Craig Coltman

Craig Coltman
Group Manager, Shared Services
CFO, De Beers Group Services

I have 20 years’ experience in the mining industry, having worked for De Beers Marine, De Beers Marine Namibia, Kimberley Mines, De Beers Consolidated Mines at Corporate Headquarters and more recently for De Beers Group Services. 

I have held various leadership positions covering finance, supply chain, risk management and business strategy.

De Beers is a dynamic, ever changing company, which provides me with an opportunity to reinvent myself to adapt to those changes.  De Beers is an empowering company which brings with it a strong sense of work place accountability. 

The shared services portfolio is very diverse, allowing me to engage with a wide range of people, which I enjoy immensely.  De Beers has afforded me many opportunities, both from a work and personal perspective. 

Having worked in three provinces and two countries I have an appreciation of the many different stakeholder issues facing all of us. 

From the shores of Cape Town to the friendly city of Windhoek, the sparkling city of Kimberley, to the Mecca of Johannesburg - Kimberley is my favourite city.  

I have had many “once in a lifetime” experiences with De Beers, including a 3 week visit to Russia which included visiting a mine in Siberia.  It was a humbling experience indeed and reminded me of how fortunate we are to live in South Africa.   

De Beers has enabled me to develop my skills by sponsoring my part time studies.  At the ripe age of thirty two years I set foot on University soil for the first time, completing a B Com (Honours) in Financial Management at the University of Cape Town.  I recently qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant, again through the support of De Beers.

Of the many highlights in my career, if I were to pick one, it would be when I was selected to represent the finance discipline on the business model review (BMR) project. 

The recommendation and outputs from the BMR project fundamentally changed the way the finance discipline looks today, one of the outcomes of that exercise being the start up of the financial shared services unit. 

I see finance not only as a support function, but rather as a critical part of the business.  I sometimes get referred to as a “bean counter” to which I reply, “No, I am a bean grower”. 

I have a passion for continuous improvement, whether its for the company or one’s personal development.  My advice to my colleagues and staff is, if you haven’t experienced continuous improvement, start the journey today.

Whilst at Kimberley Mines I found a new appreciation for the outdoors and the bush in particular.  We live in a fantastic country with so much to offer on our doorstep.  I am married to Jenny and have two sons and a darling daughter and we all enjoy the outdoors, gym, water sports, adventure biking and quad biking. 

We try and avoid the shopping malls of Johannesburg by spending as much time as possible in summer at the Vaal River, but I am in my element when I am able to go adventure bike riding with my boys, often into Swaziland and Lesotho.  This is testimony to the fact that De Beers does afford one the opportunity to live a balanced life.

There is no doubt anyone working for De Beers is fortunate.  The company truly values its employees.   When I meet someone new and the inevitable question pops up, “Where do you work?” or “What do you do?” I say I work for De Beers and immediately I sense they look at me with envy, which leaves me with much pride.