1.Good morning everyone, thank you for the warm welcome. Many thanks to the previous curators for this finance week, whose stories, together with those of my friends’, have made me realise we all have a unique CA story. I have not always known about, dreamt or wanted to be a CA.

2.Thank God I was in the public eye, and some members of the public committed to guiding me well. Here is the story and its long because I am grateful to these individuals. From my background, I never knew of the existence of this profession, all I knew is the academic route.

3. All I knew is get the degree & then end up being called a Dr. somehow. My family thought I would end up as one, &called me Dr., while my brother Muku was known as Prof. For a bit of my background, pliz google. When I was abt 7, there was a Deloitte mag lying around the house,

4.I noticed that the ladies in there were dressed nicely (business suits and court shoes), and having only one dress for church, I really wanted to be one of them – for the clothes and the perception I had. That was that on that. Noone in my circle ever brought up being a CA.

5.For the better part of my childhood, from abt 7, we lived off selling stuff, whatever product that would be “making money”. From fish sourced from Binga, biscuits ($ for 2), sweets, salt, cooking oil, vegies and even Oranges in Chegutu.

6. Every1 had a corner to sell from, pa road, in town or pa rank (bus terminus). At day end, we had to cash in at home, & discuss how much profit wld have been made from the day. However good these profits seemed, we always struggled to have basics and even rent at month-end-

-when we moved to the city. I was intrigued by how a business making so much profit would have broke owners, yet we were all selling from our trays. I could not reconcile cash in hand, profit & sales. So when I passed O Level, I knew I wanted to pursue business studies at A Level

7. I am naturally good with numbers, so I also took Maths. I initially wanted to study Divinity too (had really enjoyed religious studies at O Level), but they said my combination didn’t have a structure and would cause scheduling issues.

8. So I settled on Accounting, as a fusion between business studies & math. I started studying accounting in form 5. Fast forward to 2nd year at UZ, one of the big 4 firms approached UZ and we had a chat. They proposed that I switch my degree to part-time & start my articles.

9. I was 15, and misguided. I don’t regret not doing it, I had a lot going on then, & I probably wouldn’t have experienced things I have if I had switched at that point. When I was on attachment, @anesu_daka called me to CAA & asked abt my plan after college. Plan was masters -

-while I work & then PhD. He told me of his journey to be a CA & what it would do for me. I had a "mmm" moment, but remained set on my plan. With my background & black-tax, I needed a job that wld give me money soon after UZ, not more years in school. I had that with ZIMRA.

10. Dec that year, when I was now in my final year, @tumai_mafunga called. The moment he mentions Deloitte, I am on the edge. But still I needed a money making job (GT, Accountant,etc), not an investment opportunity. So we shelve the conversation for when I am done with my degree

11. When we went back to finish off at UZ that year, my classmate Ed, who was with Deloitte during internship year managed to convince me to take a meeting with HR, and then I had the opportunity to meet Tumai in person. I explained to him the situation I was in and my PoV.

12. That is the day Tumai sold the CA Profession to me. Another CA at ZIMRA who heard I was considering going back there after degree invited me to his office for a chat. He had been my boss while i was on attachment. He told me of the story of a tree, I've forgotten the name.

13. He said to me that this tree, requires that after you plant a seed, you water it for a period of time, and it takes long to germinate. However when it does, it takes a very short time to grow and provide shade and fruit. The time that it takes before germinating isn’t a waste

- but rather spent on growing the roots before it sprouts. I never checked this story, but this is the story that made me reconsider my USD 900 offer at ZIMRA. He basically advised me to work on my roots for the meantime. Add Tumai to the mix, I was convinced to dream bigger.

I found my path bcoz i had pple with better knowledge guiding me & explaining things. This is why i am big on mentorship & making information available, so that other pple who don't get the attention of the big guns don't stumble into careers, but make well informed choices.

How and why i did a Masters is a different story. My handle is @maud_chifamba, you can shoot me any accounting career question at anytime. Today, I will share with you what Tumai shared with me, which I have come to see for myself, as benefits of this CA thing.