Black History Month 2024 centres on reclaiming narratives. Two CAs at the top of their game share with Cherry Casey some defining points of their journey so far

Daniel Kofie CA, Head of M&A, Orisha
‘I often felt a sense of, “Do I belong here?”’

Watching his parents – both political refugees from Ghana – leaving their home, lives and everything they knew to rebuild from scratch in the UK “left a mark” on Daniel Kofie CA, Head of M&A at software publisher Orisha. “The tremendous determination to provide for me and my siblings and the effort it took to retrain themselves… that gave me an element of drive, as well as something to aspire to.”

Kofie’s parents had aspirations for him in turn. “There’s a handful of careers that African parents typically want you to go into, such as doctor, lawyer, engineer,” laughs Kofie. “And one of those is accountant.”

With a natural interest in business and an aptitude for numbers, Kofie opted to follow the accountancy route. After studying economics at Loughborough University, he trained with PwC, before joining EY as a Transaction Support Manager following his qualification. “I felt there was an element of prestige to the ICAS programme, relative to the others available,” he says. Eighteen years on, seeing the CA designation after his name “is something that still fills me with pride. It’s a qualification that I can use anywhere in the world.”

And Kofie has taken advantage of the global opportunities the CA qualification brings, working in Paris for several years in his twenties, before returning last year with Orisha. “When I moved out of professional services and into corporate development, my aim was always to be the most senior M&A person within an organisation, so the fact that I am doing that now gives a sense of great pride,” says Kofie. Not least because, he says, Orisha is not “a €300m-turnover (£253m) business, but something significantly larger”.

Indeed, last month, Orisha was reported to be worth €2.1bn. “So what I need to do now is deliver on the ambition that my bosses have for the business.”

That ambition is “huge”, he says, involving a shift away from being a traditional French business into a more European one. “That I brought the broader European mindset is, I think, part of the reason why I got the gig.”

This clarity around what he wants and how to get there hasn’t always been so strong. There were times in his career where Kofie would often find himself the only Black person in the room. “There was a sense of, ‘Do I belong here?’ I wish that when I was starting out there had been senior leaders who were Black, people I could look up to and could have as a mentor. I think that may have dispelled some of the self-sabotage that I went through when I would look around and see myself as the odd one out,” he says.

Whether this inner unease ever manifested as something more tangible is hard to say, Kofie admits: “But if you replay those thoughts over and over again – should I be here, should I be doing something else? – perhaps it has an impact on your performance, in terms of you not always bringing your best self.”

Kofie now tries to extend to others the help and inspiration that he lacked. “I got involved in Loughborough University’s mentoring programme for their students from ethnic and minority backgrounds, and there have been some more informal arrangements where someone just wants to have a chat,” he says.

“[Effective mentoring] is time consuming, and requires a lot of commitment from both parties. But given what I think I could have gained from having a Black senior leader who could help pull me through, I see it as a powerful thing to do.”

 

Tosin Ajayi CA, UK Downstream Tax Manager, Shell
‘I’ve made sure that I never stop myself from trying things’

With a chartered banker for a mother and a chartered accountant for a father, you don’t have to look far to see where Tosin Ajayi CA, UK Downstream Tax Manager at Shell, took her career influences from. “Dad always said being a chartered accountant was the best profession in the world,” says Ajayi. And his ambitions for his daughter didn’t end there, as she recalls: “He would consistently say, ‘If anyone can do something and be the best at it, why not you?’”

Ajayi grew up in Nigeria, where she completed undergraduate studies and the exams for the Nigerian equivalent of the CA simultaneously. Following this, she took up a role as Senior Tax Consultant at KPMG while being signed up to the one-year mandatory national service (National Youth Service Corps). “Because of the quality of my work, they wanted me to stay on full-time after the national service, which I did until 2010, when I had the opportunity to move to the UK to study finance and economics at Warwick Business School,” she says.

This was a “brilliant experience”, says Ajayi, and from there, ICAS beckoned. “The discipline, the rigour, the feedback that I had from others really drew me towards going through the EY and ICAS route,” she says. “Add to that the ability to put ‘CA’ at the end of your name… well, that was it for me!’” This particular qualification, she says, “speaks for you”, instantly demonstrating what you’re capable of.

But what it doesn’t have is the power to protect a person from stereotyping. And there have been occasions, both personally and professionally, when Ajayi says she has been met with preconceptions. “There was a time I went for an interview and someone thought I was there as a cleaner,” she says. “It was embarrassing, but throughout my career I’ve made sure that I never withdraw into myself or stop myself from trying things because of how someone may or may not perceive me.”

Her inner strength and determination have powered her career path. “[But] no man is an island,” she says. “You need people with you wherever you’re going. You help people, they help you, that’s how life works.”

That’s why she treasures the ICAS’ Black Members’ Network: “It’s an avenue to learn more about how others have succeeded, and to see who has done something that you want to do.”

Ajayi feels as strongly about her CA status today as she did on qualifying more than a decade ago, and this drives her to pay it forward, mentoring young CAs on how to navigate the professional world successfully. “The really important one for me is helping them have a strong sense of what they can contribute in any organisation they find themselves,” she says.

“We can’t just say, ‘I feel discriminated against because I'm Black', and leave it there. You’ve got to continue to improve yourself, be able to showcase the values you have, what you’re bringing to the organisation and reminding yourself why you’ve succeeded so far. These are essential to helping you go through your career journey.”

To celebrate Black History Month, we invite you to hear from a panel of Black CAs on the steps they have taken to drive their careers. Register now for the “Celebrating Black History Month – Empowering Careers in Chartered Accountancy” webinar, 11am–12pm, 9 October

To learn more about the Black Members’ Network, email members@icas.com