Aparna Vijay

Aparna is the Head of the Corporate services team and a Partner with more than 20 years experience in providing consultancy in company law and related matters. She focuses on providing services to privately held organizations and corporate clients.

Experience

She worked in one of the leading accounting firms, AF Ferguson & Co (now Deloitte and Touché) in India, before joining Grant Thornton in Botswana in 2003. She worked with the Audit team for over a year, and her passion for secretarial and corporate services led her to join the Corporate Services team of the firm. 

Sector experience

Aparna provides consulting for setting up new businesses in Botswana, incorporation of companies in Botswana as per the company laws of Botswana, liaising with the concerned authorities on post-incorporation formalities and submission of statutory documents. 

She is an expert in Companies Act and helps companies with complex matters such as restructuring through amalgamations and share reduction etc. 

She also provides company secretarial services in organizing various statutory meetings for companies acting as minute secretaries, drafting minutes of the meetings, preparing of board packs, convening general meetings and ensuring overall compliance of all clientele with the Companies Act. 

She provides assistance in organising trade and appropriate licences for businesses to operate in the different industries and work and residence permits for clients.

Aparna has kept abreast with all the developments with regards Corporate Governance and the Kings Reports which helps her provide dynamic advice to boards. 

Aparna has been a key team member in imparting training to various clients on matters relating to essential aspects of the King 3 and 4, Companies Act and salient features of Corporate Governance.

She has helped develop Corporate Governance Frameworks (Board Charters, Terms of References, policies, Governance manuals, constitutions etc.) that are easy to apply and implement. Implementation of these frameworks leads to a transparent and more manageable relationships between the Board, its different Committees, management as well as other stakeholders. 

Boards encounter challenges and are continuously striving to effectively provide strategic oversight for the benefit of all stakeholders. Aparna helps develop board evaluation tools and also perform board assessments and analysis which are designed to bring the board to the expected best practice by allowing the Board to effectively evaluate themselves towards maintaining the highest level of Corporate Governance Best Practice.

Aparna has vast experience in handling assignments involving varied expertise such as accounting, audit, investigations and legal. She is a key team member in building the clientele of the Corporate Services division.

Professional qualifications and memberships

Aparna is a qualified Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bangalore University, India. Aparna is a fellow member of the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) and a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Aparna has attended the Advanced Leadership Program facilitated by Grant Thornton International, which is recognised as one of the world’s leading leadership development programs.

Technological Proficiency

Aparna is proficient in using Microsoft Office applications to bring value to different assignments. She is particularly proficient in using Microsoft Word and Excel to generate quality and informative reports for clients across different industries. Furthermore, she is well versed with using the CIPA online platform for company secretarial roles including but not limited to, registration, filing annual returns, submission of financial statements, amalgamation, and deregistration.

Community involvement

Aparna has been a member of the Private Business Growth Awards internal judges panel since 2017. Presented in association with Business Botswana and Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), this initiative is Grant Thornton’s biggest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity that encourages and honours the development of growing private businesses in the country, and led to a partnership with USAID Trade Hub to present the “Botswana Exporter of the Year” awards

Aparna participates in Grant Thornton’s CSR initiatives such as recently supporting Government’s Digital Transformation Strategy within the education sector by sponsoring a state-of-the art imported tech panel – a first for public schools in Botswana. Over the years, Grant Thornton has supported various local communities paying special attention to the upliftment of education in Botswana.

In her personal capacity, Aparna was actively involved with the Free eye clinic run by an organisation in Gaborone, and was an integral member of the clinic volunteer committee for over 3 years. During her time at the clinic she assisted in running eye camps each of which assisted over 150 school children who had no access to eye clinics and spectacles. 

Aparna has been a regular blood donor and has donated blood over 10 times.

Presentations and publications

Aparna has been a member of Grant Thornton’s corporate Toastmasters club, which has facilitated development of communication and leadership skills. 

Aparna has contributed valuable articles on Corporate Governance and other relevant areas on the Companies Act for many of the Grant Thornton Botswana publications.

Languages spoken

English, Hindi, Tamil.