Space
Ben Jordaan
Managing Director
Somerset West,WC
Summary
Experienced executive prepared for leadership roles with strong focus on strategic vision, operational excellence, and driving growth. Expertise in team collaboration, navigating complex challenges, and delivering impactful results. Skilled in financial management, strategic planning, and stakeholder engagement. Highly adaptable and reliable, excelling in dynamic environments.
What gives me energy is working with a talented and motivated team to complete challenging and meaningful workflows that will have a direct impact on the revenues, profits and growth of the business.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
4
4
Certificates
Work History
Chief Revenue Officer
Shiftly
03.2024 - Current
- Developed and presented the sales and marketing strategy to the Executive Committee for approval and subsequent implementation.
- Led and motivated the sales team, contacting more than 1,200 prospective clients and achieving a 30% conversion rate.
- Authored thought-leadership articles, coordinated with compliance and legal teams for approval, and collaborated with media outlets and internal stakeholders to secure publication in national press and on the company website.
- Planned and hosted exclusive client and investor events; delivered presentations on the firm’s strategy and performance, generating positive media coverage for each event.
- Arranged and participated in high-profile media interviews and podcasts to enhance brand visibility and industry positioning.
- Built and maintained a network of financial advisors and intermediaries; successfully onboarded new partners to expand distribution and market reach.
- Shiftly is a registered Financial Services Provider (FSP) holding CAT I and II licenses. The company offers a fully automated arbitrage service that takes advantage of the price difference between international and local cryptocurrency exchanges, allowing clients to make a profit.
Managing Director
Block Loan
08.2020 - 02.2024
- Ensured full regulatory compliance by mastering the National Credit Act, appointing and directing specialist compliance officers, and maintaining ongoing engagement with the National Credit Regulator (NCR).
- Drafted and refined credit agreements in collaboration with compliance teams and the NCR to achieve full regulatory approval prior to launch.
- Led the research, vendor selection and successful implementation of an enterprise-grade loan management system tailored to operational and client requirements.
- Designed and delivered complex software integrations between the loan management system, banking partners and accounting platforms to create a seamless end-to-end process.
- Secured growth capital by identifying, negotiating with and onboarding funding partners, enabling significant scaling of the loan book to over R20million per day.
- Trained and mentored the team to master the loan management system, ensuring efficient client onboarding and ongoing servicing at scale.
- Scaled the lending business from zero to over 300 active clients; initially managed client relationships directly, later built and led the sales and origination team.
- Chaired the Investment and Credit Committee, holding final sign-off on all credit decisions and maintaining overall portfolio quality and risk standards.
- Owned all regulatory reporting and filings for the National Credit Regulator (NCR), Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) and South African Revenue Service (SARS).
- Managed monthly billing cycles, full accounting close, tax compliance, PAYE submissions and statutory reporting.
- Block Loan is a registered credit provider in terms of the National Credit Act, offering clients access to personal loans and credit facilities across South Africa. The company operates completely online and uses the latest software and financial technology to ensure that the client experience is seamless and enjoyable.
Chief Operating Officer
Starlink Education
08.2020 - 07.2022
- Created, developed, and implemented the client service offering. Recruited and trained the core team to provide exceptional client service.
- Designed and implemented end-to-end processes enabling the firm to deliver income tax, provisional tax, tax clearance certificates and full SARS eFiling profile management services to clients.
- Personally recruited and built the founding team, conducting all senior interviews to ensure the right mix of technical expertise, cultural fit and diversity of thought.
- Maintained proactive relationships with external legal counsel, major banks and regulatory authorities to guarantee full compliance and keep the business ahead of legislative and industry changes.
- Established corporate banking relationships and led the selection and rollout of scalable practice-management and tax software, creating a platform capable of delivering exceptional service while supporting rapid growth.
- Remained hands-on with key clients when needed, personally resolving complex issues and strengthening long-term relationships and client loyalty.
- Grew the tax and compliance practice from inception to over 300 active clients, achieving 100% tax-compliance status across the portfolio.
- Successfully exited the business through a full share sale; led negotiations, drafted and reviewed shareholder agreements, MOI amendments and related contracts, gaining deep experience in private-company M&A and governance.
- Starlink Education is a small sized tax education entity which offers a broad range of tax services at a reasonable price to assist clients in becoming and remaining tax compliant.
Group Financial Manager
2Cubed Management Services
01.2018 - 02.2020
- Worked alongside the Chief Executive Officer to design and implement a new process for the identification and screening of offshore listed equity investments as well as offshore equity fund managers.
- Obtained an in depth understanding of the Morningstar investment platform and its functionality.
- Created an automated financial model which extracts 10 years’ financial data from Morningstar’s database and performed financial and operational ratio analysis on the data.
- Analysed and summarised the results obtained from the above financial model in order to make informed investment decisions.
- Ensured that investments are made accurately and timely and approved by relevant stakeholders.
- Prepared the reporting to the board of directors regarding the investment process and decisions reached.
- Travelled globally to meet with equity fund managers and performed assessments on whether to invest with these managers.
- Managed and oversaw the finance function for the group and reported directly to the Chief Financial Officer.
- Built strong relationships with the directors of the subsidiaries in order to maintain an open line of communication and remain abreast of developments in their businesses.
- Built and managed relationships with internal and external stakeholders in order to obtain the best outcome for the business. This included tax advisors, legal advisors, SARS, shareholders and banks.
- Participated in board and audit committee meetings.
- Completed and filed complex local tax calculations with foreign holdings including liaising with external legal counsel regarding complex tax treatments.
- Reviewed the group consolidation, consolidating multiple entities with turnover >1bn.
- Reviewed loan & preference share calculations to ensure calculations are accurate and calculate according to signed agreements.
- Reviewed monthly financial and operational reporting packs for distribution to the board of directors.
- Reviewed the budgets of subsidiaries and tracked their performance against set budget during the year.
- Prepared forecasts and budgets.
- Performed financial modelling and valuations of subsidiaries including testing for impairment.
- Ran the financial statements preparation and audit process with external auditors.
- Drafted commercial agreements for transactions between group companies and external parties.
- Reviewed monthly payments, cashbooks, journals and trial balances.
- Reviewed monthly payroll run, PAYE, SDL, UIF payments.
- 2Cubed is a family office which manages the portfolio of assets of a high net worth family. The investments comprise of both private company investments locally and listed company assets offshore.
Senior Associate
Aspect Advisory (Short term contract)
09.2017 - 12.2017
- Recruited by the Chief Executive Officer to design, build and implement a cost allocation model for a large South African entity.
- Met with all relevant stakeholders to understand their requirements and concerns regarding allocation of costs to and from their respective business units.
- Created a project plan detailing the flow of the project including milestones and deadlines.
- Led meetings with relevant stakeholders to obtain the information required to build the cost allocation model.
- Built a complex cost allocation model which allocated support center overheads to other business units based on activity-based costing principles.
- Worked closely with the entities business intelligence division to ensure that data required by the model is easily extracted from the entities data cube to ensure ease of use by the stakeholders.
- Consistently communicated progress to key stakeholders and engaged them when necessary.
Assistant Manager
KPMG LLP
12.2015 - 06.2017
- Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc International engagement
- Selected as the champion to partner with McLaren consultants, to drive efficiencies in the engagement, resulting in less time charged to the client code and increasing profitability of the engagement.
- Reviewed the SAP to Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) reconciliation and the HFM consolidation procedures to ensure accuracy of the group consolidation.
- Performed detailed analysis of the financial statements including liquidity ratios, working capital, indebtedness, cash flow forecasts vs actuals and financing arrangements in order to assess whether the business is a going concern.
- Built relationships: Built a strong relationship with the client’s management team to the point where I was the main point of contact for communication between the client and our team.
- Acted as a trusted advisor to the client using my knowledge, experience and understanding of their business in order to provide guidance on technical assessments.
- Team work: Managed the group engagement team of nine people (from junior members to partners) to ensure collaboration and completion of the engagement within set deadlines.
- Project management: Created and successfully implemented the group planning workbook in order to manage the multiple work streams taking place during the engagement. This ensured that the strict deadline was met and excellent quality work and client service was provided.
- Prepared and sent instructions to 21 global engagement teams and continuously managed queries and progress to ensure reporting received is accurate and on time.
- Prepared the annual budget for the engagement including budgeting hours and cost for the engagement team, admin staff and specialists.
- Developed people: Coached team members in order to ensure continuous learning takes place and to ensure quality work is delivered.
- Client Deliverables: Created and formatted the slide deck presentation of our engagement findings for submission to management and the Audit Committee of the client. Created the Profitability Analysis slide deck showcasing the profitability of the engagement compared to similar engagements.
- Heritage Oil Limited
- Assessed the accuracy of the financial model in detail including cash flow projections, sensitivities and underlying assumptions used in the valuation of the cash generating assets.
- Created charts and graphs in order to assist with visualisation and presentation of findings to management.
Senior Accountant
KPMG Inc.
01.2013 - 11.2015
- Gold Fields Limited group engagement (only largest client listed)
- Analysed, assessed and interpreted the discounted cash flow assumptions, data and calculations for the cash generating units of the client.
- Coached and effectively led a team of seven to meet the engagement completion deadline. Managed the reporting of findings and conclusions to the group engagement team.
- Built strong client relationships and trust to the extent of being the first point of contact for matters related to the engagement.
- Continuously communicated with client management on status of engagement and reported findings to senior management.
- Assisted with due diligence reporting to banks and other parties regarding loan covenants.
- Three years of extensive experience with design, implementation and testing Sarbanes Oxley (SOx) controls and reporting under IFRS and US GAAP financial accounting standards.
Education
Chartered Accountant - South Africa
South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA)
Johannesburg, SA01.2015
BAcc(Hons) - Accountancy
University of Stellenbosch
Cape Town, SA01.2011
Matriculated - Matric
Grens Highschool
East London, SA01.2008
Skills
Highly adaptable, able to work alone or in a team and always open to new ideas and collaboration
Entrepreneurial, innovative and constantly want to learn, grow and improve
Quick learner and able to turn theory into practical reality
Able to perform under pressure and challenge the status quo
Self-starter with the ability to manage deadlines, people and projects whilst remaining positive
Deal structuring
Operational excellence
Strategic planning and execution
Executive leadership and people development
Problem-solving
Relationship and team building
Client relationship management
Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint, SageOne Accounting and Payroll, SimplePay, Xero, Docusign, Zendesk and Trello
Good communication skills, both verbal and written in English and Afrikaans
Interests
Ironman 704, 947 Cycle Challenge, Midmar Mile
Renewable energy
Property investment
Charitable giving
Equity investments
Technological advances
Formula 1
Travelling
Current market news
Toastmasters Club – Exco member
Founding member of KPMG UK new joiners committee
Social Committee (KPMG UK) – Treasurer
Affiliations
South African Institute of Chartered Accountants
Accomplishments
- Consistently achieved the top rating at KPMG by completing all engagements to a high level of quality and within the strict statutory reporting deadlines;
- Accredited technical knowledge trainer with KPMG’s Learning & Development department. Includes creation of presentations and presenting to junior and senior colleagues;
- School Governor at Woodhill Primary – Responsibilities include overseeing financial performance of the school and holding the head teachers accountable for the school’s performance;
- Member and Treasurer of the Johannesburg Article Clerks Association. – Responsibilities included obtaining funding from sponsors and approval of payments for events and charities.
Software
Excel
Powerpoint
Zendesk
Trello
Sage Accounting and Payrol
SimplePay
Zero
Hyperion
Languages
English
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Afrikaans
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Certification
Chartered Accountant
Timeline
Chief Revenue Officer
Shiftly
03.2024 - Current
Managing Director
Block Loan
08.2020 - 02.2024
Chief Operating Officer
Starlink Education
08.2020 - 07.2022
Group Financial Manager
2Cubed Management Services
01.2018 - 02.2020
Senior Associate
Aspect Advisory (Short term contract)
09.2017 - 12.2017
Assistant Manager
KPMG LLP
12.2015 - 06.2017
Chartered Accountant
01-2015
Accredited Technical Trainer for KPMG
11-2014
Senior Accountant
KPMG Inc.
01.2013 - 11.2015
BAcc(Honors) Degree
12-2012
BAcc Degree
12-2011
Chartered Accountant - South Africa
South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA)
BAcc(Hons) - Accountancy
University of Stellenbosch
Matriculated - Matric
Grens Highschool