Fractional CFO leadership · Cape Town, South Africa
I'm a senior CFO who works inside your business on growth, margins, funding and what it'll be worth when you sell it. Your bookkeeper and accountant keep their jobs. I take five clients at a time, which is how the work stays deep.
The difference
I sell one thing: a senior operator, embedded in your business, working on growth, margins, cash, funding, and what the business will be worth when you sell it.
Bookkeeping, payroll and tax stay with the people who already do them well, and where you're missing that layer I'll refer you to firms I trust. My work starts where theirs ends, at the decisions.
What GrowthCFO does
For businesses growing faster than their finance function.
The core engagement. I join your business one to two days a week as your CFO and own the numbers that decide whether growth pays: cash flow, margins, pricing, funding. When the bank wants comfort or a supplier wants new terms, I'm the one in the room. And you get a sounding board for the decisions you'd otherwise make alone.
Visibility you can run the business on.
If month-end takes three weeks, you're steering with last month's numbers. I design the engine that fixes it: ERP and BI architecture, a fast clean close, reporting your managers open on Monday morning, and controls that protect the business without slowing it down. I build it with current-generation AI tooling, which is how a close that took 40 days ends up taking 10. Your team runs it; I bring the design and direction.
Built to be bought.
Buyers pay for profitability they believe and processes that run without the owner. I prepare your business for sale, months or years ahead: profitability clean-up, owner-independence, due-diligence-ready numbers, and support through the deal itself. I've personally bought, restructured and exited a 36-branch business.
Who it's for
Both of us should be sure it's the right fit before we start.
If what you need is bookkeeping, accounting, payroll or tax compliance, there are excellent firms for that and I'll gladly point you to one. I also stay out of gambling, micro-lending and tobacco.
Track record
Scale · Germany
CFO of a German multinational supplying Lidl, Carrefour and Metro. Scaled revenue from €40M to €100M; cut month-end close from 40 days to 10; built a single global banking partnership with an FX hedging policy that generated over €300K in dealing profit; secured factoring in the tens of millions of euros; led a €10M cross-border acquisition.
Rescue → ownership → exit · Cape Town
Joined a 36-branch national repair and retail chain as CFO and rebuilt its finance engine: ERP integrated with point-of-sale, real-time BI, R10M in credit facilities. The founder then stepped away and the business went into Business Rescue. I led it through, bought it in a management buyout, and ran it as Co-CEO before selling my share to my partners. This is the experience behind the Exit & Sale Readiness service.
Growth · retail & wholesale
Co-CEO and CFO of a Cape Town retail business in its growth phase. Built the budgeting, inventory and operational processes from the ground up, launched e-commerce and expanded wholesale, tripling turnover.
National scale · retail
CFO of iStore, a multi-billion-rand national retailer. Launched credit products that improved affordability and drove acquisition; restructured the insurance book into a cell captive; reworked the national leasing portfolio; directed investment in robotic warehouse automation.
The operator behind GrowthCFO
GrowthCFO is founded and led by Ariel Kolin, a CFO with more than twenty years across NASDAQ-listed companies, private multinationals and his own businesses, based in Cape Town since 2011.
He trained inside listed-company environments where the standards are unforgiving (SEC filings, SOX controls across seven international subsidiaries, IFRS and US GAAP), then spent the next decade applying that rigor to growing businesses: scaling a German multinational from €40M to €100M, tripling a Cape Town retailer, and serving as CFO of iStore, South Africa's Apple Premium Retail Partner.
In between, he put his own capital and name on the line: rebuilding the finance engine of a 36-branch national chain as CFO, taking it through Business Rescue, then buying it in a management buyout and running it as Co-CEO before selling his share to his partners.
“I've sat on every side of the table: listed-company controller, multinational CFO, business owner, turnaround principal. That range lets me read a business quickly and act on it commercially.”
How an engagement works
A direct, no-obligation conversation about where growth is straining your business, and a straight answer on whether I'm the right kind of help.
A short, structured review of your numbers, cash and finance engine. You get a clear picture of where the business stands and a prioritised plan, useful whether or not we continue.
One to two days a week inside your business as your CFO, owning the plan, the numbers and the outcomes alongside you.
Get in touch
Tell me briefly about your business and what's in front of it: growth, funding, systems or a sale. You'll get a personal reply from me, usually within one business day.