Kalyanaraman Vijay

Vijay has been the Managing Partner at Grant Thornton in Botswana since July 2018. He relocated to Botswana and became part of Grant Thornton in 1996 and is now a naturalized citizen of the country

Experience

Vijay joined Grant Thornton in Botswana in 1996. He worked as a Branch Manager in Selebi-Phikwe and later took charge of the northern operations of the firm. Vijay moved to Gaborone in 2002 to take charge of the Advisory services team and has been a Partner since 2003. He became Managing Partner of the firm in 2018.

Vijay serves on the Policy Board of Grant Thornton in Botswana and brings over 30 years of experience in audit, tax, corporate services, and advisory. He previously led the firm’s northern operations and played a key role in establishing the Advisory Services practice at Grant Thornton Botswana.

Sector experience

Vijay is responsible for building the Advisory services practice of Grant Thornton in Botswana. His experience includes setup and management of the Francistown branch operations of the firm. He has been instrumental in building the diamond clientele services particularly to the DTC sight holders, apart from the other stakeholders. 

He has been the lead advisor of several corporate transactions in Botswana and has assisted a lot of businesses with recovery, restructuring and turnaround strategy.

Vijay has been part of several co-sourcing services to major corporates and listed entities, covering roles including Head of Internal Audit, Risk Manager and Expert Advisor in setting up the risk management function. He has led several risk workshops for organisations in Botswana. Vijay has extensive experience in serving clients from the Financial Services and Mining sectors.

Professional qualifications and memberships

Vijay is a Fellow Certified Professional Accountant (FCPA) and a member of the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA). He is also Fellow Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA). He is a qualified Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Vijay was the first President of BICA, a former member of its Executive Council, and the past chairperson of the BICA Tax Committee. Additionally, he is registered as a 'Certified Auditor of Public Interest Entities' with the Botswana Accountancy Oversight Authority (BAOA). Vijay is also a member of the High-Level Consultative Council (HLCC Finance), representing professional services at Business Botswana. 

He has previously served as the chairperson for the Membership and Examinations, Public Relations, and Education and Training committees of BICA. Furthermore, he has been a member of the Board and Audit Committee at Botswana Accountancy College. 

Vijay is a member of the Grant Thornton regional advisory and IT committee. He has attended the International Partners Development Programme organised by Grant Thornton International (GTIL) and regularly attends Grant Thornton Advisory programmes. He has attended several training programs on specialist services, covering business risk services, valuation and transaction / lead advisory services. In July 2023, Vijay completed the Senior Leadership Programme with Harvard Business School.

Community involvement

Vijay has been member of Grant Thornton Private Business Growth Awards committee since 2015 and chaired it since 2016. 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.

Vijay 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. 

Presentations and publications

Vijay has been a speaker and part of several expert panels / specialist presentations in Botswana, including Botswana Stock Exchange conference, Institute of Internal auditors Botswana, Global Expo (organised by Botswana Investment and Trade Centre), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) to name a few and Stanbic Bank Collaboration.  

Vijay has been a part of The Botswana Stock Exchange 27th Annual African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) 2024 conference which is the Premier Association of Securities Exchanges in Africa. He presented on a breathtaking discussion amongst a panel on “How can we accelerate SME development agenda in Africa.

Since 2022 to date, Vijay has been leading the “Botswana budget speech analysis”, he has delivered presentations and shared knowledge with the public through different media platforms.

In 2024 Vijay participated in panel discussions on the Women in business and “Women in Leadership in African business rise marginally” and unpacking the GTBW and GTIL survey results.

Languages spoken

English, Tamil.