under 35 Chartered Accountants in the country.

A group of 35 extraordinary young businessmen and women, under the age of 35, were recognised and rewarded as trailblazers and leaders in their own right. Gideon was named as Category Winner winning the "Simplifying your Success Award". 

Three Mandela Alumni who qualified as CA’s at our University were named in the Top 35. 

A senior financial manager at Nedbank Home Loans, Gideon Botha manages a staff complement of 11 and is responsible for technical accounting, management accounting, and reporting for his division. He also serves on the board of Nedbank Medical Aid as member-elect trustee and chairs two of the subcommittees.

Gideon will complete his PhD titled ‘Developing a framework for price tariffs in the costing structures of South African private hospitals’ by December 2019. His PhD will recommend a combination of unit costing and reimbursement models to set price tariffs in South African private hospitals – a methodology designed to improve the way price tariffs are determined for hospital procedures. In addition to his PhD, Gideon is concluding his postgraduate diploma in future studies at the University of Stellenbosch.

To enrich his team at Nedbank, he arranges annual workshops and talks by motivational speakers. Featured speakers include Harmonie CEO Johan Beukes, who explained the importance of telling one’s story, and renowned fine artist Duncan Stewart, who taught attendees strategies to think creatively. Extreme-adventure facilitator Alex Harris, who is sought after nationwide for his inspiring talks on refusing to give up, will meet with the team in September.

Gideon also runs an informal mentorship programme for young CAs(SA) by arranging sessions to engage with prominent business leaders. The aim of this programme is to empower young CAs(SA) to learn personally from these business leaders, expand their network, and dream big.

The article which appeared in the October 2019 edition of Accountancy South Africa.