From clients in taxis to registering an FSP: Sandile Ncube’s journey

Tevin Sandile Ncube’s journey to accounting success is over two decades in the making and involves hard work, networking, and not letting the lockdown go to waste.

“I used to eat my lunch quickly, in about ten minutes, so I could use the rest of my lunch break to help clients. Then I would get home in the evening and do more client work,” recalls Tevin Sandile Ncube.  

Ncube’s accounting career didn’t follow a traditional path. Having studied computer science at Damelin College, he moved to Sandton and started working at MSC in the early 2000s. Ambitious and curious, Ncube’s growing interest in accounting stemmed from having to carefully manage his own finances. He started pursuing an accounting qualification while working.  

“I would take the taxis to work and open my textbook and study while commuting,” says Ncube. “When I was traveling, I heard of people who wanted to register their companies, get their tax clearance certificates and so on.” 

“I started thinking, ‘why can’t I open my own practice to help these SMEs? If you travel with people, they talk about their problems. They have businesses, but they don’t have an accountant. Often they can’t access the big accounting firms. I thought this is a space I can venture into and help.” 

Ncube later left MSC to focus full-time on his firm, Sincuba Accountants and Tax Professionals.    

Networking as a core principle 

Ncube’s journey as a SAIBA member kicked off when the RCB granted him student membership. “When I got that certificate, I couldn’t wait to attend all the seminars. I was mingling with the big accountants and even had an opportunity to meet with then auditor general Terence Nombembe. He encouraged me to study hard, focus on my passion for accounting, get all the licenses and be compliant. I also had an opportunity to sit down and speak to Nicolaas van Wyk from SAIBA. He spoke to me about his experiences running a practice. That’s how I was inspired in this space.”  

Ncube’s networking efforts also resulted in clients, “As a small guy, getting attention and work from the big accounting firms is not easy.  

“One of my strategies is to meet with people from other firms at events and seminars and tell them my story. Sometimes they give me work, perhaps compiling financial statements, to see how fast I can do it.” He has partnered with larger auditing firms on various projects, including providing work to a subsidiary of Telkom. 

Accounting is a ladder   

While many of us spent lockdown binge watching TV, Ncube completed his regulatory exams with the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA), intending to open a retail forex brokerage. 

In the last few years, Ncube became interested in the forex space. Lecturers warned him that the FCSA exams he would need to pass to become a qualified ‘key individual’ were challenging, but then came Covid. “I thought I’d better study because we are on lockdown. We are not doing anything. We can’t just sleep, eat and put our masks on.” Less than a year later, he’d passed his exams.  

He approached an existing FSP to gain the required practical experience. They were impressed with his BAP(SA) qualification. “They said, ‘you’re actually qualified, you just need experience.’ They took me in for a year-long supervision period, which I completed last week.” 

Having started out helping accounting clients during lunch breaks, Ncube is now a qualified key individual and director of EuporiaFx Markets, his own forex brokerage.  

Learn more about the life-changing SAIBA designation here