Leadership Team

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Vanessa Rheeder is a Fractional CFO and strategic finance advisor who specializes in business growth strategies, helping growth-minded businesses bring clarity, control, and confidence to their numbers. With over 20 years of experience—from listed corporates to founder-led startups—she collaborates with CEOs and CFOs to build finance functions that are faster, smarter, and designed for scale.

Vanessa began her career at Naspers, where she developed deep expertise in financial planning, group consolidations, modeling for new ventures, and reporting automation. Later, she founded and successfully exited her own e-commerce business, bringing firsthand entrepreneurial insight to her financial advisory work. Since then, she’s partnered with over 30 businesses across fintech, SaaS, e-commerce, creative industries, and the NGO sector, leading projects that enhance reporting, automate workflows, and unlock real-time insights.

As a Chartered Accountant and certified advisor on tools like PowerBI, Syft, and Blox, Vanessa combines financial rigor with modern technology, leveraging AI and automation to turn finance into a competitive advantage. She’s recognized for her pragmatic, collaborative style, assisting leaders in bridging the gap between strategy and execution through better data, systems, and decisions.

Ready to transform your finance operations and unlock new opportunities? Book a 30-minute free consultation.

Julie Caldicott, a Chartered Accountant turned entrepreneur, began her career in finance before founding Pinewood SA and then Motify, an auto-tech business focused on transforming customer retention and service delivery in the motor industry. With two decades of experience in automotive retail technology, she has recently exited Pinewood, having founded and led the growth across sub-Saharan Africa, implementing effective business growth strategies along the way. With a passion for building businesses, leading change, and scaling sustainably, Julie is known for blending logic with empathy. She is also a strong advocate for women making their mark in traditionally male-dominated industries.

Riaan is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Management Accountant with a Diploma in Advanced Banking. With 20 years of experience as a financial services partner in both audit and consulting at Deloitte and 6 years at Mazars, he has honed his expertise in business growth strategies. Riaan served as CFO for Deloitte Johannesburg for 14 years and as Managing Director and CFO for Mazars Financial Services Africa for 6 years. His clients include all the major banks and insurers, and he has maintained close relationships with the C-Suite of these clients. Additionally, he has been involved in various M&A and related corporate finance transactions, leading projects to implement different IT and HR platforms. Riaan possesses specialized knowledge of financial markets and derivative instruments that he actively trades. Engaged by clients through The Modern CFO, he serves as a fractional CFO, interim executive, or provides financial advisory on a project-based basis, offering senior-level financial leadership without the need for a full-time appointment.