Woman Crush-Hlengiwe Ndlela

 

Hlengiwe Ndlela is a testament to the truth that your dream doesn’t have an expiration date. This wonder woman who is a qualified CA is a true definition of the word : Perseverance. As I always say my favorite stories are not the ones with the easy happily ever after but those where people push through to reach happily ever after. To say I am inspired by this woman is an understatement but let me let you read it all for yourself.

• What did you study and is it in line with your career goals?
• I studied a B Com Accounting (undergraduate degree) at UKZN in Westville Campus. I then did my Post graduate degree at UNISA, my Honours in Accountancy – Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA). I then got articles or a 3 year training contract with Ernst and Young Inc (EY) – a big 4 Firm, where I did my Board 1 exam (Initial Test of Competence (ITC)) and Board 2 (Public Practice Examination (PPE)). Through training, progress and promotion over the 3 years and passing of the 2 examinations I was then rendered or signed off as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa – CA (SA) by our regulatory body SAICA
• What is the most important lesson you’ve learnt after graduation?
• I’ve learnt that it’s not about where you come from or how you got there but it’s all about getting there.I remember I used to worry when I first started Varsity, coming from a developing area (not even yet a township), eMatikwe in Inanda with my First Additional Language English from a township school (Inanda Newtown Comprehensive High School, eBhambayi) and for the first time having to sit in a lecture room with learners from Model C schools and learners who weren’t African but also a lecturer that does not speak Zulu as a first language but is also not African… “How will I make it”? Simply put – my English had a little to be admired and speaking to an English speaking person was a mission and a half.

  I used to worry and I thought that the kids that went to Model C High Schools were the only ones who would cruise through Varsity and the profession I had chosen. But I strived. I always tried to remind myself where I was headed come rain or shine and without forgetting where I was came from. Where I came from was always a huge motivation in my life (having been raised by a single mom who is a domestic worker and did all she could to give me the best she could afford with the support of her family). I definitely had challenges including delays on the plans or goals I had set for myself, but through all of that – there’s nothing I could change about the humbling life lessons I encountered. I learnt independence, responsibility, self motivation and perseverance.

• What is the most disappointing low after graduating?
• This was in 2008 when I didn’t qualify or pass my CTA. For the first time in my life I had failed. It was a huge shock!! Before the results came out I had huge plans. I was going to start my articles in a Big 4 Firm, Training Contract all signed awaiting results. I was going to start earning an income in a form of a salary/allowance (I was going to be in a training environment) to be able to start providing for my then 2 year old daughter and my family.I had to remodel. I had to go back to the drawing board. I had to restructure and push out some of my personal goals. During this time there were moments where I had so much self doubt, where I thought – I knew it. This wasn’t for me, with the background I have there was no way. Then I decided let me get a job, this baby won’t feed herself. I have responsibilities that can’t just wait for me. So I became an educator teaching Accounting at a High School level. I got comfortable there. It was amazing to finally get a salary and realise the short term dream I had; which was to provide for my daughter and my family.

  It is so important to have people who believe in you even when you don’t. A lady that worked for the HR department at EY at the time (Neela Narainsamy), where I had my Training contract and where I had a Bursary to study even though I had failed – would call me to check how things were going with my studies. I failed CTA again. I got over it. Continued teaching, it was good money I was getting a reasonable salary I could live of.

  Towards the end of 2010 after CTA results had been released, she called me concerned about my results I told her straight up, I can not study full time. I have a family to provide for. Because she believed in me she convinced someone who was signing off training contracts and bursaries, they then said, fine! “You can come start your training contract while you study your CTA.” This was now a fourth attempt at CTA. The past 2 attempts while I was an educator were not attempts, I was just registered but not in it. I had lost belief in myself.

  That same nervousness and sense of disbelief I had when I started Varsity had become stronger. But when they gave me the opportunity to start my Training Contract and study, I grabbed it with both my hands. I realized I wasted so much time doubting myself. The belief this lady had in me had rubbed off me. I wanted this again. That grade 9 learner of Inanda Newtown Comprehensive High School who wanted to be an Accountant was back. I wanted to be a CA again. I pushed myself as challenging as it was. Being a mom, a thriving employee and a student. But I made it.

  The day Board 2 results came out they gave us Oscars like a trophy, I knew it didn’t matter how I got here, what mattered was that I was there. Qualified as a CA (SA). Doors have opened. God had been faithful throughout even though I had stumbled.

• What has been the biggest high of my career?
• I do not only get to meet and deal with prominent and successful people in my field but I also get to help groom and nurture the next generation of young professionals/ those want to be professionals, our little brothers and sisters who think it is not possible; through having access to mediums and media to talk to a large number of the youth to build a better future for a black child.Through committees I sit in (recently joined the ABASA and AWCA committees – KZN Region), National Radio interviews (UKhozi FM, Sakhe Isizwe with Nogcebo McKenzie through SAICA) and Mentorship Programmes I get involved in (1Woman1Girl) to instil a sense of belief in the African child, this has been the best and the highest of my career. I love giving back.
• What would be your advise for a graduate in their final year? 
• South Africa, Africa, the World does not owe you anything. We live in the times where the struggles we have are with the mind, self belief and being open minded. We have access to so much information. We have access to so much support; if you focus on your Education, so many things are possible for you.Not so long ago I was a nobody, a 7 year old starting school at Uthando Primary School – eMathinini. The challenges we have now are not about whether you have access to Education, but it’s what you as a human being want to do with the education you receive, whether you take it and run with it to change your life and excel at it so that opportunities to study further come knocking at your door or you sit there and feel sorry for yourself and be called ipara. Sizwe sakithi esinsundu, if we change our mentality we would change our situations for better.