The Rise of the Fractional CFO with The CFO Centre
Every ambitious business eventually reaches the point where a bookkeeper isn’t enough and a full-time CFO isn’t yet practical. The fractional model exists precisely for that gap, but understanding when to use it, what it actually delivers, and how it differs from simply outsourcing a function, is a conversation most business owners aren’t having early enough.
In this episode of Meet the Management, Emma Montocchio speaks with Rowan de Klerk, founder and CEO of The CFO Centre South Africa, about the shift toward fractional financial leadership, why it’s gaining traction globally and locally, and what business owners need to understand before deciding whether the model is right for them.
About the guest
Rowan de Klerk is the co-founder and CEO of The CFO Centre South Africa, a business he has built over more than thirteen years into one of the country’s most recognised providers of fractional and part-time CFO services. His career spans over 35 years, with experience across large corporates and mid-sized entrepreneurial businesses, including a stint as CFO and CEO of a venture capital technology company that completed a full IPO, as well as senior roles spanning banking, financial services, hospitality, retail and technology sectors.
He is also a qualified executive coach and a recognised voice in South African financial leadership, having contributed commentary on CFO agility, entrepreneurial finance and the evolving C-suite to publications including CFO South Africa. His practical lens, combining deep commercial experience with the perspective of someone who has built a business specifically to solve the CFO access problem for ambitious companies, makes him an unusually well-placed guide to this conversation.
Why this conversation matters
The full-time CFO model was built for a different business environment. In a world where headcount is expensive, economic conditions remain volatile, and the financial decisions facing growing companies are becoming more complex, the idea that every business either manages without a CFO or commits to a full salary package and a corner office is starting to look like a false choice. The access economy has already changed how businesses consume technology, talent and office space. Executive leadership is next.
That shift is visible in the South Africa market, but it is not unique to it. Fractional CFO models have been a recognised feature of the UK, US and European business landscape for longer, which means there is a real body of evidence about when the model works, what it requires of the CEO it supports, and where its limits lie. That global context makes this conversation more than a local trend piece — it points toward where the South African executive suite is headed.
What also makes this episode worth watching is the framing around the “whirlwind”: the daily urgency that keeps most business owners stuck managing operations instead of driving strategy. A CFO who comes in two or three days a week with no accumulated organisational baggage and a clear mandate to focus on the numbers that matter can be a more effective strategic sounding board than a full-time hire who has been absorbed into the day-to-day. That counterintuitive idea is at the heart of what Rowan unpacks here.
In this episode
This is a conversation about financial leadership without the full-time overhead, and about what businesses gain when they access the right CFO at the right moment. It covers:
- the macroeconomic and structural factors pushing executive leadership toward an on-demand model
- how South African businesses are adopting fractional models compared to more mature markets in the UK, US and Europe
- why a fractional CFO operates as a strategic sounding board rather than a glorified bookkeeper
- the specific trigger points that signal a business is ready for fractional CFO support: scaling up, exit planning, navigating distress
- how a part-time executive can move a business beyond day-to-day accounting toward profitability, cost control and corporate action
- what business owners should evaluate before committing to the model
Watch the full episode to hear Rowan de Klerk unpack the rise of the fractional CFO, the trigger points that signal a business is ready, and how The CFO Centre South Africa helps ambitious companies access elite financial governance without the full-time corporate overhead.
About the CFO Centre
The CFO Centre is the world’s leading provider of part-time CFO services, operating across more than fifteen countries including the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Singapore and the UAE. The South Africa operation was co-founded by Rowan de Klerk in 2010 and has grown into a national team of portfolio CFOs covering every major economic region, from Johannesburg and Pretoria to Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and beyond.
The model works by matching businesses with a senior CFO or Finance Director who works with them on a part-time or interim basis, typically one to three days a week, providing strategic financial leadership at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. The CFO Centre’s South African team covers a broad range of engagements, from interim CFO roles and exit planning to profit improvement, cash flow management, scaling-up support and corporate finance transactions. Its positioning is built around a straightforward idea: that access to great financial leadership shouldn’t be limited to businesses that can afford to put it on a full-time payroll.
