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SA hosts first South African Professional Services Awards


Johannesburg, 03 Nov 2014

Globally, there are a number of successful awards ceremonies to honour professional services firms and their professionals. This year, on the evening of the 30 October, South Africa hosted the first South African Professional Services Awards (SAPSA) to recognise various players within a variety of industries for their excellence.

The inaugural awards ceremony took place at Emperors Palace, where companies within the fields of legal, accounting, finance, management consulting, actuarial science, engineering and the built environment were in attendance. PPS, the financial services provider focused on graduate professionals, sponsored the prestigious event.

Mike Jackson, CEO of PPS, says the company was eager to support the event, which recognises professional firms and persons for their best practices and exceptional work within their respective industries. "At PPS we believe it is important to honour professionals who have done remarkable work within their distinct industries, as it is these individuals who are in many ways the driving force behind the development of the economy."

KC Rottok, Project Manager of SAPSA, says the rationale behind the awards ceremony was to bring all the professionals who provide professional services together in order to network, further explore best practices, as well as to recognise companies and individuals who have excelled within the industry.

The main awards winners:

The Overall Professional Services Firm of the Year Award was awarded to Norton Rose Fulbright. The award was given on the basis of the following accomplishments: outstanding contribution to the profession over the past three years; commitment to ethics; contributing towards the South African community; excellence in customer service; achievement of business and growth targets; and contributing to transformation for the benefit of the previously disadvantaged.

Suresh Kana, the PWC South Africa CEO was announced as the Overall Professional of the Year. Kana started his career in 1976 and was promoted to the position of Senior Partner for PwC Africa in July 2012.

The Overall Woman Professional of the Year was presented to Sindi Zilwa, the CEO and co-founder of Nkonki. Zilwa has more than 20 of experience in the field of auditing following her qualification as a Chartered Accountant. She currently serves on the audit committees for various JSE-listed companies.

Adelle Lombard, Structural Engineer at GIBB Engineering, was awarded the Investec Award for Young Professional of the Year. Lombard joined GIBB five years ago as a Cum Laude student from Stellenbosch University and has since been involved in and leading up various complicated and successful projects.

"We would like to congratulate all the winners and nominees of the 2014 SAPSA awards and we look forward to another successful event next year," concludes Jackson.

The full list of winners is:

* Management Consulting Professional of the Year - Asher Bohbot from EOH
* Management Consulting Professional Services Firm of the Year - Accenture
* Woman Professional of the Year: Legal & Finance category - Sindi Zilwa from Nkonki
* Young Professional of the Year - Adele Lombard from GIBB Engineering
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Law Firms - Robert Legh from Bowman Gilfilan
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Law Firms - Attie Pretorius from Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Law Firms - Sbu Gule, Chairman of Norton Rose Fulbright
* Legal Firm of the Year - Norton Rose Fulbright
* Audit/Accounting Professional of the Year - Suresh Kana from PwC
* Audit/Accounting Firm of the Year - Grant Thornton
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Audit/ Accounting Firms - Brian Eaton from RSM Betty & Dickson
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Audit/ Accounting Firms - Nonkululeko Gobodo from SizweNtsalubaGobodo
* Quantity Survey/ Project Management Firm of the Year - Akweni Project Management
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Engineering Firms - Stanford Mkhacane from Nyeleti Consulting
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Engineering Firms - Trueman Goba from Hatch Goba
* Engineering Firm of the Year - GIBB Engineering
* Engineering/ Built Environment Woman Professional of the Year - Danai Magugumela from Bosch Stemele Engineering
* Architectural Firm of the Year - GAPP Architects
* Lifetime Achievement: Architecture - Rodney Grosskopff
* Lifetime Achievement: Architecture - Louis Karol
* Overall Professional Services Firm of the Year Award - Norton Rose Fulbright
* Overall Professional of the Year - Suresh Kana from PwC
* Overall Woman Professional of the Year - Sindi Zilwa from Nkonki
* Young Professional of the Year - Adelle Lombard from GIBB Engineering

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Additional information

PPS boasts in excess of 200 000 members who enjoy access to a comprehensive suite of financial and healthcare products that are specifically tailored to meet the needs of graduate professionals.

PPS is the largest South African company of its kind that still embraces an ethos of mutuality, which means that it exists solely for the benefit of its members. Thus, PPS members with qualifying products share in the profits of PPS Insurance via annual allocations to the unique PPS Profit-Share Account and those who have PPS Investments products can also share in the profits of PPS Investments.

PPS membership provides access to the following tried, tested and trusted products and services: PPS Insurance, PPS Short-Term Insurance, PPS Beneficiaries Trust, PPS Investments and Profmed Medical Scheme. Visit www.pps.co.za for more information.

PPS is an authorised financial services provider.

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