A life intentional

Taiwo Fowosere CA learnt the basics of finance in childhood from watching his mother negotiate at food markets. Now, ahead of International Men’s Day, the Audit Manager at insurer IQUW talks about fatherhood, volunteering and his determination to tell the younger generation about the opportunities the CA qualification brings

 WORDS: Cherry Casey

When Taiwo Fowosere CA was a child accompanying his mother to the local market in Kennington, London, he got a good grounding in the world of business. “She would always bargain and make sure she got a really good deal, whether it was buying fruit and vegetables or clothes,” Fowosere says. “She really taught me about the value of money from an early age and I was always interested in how to use it well, how to save and, as I got a bit older, how to invest.”

This interest was echoed in his education, where he gravitated towards anything related to finance and accounting at both school and university. “I was always just fascinated about business and how it worked,” he says.

It was during Fowosere’s university years that a friend told him about Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a charity that helps students from underrepresented backgrounds forge successful careers via industry-specific programmes.

“They teach children about internships and different companies and help with CV skills and interview prep,” says Fowosere. SEO secured him an internship at EY. “That experience really confirmed my passion for the profession,” he says.

“Earning the CA qualification taught me that when I put my mind to something I can achieve it, but also that how you start your journey doesn’t necessarily shape how you finish”

The EY graduate programme followed. After a challenging start to his professional exams, he refocused, found support at MS Amlin, and went on to qualify as a CA. The experience, says Fowosere, was intense but resilience-building, demonstrating not only that “when I put my mind to something I can achieve it, but also that how you start your journey doesn’t necessarily shape how you finish”.

After leaving MS Amlin in 2022, Fowosere stayed in insurance, moving first to Markel International, then on to IQUW as Audit Manager in 2024, a role he was attracted to as it offered “greater opportunities, better exposure and more autonomy”. His role now involves working closely with the head of audit to develop the annual plan, deliver key audits and shape how the insurer’s internal audit function works.

The road travelled

Fowosere’s career path is one he is understandably proud of. “It’s taken me so far,” he says, “I’ve travelled to different countries through the various roles I’ve undertaken, I’ve advised companies on their risk management, governance and internal controls, providing recommendations to help them achieve their strategic objectives.”

While he enjoys a fulfilling and varied career, he says if he’d had more industry knowledge from a younger age, his career path may have taken a slightly different shape: “I grew up in social housing and the area we lived in had its challenges… we didn’t have a lot of role models.”

Fowosere’s parents had high aspirations for their children and ensured they worked hard, while he also looked up to his older brother. “He was quite driven and worked for an investment bank,” he says, “so I looked at what he was doing, and he guided me.”

All of which was useful, but there were no “accountants, lawyers or business owners, and no access to workplaces or traditional networks” in his personal realm. At the time, he was unaware of how his university choices could shape his opportunities, but Surrey, where he studied, gave him a strong grounding and opened doors into business and finance.

Similarly, while he grew to value insurance, where he did his placement, he didn’t know just how many industries you could work in as a CA. “If I’d had access to professional networks early on, I might have realised just how broad opportunities in accountancy are, from the Premier League and music industry to social media and the charity sector. Exposure like that can change how young people think about their future.”

Recognising that his skills as a CA can be applied to a wide range of contexts came to him anyway. Outside of his working day, Fowosere volunteers as a school governor, as a trustee for his local church, and with Rise, an ICAS-supported charity that gives teenagers from lower socio-economic backgrounds exposure to different workplaces to help develop their confidence and skillset.

“The goal is to unlock children’s talents and to nurture aspirations,” says Fowosere, who visits schools and talks about a career in accountancy, demonstrating to young people what he didn’t know at that age – that the profession can be a passport into a vast array of sectors, and any preconception that it’s just about numbers is well wide of the mark.

“It’s about decision-making, judgement and analysing how something impacts the wider community,” he says. “It’s a fun life, it’s open to everyone, and sometimes all it takes is one conversation to help them believe that it’s possible.”

Fowosere is also active in the ICAS Black Members’ Network, attending its recent Beyond the Balance Sheet event on London’s Southbank, believing visibility and representation play a vital role in making the profession a reflection of society. “It is about [individuals] being ambitious,” he says, “but it’s also about giving students and young professionals tangible access to people like me, for mentorship and for opportunity.”

“It’s a fun life, it’s open to everyone, and sometimes all it takes is one conversation to help them believe that it’s possible”

Going forward, he says, he’d like to see more initiatives that teach parents about careers in accountancy. “Parents shape aspirations, so it would be beneficial to the profession if they too understood more about what accountants do and what the career path is,” he says.

Speaking of which, Fowosere became a parent himself in 2019, and again in 2023, and says the key to managing your work-life balance “is to be intentional. I’m very involved in my children’s lives. I do school runs, football clubs, swimming, bedtime reading and plan my week very carefully, making sure that parents’ evening or school nativities are blocked out in my diary. If it means having to log in later to finish off a piece of work, then I’m fine with that.”

He is, he adds, always transparent with his workplace about what he’s doing and why. “For me, it’s just making sure I don’t compromise on those key family moments when they’re young,” he says.

Fowosere had just two weeks’ paternity leave after the birth of his first child, but managed to have two months for his second. “That allowed me to do so much more with my child in terms of bonding, understanding who they are and just getting comfortable with life as a dad, because it is a big change.”

Although paternity leave is due to become a ‘day one’ right under the new employment bill, meaning workers no longer need to have been in the job for two years, he believes the number of days’ leave should be increased. “Fathers should at least be given the opportunity to be involved” with their children’s earliest moments, he says, not just because it pays dividends in family life, but in the professional realm too.

“You have to learn to be more patient, you have more perspective, you’re more organised, you’re more empathetic, you’re more adaptable.” These, he explains, are “leadership traits in their own right”.

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