Every tyre fitted, every branch opened, every salary paid — behind it all sits a set of numbers, and behind those numbers sits Leslie Bush. As Financial Director of the Super Tyres group, Leslie carries a responsibility most customers never see but every branch relies on.
Her path into the role started with an approach rather than an application. “As a family member with corporate experience, I was approached by Dean to join Super Tyres, which was a small to medium business,” she says. “My role was to assist in the finance department.” She came on board as Financial Manager, and by 2024 had been promoted to Financial Director — a trajectory that mirrors the growth of the business itself.
Ask her what the job actually involves and the list is long, and telling. “At its core, my role covers all the standard functions you’d expect of a Financial Director in a retail environment — financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, cash flow management, cost control, tax and statutory compliance, internal controls, and liaising with auditors and banks.” With multiple companies across the group, overseeing stock and inventory management is a major focus too, alongside making sure every branch’s management accounts are performing and reporting accurately. Her remit doesn’t stop at finance — she also manages payroll and HR, and drives the group’s BEE strategy and implementation. “In short, I’m involved in every area of the business that has a financial impact.”
Leslie Bush says that the biggest test her tenure so far was a systems overhaul. “Migrating our accounting systems from Pastel — which supported a single company — to Sage 300 across multiple companies in the group was by far the biggest challenge,” she says. “It was a significant undertaking, but essential for the scale we’d grown to.”
On gender in a traditionally male-dominated trade, her view is unambiguous. “I don’t see gender as a factor,” she says. “There are many women in the motor industry fulfilling important, senior roles, and finance is one — the fundamentals of managing it for a retail business like Super Tyres are the same regardless of industry. I believe strongly in appointing the right person for the job, based on merit, rather than gender or race.”
Asked to name her proudest achievement, Leslie doesn’t point to a single number — she points to a culture shift. “I’ve played a significant role in helping Super Tyres become a profitable, well-run business by putting the right systems in place,” she says. She singles out the introduction of branch-level management accounts — giving managers real visibility into their Sales, Cost of Sales, Gross Profit, Expenses and Net Profit — as one of the biggest game-changers, a move that also let the company shift quarterly bonuses from being based on Gross Profit to Net Profit, a far more accurate reflection of true performance. She also encouraged shareholders to introduce a profit-sharing scheme, positioning Super Tyres as an above-average employer.
Beyond the numbers, she’s proudest of the group’s unbroken record of BEE compliance — and, above all, its YES Programme. “We invest significantly in bringing on and training young people, and by the end of their year with us, the vast majority are either absorbed into permanent roles or find employment quickly elsewhere — most are absorbed by us,” she says. Alongside learnerships that have seen participants flourish too, the programme has reshaped the workforce into one that’s noticeably younger — and has genuinely changed the culture of Super Tyres for the better. “It’s been enormously rewarding to see.”
Her advice for a young woman starting out in accounting or finance is grounded in the discipline the profession demands. “Be prepared to put in the time — this isn’t a 9-to-5 job. Study the subject properly, and make sure it’s genuinely your passion. And here’s a good sign you’ve chosen the right career: if your books don’t balance, you won’t stop until they do.”
Asked what leadership means to her in a single sentence, her answer captures her whole approach to the role: “To me, leadership means sharing what I know — in every area of life, personal or professional — because knowledge is power.”