Sibongiseni Ngoma was inspired by the fact that back in the day there was only one black chartered accountant in the country, Wiseman Nkuhlu, and, later on, only one black female chartered account, Nonkululeko Gobodo. “I was inspired and decided to take on the challenge,” she says. “I was also told that this career would fast-track me into a high-earning zone, and I needed this to take my family out of the poverty zone.”

Ngoma completed her articles when South Africa was transitioning from apartheid to becoming a democratic country. Ngoma and Sizwe Nkosi were the first black people to join the auditing firm Ernst & Young in KwaZulu-Natal, and she had to learn to navigate a white- and male-dominated space. “The stereotypes that women are confronted with continue to manifest everywhere: in meetings, in boardrooms, in decision making and salary scales,” she says. “Ideas that a woman’s place is in the kitchen [and] that men don’t value women’s inputs, still permeate our society. Women must work twice as hard to prove themselves.”

In November 2012, Ngoma joined the AGSA as a corporate executive responsible for internal operations overseeing four key business units: finance, human capital, legal, and learning and development. Previously, these business units were supervised by the chief operating officer. She has also previously worked as the head of internal audit at the Industrial Development Corporation. She is now the chief financial officer at the AGSA. 

Now that she occupies a position of power and privilege, Ngoma says that her mission is to liberate the women around her. She is particularly deliberate about leadership development:  encouraging women to avail themselves for leadership positions and take their rightful places in the seats of power. “When there are opportunities, I always look to afford the opportunity to a woman,” she says. “I am deliberate about coaching and mentoring women, and in meetings I always encourage them to speak and ensure that their views are heard and valued.”

As someone who understands the challenges of navigating a white- and male-dominated space, Ngoma takes the task of elevating other women and helping build their confidence very seriously. 

After a meeting I ensure to commend the women for their ideas – women are put down enough by the society we live in.

She has also founded a charity in Alexandra that sponsors girls with sanitary pads and underwear, so that they can go to school with confidence.