Mr Christopher Khuselo Kale is flying the Rhodes “purple” flag high, he is a finalist and runner up for the 2021 SAICA Trainee Trailblazer competition. Congratulations Chris!
ABOUT CHRIS KALE
I am an aspiring Chartered Accountant training through an institution that is focused on building public confidence and strengthening democracy. I am an enthusiastic, self-motivated, reliable, responsible and hard working person. I am a mature team worker and adaptive to all challenging situations. I am able to work well both in a team environment as well as using own initiative. I am also a thoughtful leader who is passionate about technology, especial cloud computing and innovation. I graduated from Rhodes University with Postgraduate Diploma in Accountancy. Through my passion for leadership and being there for others, I was involved in student governance that resulted me to being on the Rhodes University Investec TOP 100 for two categories; outstanding leadership, commerce and finance awards in 2017.
I am currently serving as the chairperson for Trainee Auditor Forum at Auditor General South Africa (AGSA) in the Eastern Cape Business Unit. I am also a member of the Innovation think tank for the entire organisation. Besides the traditional roles of a chairperson, I have organised knowledge sharing sessions and presented cloud computing solutions and cybersecurity to encourage my colleagues to adapt to efficient ways of working during the audit process and be aware of cyber threats. One of my biggest achievements together with my TAF executive was the successful hosting of the Leadership Conversation with Mrs Ngoma and Mr Ndaba which had 668 attendees from the entire organisation. The purpose of the conversation was to empower and encourage Trainee Auditors to lifelong learning and how to be great leaders.
The conversation covered the following key points:
- Leading during uncertain times
- Ethics, lifelong learning, and citizenship;
- Decision-making, digital and relational acumen; and
- Value-creation process and integrated thinking
Being the only Trainee auditor in the Innovation Think tank, I have been able to apply critical think and problem solving solutions in relation to the digital transformation journey of the AGSA office. Recently, I have been seconded to be part of the Digital transformation sprint 1 to develop an audit software prototype. Furthermore, I represented my fellow TAs to the Business Unit Executives meeting i.e. the strategic sessions and other committees meetings. I worked with POE manager, Mr Mothata to create a shared drive using Microsoft Teams for AGSA Trainees to able to access academic material for CTA, ITC and APC and collaborate.
I am mentoring CTA students, during this times of the pandemic I have dedicated myself to communicate with my mentees effectively and efficient via social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams. As a leader and aspiring CA, I have made it my personal mission statement to lead in an ethical manner.
Therefore, through these roles and training contract audit work, I believe I have demonstrated the following competency and my colleagues look up to me in relation to these competencies;
- Digital acumen
- Ethics
- Decision making acumen
- Relationship acumen
- Citizenship
- Lifelong learning
You may watch my award as from 02:11:59
Trainee Summit Day 5 Focus: Trainee Trailblazer Awards and Lifelong Learning on Livestream