Zarina Bassa
Setting the Benchmark

Zarina was one of the first black South African female chartered accountants in the country. She was also the first black female articled clerk at Ernst & Young’s Durban office, and the first black female partner of a top financial services company.

Zarina joined Absa after 17 years at Ernst & Young. Committed to making a difference, she feels that Absa offered her a chance to make a positive impact on ordinary people’s lives. She joined the company as the managing executive of Absa Retail Banking Services and in July last year she was appointed to her current position.

Through her position at Absa, Zarina hopes to make private banking more accessible to the average person on the street. According to Zarina, the bar is usually set quite high and few people are able to qualify for private banking. Zarina has made it her mission to lower the bar in order to assist more South Africans with their banking requirements.

Zarina has always been extensively involved in the advancement of South African women in the accounting sector. Over the years, she has served on the board of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Unisa Foundation. She also served as Vice President and Chair of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants and as Chair of the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Board. Zarina is a past chairman of the Auditing Standards Board and a past member of the Accounting Standards Board and the JSE GAAP Monitoring Panel.

Zarina was born and raised in Durban. Her parents placed great emphasis on their children’s education and gave them opportunities that they themselves had never been afforded. It was made clear from an early age that Zarina and her many siblings were expected to obtain a tertiary qualification, preferably in the medical profession. Zarina had a keen interest in journalism, but because the course entailed her having to move to the Eastern Cape to attend Rhodes University, she had to put this dream aside. “I grew up in a very traditional, protective environment and according to our culture, women only leave the house once they are married. So I had to find a profession that I could study from the university in Durban.”

Zarina was not too keen on becoming a doctor and to the disenchantment of her parents, opted for chartered accounting instead. Today, her family is beaming with pride as a result of her success in the industry.

According to Zarina, her greatest achievement in terms of her career is not obtaining the high positions that she has, but rather refusing to allow others to set her boundaries. While she was studying, her professors constantly told her that she was wasting her time and that she would not succeed as a woman in the industry. At the time, there were not many women in the industry and there were no female role models for Zarina to look up to. Fortunately, Zarina saw this as motivation to prove her professors wrong, and found her own path, breaking confinements along the way.

Zarina has been married for six years and has a five-year-old son. Thinking back on the moment she found out about her pregnancy, Zarina laughs, saying it was a bit of a joke amongst the family. “My husband and I are both accountants and are extremely practical people who plan everything well in advance. So when I found out I was pregnant I couldn’t believe it, it was completely unplanned.”

She admits that it was hard getting back into work after taking maternity leave. It was for this reason that she felt that if she were going to be away from her son, it would have to be for something meaningful. “Motherhood gave a context to everything I do. It gave me an overwhelming appreciation for the sacrifices women like my mother made for our generation. Having a child of my own also cultivated sensitivity for the influence one can have on another life. This extended to my professional life where I realised my conduct would impact on the standing and future of women in the financial services sector,” she says.

The numerous family pictures in Zarina’s office pay testimony to the importance of balance in her life. She views her home life as extremely important and for the first two and a half years her son went everywhere with her. Zarina describes herself as the chairperson arriving at meetings with a baby on the hip. An au pair would accompany her and take care of the baby while she was busy. As such, Zarina defied the male-dominated corporate world by succeeding as a mother and a businesswoman.

“I have always been very adamant about spending as much time with my son as possible. I didn’t want to be someone who would give up motherhood for a career. I felt I could have both and if there were no rules in place to dictate a way forward, I would make my own,” she says.

Setting the precedent, Zarina is making a difference in the lives of those who follow in her footsteps. Although she might want to make things easier for the women of South Africa, living up to the great person she is might prove to be rather difficult.