The African Woman Chartered Accountants (AWCA) forum, which aims to provide support for the development and advancement of black women Chartered Accountants (CAs), has named Sindi Zilwa as their 2008 Woman of Substance.

Woman of Substance is an annual event which celebrates and honours a woman, who in the view of the AWCA board, has gone beyond the call of duty to support and empower black women in the accounting profession and business in general.

"Since it was first introduced, the Woman of Substance award has been bestowed on very successful individuals who are in a league of elite achievers.

What distinguishes all the recipients of the award is that they have all given back to their community and displayed a highly developed sense of civic duty which has touched the hearts and lives of many people.

We congratulate Sindi Zilwa," says Sindi Mabaso-Koyana, President and co-founder of AWCA.

Sindi Zilwa was the second black woman CA after qualifying in 1990 and has always committed to breaking down barriers as well as being fearless in her pioneering spirit.

She has had an illustrious career and is no stranger to accolades.

In 1998 she was named South Africa's Business Women of the Year by the Executive Women's Club.

In 2001 she was nominated as one of the top ten business personalities in South Africa by the Black Management Forum and Impumelelo Top 300 companies.

In 2004 she was awarded the Top Emerging Female Owned Company of the Year award on behalf of Nkonki.

She was awarded the Eastern Cape achievers award in the Finance category.

"All of these achievements are testament to the contributions and influence she has had on the profession. Sindi Zilwa is a role model to all women," adds Koyana.

"After qualifying as a CA and being told that I was the second black women to ever become certified in the industry, I quickly realised that something was wrong somewhere and that I had a responsibility to build this profession.

I made it one of my life missions to contribute towards ensuring more black women were qualifying quickly enough.

It is on this basis that we formed AWCA in 2002," says Zilwa.