Waseem Carrim

Currently only 30 years old, Waseem Carrim is one of South Africa’s youngest-ever CEO’s bringing with him his belief in the current young generation. Waseem believes that the current generation sees integration and globalization not as threats but as opportunities for education, exploration, employment, and exchange.

This generation sees differences of pluralism and diversity not as a curse, but as a great gift. He believes that together as a nation we can achieve much change, he is confident that the future is brighter than the past, and that our best days are still ahead of us.

Long before he was appointed as CEO of the NYDA, Waseem Carrim attended the University of Pretoria in South Africa and received his BCom Honours degree in Accounting Sciences in 2009. He began his career at the same university, spending a year as an Academic article trainee, lecturing first to third-year students in Accounting. He completed his article traineeship with KPMG and was admitted as a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) in 2013. Waseem also holds a Master’s degree in Taxation from the University of Pretoria.

After completing his articles, Waseem joined KPMG’s Department of Professional Practice, where he served as a specialist in public sector accounting and assurance matters, and served on committees and initiatives related to the public sector. He also served on committees relating to social integration, as well as driving transformation initiatives in the Chartered Accounting profession. He held a portfolio of audit clients, which he managed within the public-sector space, one of which was the NYDA.

Waseem led the turnaround of the finance and Supply Chain Management divisions that culminated in three clean audits and a fundamental reduction in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

In 2016, Waseem Carrim was named one of the Top 35 under-35 Chartered Accountants by the SAICA.

The Agency has praised the CEO for the work he did turning around its finances. NYDA said in a statement:

“Mr Carrim has served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the NYDA since 2014. During this period, he has presided over the turnaround of the NYDA finances. The organisation has moved from a dire financial state to a viable one.

Over the past three financial years, the NYDA has moved from an organisation characterised by wasteful and fruitless expenditure to the tune of R100 million to an organisation of clean audit opinion. In the last financial year, fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounted to R0.”