Diana Kinyanjui 
For KC Rottok Chesaina, accounting was never a love affair — it was a practical choice. In an interview with Gauteng Lifestyle Magazine after the JSE SheInvests 2025 Conference, he reflected:
“Actually, I wouldn’t call it love. It was one of those things that grew on me. I was studying marketing at first, but I kept doing well in accounting courses. A lecturer told me that in South Africa, accountants are in huge demand, so it was more of an economic decision.”
That decision set him on a path that eventually moved far beyond numbers. Today, KC is a Chartered Accountant, author of multiple books, and a sought-after speaker.
“I’m an extrovert. I like to talk, I like to be creative,”
he said.
“Our parents didn’t have the freedom to cross disciplines. Now you can be a finance person and also be on social media. Boring careers can be made sexy.”
KC’s latest project is Architects of Influence, a coffee-table book commissioned by the JSE that profiles South Africa’s most influential women, from Prof. Thuli Madonsela to Maria Ramos and Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe. The book was launched at SheInvests 2025, where KC was one of the very few men addressing an audience of 650 women.
“Yes, there were nerves,”
he admitted.
“But women are empathetic. When you’re on stage, they want you to do well. They take notes, they laugh, they engage. I’d rather speak to 650 women than 650 men. Men can be stiff and competitive. Women are collaborative — and a speaker needs the help of the audience.”
It is this ability to connect across boundaries — technical and creative, male and female audiences, finance and storytelling — that defines KC’s journey. He grew up with a love for writing, inspired by his mother, a literature professor.
“She told me there was no money in writing, so I chose accounting. But I always had that dream. Eventually I realised I could be an accountant and a writer at the same time.”
That realisation has since shaped a career that blends financial training, public speaking, and authorship. His earlier works, Masters of Money and The CEO X Factor, profiled top CFOs and CEOs. With Architects of Influence, he has shifted focus to women pioneers breaking barriers in business and society — a project that mirrors the SheInvests 2025 theme, Where Your Present and Future Meet.
For the Gauteng audience, KC’s story is a reminder that careers do not need to be linear, and that creative ambition can be paired with technical skill.
“Money, skills, careers — they all need leadership and imagination,”
he said.
“And if you’re willing to combine what you’re good at with what you love, you’ll create something uniquely yours.”
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