PRELECIA ODAYAN
Wilderness Regional Financial Officer – South Africa
With an established background in Finance, Prelecia joined Wilderness in 2018 and has successfully grown within the business. She is excited to take on her new strategic role and looks forward to working with and developing her team.
Durbanite Prelecia had a knack for numbers from a young age and knew she was going to be a Chartered Accountant (CA) one day. Eager to follow her dream, she completed her Bachelor of Commerce degree and Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Although numbers are her game, Prelecia also has a passion for design. She attended visual art classes at school, and enjoys creating ceramic and mosaic crafts when she gets a chance.
After university, Prelecia jumped straight into the world of Finance and completed her South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) articles at KPMG. Here she was exposed to a variety of industries. After successfully completing her SAICA board exams, Prelecia was selected for an international secondment to New York. This incredible opportunity afforded her the opportunity to work with international hedge funds and private equity firms.
Fate intervened in 2018, when Prelecia returned home to South Africa and was given the choice of working for a bank or Wilderness. Her decision was easy, and her Wilderness journey began as a Financial Controller where she embraced the opportunity to interact with many of the business’ departments. An asset to the team, Prelecia was promoted to Financial Manager in 2022 and in the same year, Regional Financial Officer for South Africa.
Prelecia attributes her growth within Wilderness to every person she has interacted with. She is grateful for the support she has received throughout her time at the company, saying, “Our individual impact on this planet is something I care deeply about. Even though in Finance we work with numbers all day long, it’s really great to know that I am playing a tiny part in an amazing quest to positively impact environments and uplift communities”.