BUILT ON GRIT AND GRACE: ANDILE ZULU’S ASCENT TO THE WORLD OF FINANCE
When Andile Zulu boarded a bus from KwaZulu-Natal to Johannesburg in early 2013, he was carrying far more than
a suitcase. He was carrying uncertainty, ambition and
the quiet determination of a young man stepping into the unknown. While his ambition to become a chartered accountant and play a role in the country’s economic development and serve as a reference point for young people in his
community had been cultivated in his younger years, the journey towards achieving the goal would ultimately be a story of resilience, capitalising on opportunities, and rising above challenges. While he had never left KZN before, the bus ride that ended
up at Park Station would form an instrumental part of his story. Naturally, the idea of heading out to the big corporate jungle for the first time was overwhelming. Johannesburg felt vast and unfamiliar. Yet, in hindsight, that journey marked the beginning of a life-shaping chapter. Today, Zulu is the Chief Financial Officer at Global Payment Systems, operating at the heart of the currency management and payments ecosystem. His story, however, is not one of seamless progression, but of resilience, timely intervention and institutions that chose to see potential before polish. Zulu began his academic journey in 2009 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), where he enrolled for a BCom in Accounting. He completed the degree in 2011, but the road ahead was not straightforward. Entry into Honours proved challenging, and in 2012 he joined the Thuthuka programme at UKZN – an initiative designed to support students who had the ability to succeed but lacked access to opportunity. It was here that a pivotal connection was made. Through Thuthuka, Zulu came into contact with Khaya Sithole, the programme’s administrator, who recognised a troubling pattern. “There seemed to be a disconnect between the work we were putting in as students and the opportunities we were ultimately exposed to,” Zulu explains. Sithole approached SAICA with a bold idea: to pilot a programme that placed capable UKZN students at other universities better positioned to support their success. The result was a landmark agreement. In December 2012, UJ agreed to accept three students as a trial cohort for the Honours degree in Accounting Science in 2013. Zulu was one of them. What awaited him at UJ challenged everything he had been conditioned to expect. “At the time, Thuthuka carried a stigma – that it was for students from disadvantaged backgrounds,” he recalls. “But my first interaction with UJ immediately disrupted that narrative. The way the University engaged with us said a lot about its values.” Academically, the CTA programme was rigorous, but what stood out most was the culture surrounding it. “UJ made the work feel attainable. Lecturers came directly to the Thuthuka class. That level of engagement showed respect – not just for the programme, but for us as individuals,” he says. “No one was looked down on because of where
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ALUMNI IMPUMELELO
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