Manager - Special Projects
De Beers Marine
Total years of experience :27 years, 5 Months
I was tasked to investigate the total supply chain function i.e. from procurement, warehousing as well as logistics, of the De Beers Marine companies in order to develop an optimum business model that would enhance efficiencies and reduce costs.
I was transferred from Debswana Head Office in Gaborone to Cullinan to assist in turning the mine around and to evaluate the best economic future for the mine.
My main duties included
TURN AROUND PROJECT
• Act as main liason officer with all local authorities and unions
• Review of Staffing Levels;
• Review and implement control environment to ensure effective working cost expenditure management and the application of expenditure based on maximising returns;
• Re-evaluation of all capital projects to align with satisfying operational investment return and sustainability philosophy
• Returning the mine to cash flow positive, or to minimise the cash outflow;
• Being involved in all areas of the business through active contribution toward business plan and strategic alignment initiatives as a member of the senior leadership team;
Active involvement in strategic business planning cycles.
Normal Duties
Management Accounting
• Develop leading indicator trends based on historical analysis and determine mechanisms aimed at enhancing the current and future management accounting environment
• Ensure that Cost Accountants in business units add value through trend analysis and proactive systems implementation to manage cost/expenditure and capital management environment
• Instilling an entrepreneurial way of thinking and influencing culture within the discipline to enhance a philosophy of continuous improvement
Financial Accounting
• Developing and maintaining an environment that ensures a sufficient regulatory and legal compliance framework
• Adapt and develop appropriate corporate policies and strategies;
• Compliance to IFRS;
• Liaison with internal and external audit and assurance providers;
• Evaluation and review of expenditure authorisations and associated control environment
Materials Management
I was responsible for overseeing the mine-based operation in relation to:
• Proving input into the development and maintenance of optimal inventory levels;
• Determination of mechanisms to manage new inventory lines as well as management of obsolete stock movement, management and disposal;
• Providing and facilitating an effective and value adding materials management environment through the elimination of process congestion, delays and systems inefficiencies.
Information Technology
I was responsible for overseeing the mine-based operation in relation to:
• Providing guidance in respect of network, support, systems and service delivery within a Service Level Agreement environment;
• Ensure that the newly installed SAP system delivers functionality as specified and to facilitate system enhancement and embedment processes
Internal Audit
I was responsible for overseeing the mine-based operation in relation to:
• Providing input into and management of the mine-based governance and assurance environment.
• Overseeing audit and related activity planning and schedules and cycles;
• Providing technical input into audits conducted and overseeing staff development to ensure effective governance services and that Service Level Agreement imperatives are satisfied
I was transferred to Gaborone to project manage the implementation of the SAP HR Pay system for all the Botswana operations, after I successfully localised my position as Financial Manager of Jwaneng Diamond Mine.
Duties
Project Management
• Allocation, deployment and management of project resources;
• Evaluation of appropriate systems;
• Management of finances and contingencies;
• Measurement of delivery to project plan;
• Quality assurance and stakeholder liaison;
• User requirements met relative to Blueprint;
• Establishment of a shared service centre for payroll;
• Policies and procedures implementation for changed work practices
Other Duties
• The revisiting and drafting of work procedures for all Red audits that occurred on the mines, and the correction thereof.
• The system implementation, and centralisation of all the payrolls, was successful and on time.
I was transferred to Jwaneng on promotion after successfully having localised my job in Orapa.
Main Duties
• Member of the mine executive;
• Materials Management;
• Financial Management;
• Capital and Projects;
• Management Accounting;
• Information Technology
My main achievement at Jwaneng was the corrective action taken to improve the corporate governance and the material management functions to acceptable standards.
Main Duties
• Financial Accounting;
• Management Accounting;
• Capital Management;
• Budgets/operational 5 year plans
A large proportion of my time was allocated to interacting with the technical staff as part of the decision making process on the mine, and to so ensure that the management information supplied was relevant and useful.
Duties
My main duty was to ensure that the group systems would satisfy user requirements and to ensure that the systems were implemented successfully across all sites, including Botswana.
Main Duties
• Implementation of all Commercial systems, policies and procedures
• Staffing of the Commercial function.
I was the second Commercial appointment to the mine and was actively involved in the mine start-up. I found this time of my career very rewarding and full of challenges.
Positions held at Kleinzee:
Assistant Cost Accountant
Cost Accountant
Financial Accountant
I started as an accounts trainee at the Head office of De Beers in Kimberley. This was followed by a promotion to Cullinan Diamond Mine as Accounts Supervisor