Heavy Chef Event: Finance And Cashflow

Speakers: 

• Andrea Klassen, Senior Manager at Bayport Financial Services
• Uwais Asmal, Head of Advisory Services at Outsourced CFO
• Fred Roed, CEO and Founder, Heavy Chef (MC)
• Divine Mahara, Winner 'Zimbabwe's Got Talent' (Music)

This event was held on 26 July 2022, 6pm-7:30pm, Workshop17 Watershed, CPT

Hybrid Event: Live On Stage, In-Person And Livestream. Watch from 25:00 in the video below. 

Finance and cash flow! Typically not the stuff that gets entrepreneurs excited, right? These can be tricky topics that elicit tricky questions. However, thanks to Heavy Chef’s guest speakers last night, we discovered that finance and cash flow can be inspiring and fun too.

Neither looking nor behaving like standard-issue accountants, Andrea Klassen, Senior Manager at Bayport Financial Services, and Uwais Asmal, Head of Advisory Services at Outsourced CFO, kept the lessons and the laughs coming amidst lively engagement from both the in-person and online audiences.

Not surprisingly, SARS and the joys of paying tax was a spotlight topic. “Tax is a certainty, you have to make peace with it,” Andrea says. “Paying tax is a sign of a successful business,” Uwais added. There’s no getting away from taxes, the two CAs agreed, and the best way to deal with it is to get your mindset and your planning right.

Through the eyes of Andrea and Uwais, entrepreneurs got to see the sexy side to accounting. Nothing sets the foundation for a powerful business like a clean set of books. True story.

According to Heavy Chef’s two enthusiastic guests, admin is not a dark art; it’s all about planning, seeing the pattern in your inflows and outflows, and putting a buffer in place to deal with the emergencies and surprises life throws at you. Avoiding the money stuff simply turns a small problem into a big problem.

It all comes down to discipline, which is probably the very reason why managing finances bears the ‘boring’ stigma. But, said Uwais, always remember that in business as on an aeroplane, you have to secure your own oxygen mask first before you start helping others.

So what if your cash-flow plan doesn’t go according to plan, an audience member asked. That’s exactly why you must have a plan. Aim to save a portion of all the money you make in an ‘emergency fund’; put contracts in place with your customers; negotiate payment terms with your suppliers; understand your working capital cycle. Don’t get so excited about a deal that you neglect to put the paperwork in place. Don’t shy away from the hard conversations, not even when you are busy building a relationship. Structure your business so that you get money in before you have to pay it out. And stay away from an overdraft! (The interest rates on bank overdrafts can be insanely high!)

Talking about fintech and cloud accounting, the experts’ advice included merging technology with your personality by, for example, setting up an automatic EFT into a savings account if you are not a natural saver.

The question that drew applause from the audience came from Monale Akol, boutique store owner and real estate agent, who went home with a fabulous Heavy Chef Hamper, packed full of Heavy Chef books, Sally-Ann Creed Collagen goodies and bottle of Sydney Back Premium Brandy. Monale posed the question of how and when children should be taught about money to prepare them to become entrepreneurs. The responsibility, it was agreed, lies with every one of us. The government is not going to teach our children about tax, so let each of us do for the young people what we wish someone did for us. (Who said heavy chefs can’t get deep and philosophical too!)

The evening started and ended with a wonderful performance by musician Divine Mahara, winner of 'Zimbabwe's Got Talent', and featured yummy eats provided by Grumpy Snacks (whose founder Cait Black is appearing on the Heavy Chef platform soon!) and drinks supplied by Backsberg, Sir Fruit and Goodleaf CBD.

A huge Heavy Chef thank you goes to the other partners that ensured the evening’s success: PayFast and Xero, Capitalise, Whipping The Cat, xneelo, Digital Planet, Workshop 17, Howler, HP, We Grow SA, Global Citizen, Creed Living and Parcel Ninja.

 Event Details 

• Tuesday 26 July 2022, 6pm-7:30pm
• Start Time: 6pm South Africa Time / Central Africa Time (Sharp!) 
• Venue: Workshop17 Watershed, 17 Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town 8002.
• Parking is available across the street from the venue, at the Portswood parking precinct.

Heavy Chef events are brought to you by Xero and PayFast.

Support is provided by Workshop17, Creed Living, Sir Fruit, Goodleaf, Backsberg and Esizayo.

Heavy Chef is proud partners with xneelo, Digital Planet, We Grow SA, HP Store, Whipping The Cat, Capitalise, Parcel Ninja and Global Citizen.