CALUM ROBSON finds out what it takes to go it alone - armed only with dreams and qualifications.
Most accountants are happy to do the 'corporate thing' - plotting a career path that involves a succession of promotions and pay rises before a well-earned retirement. To many, it sounds relatively risk-free.
Driving the driven
Others have ambitions only of running their own business. Ganseh Sama, a 22-year-old ACCA student in Cameroon , is idealistic: 'The motivating factor for me is personal achievement and financial reward,' he explains. 'My ideas won't be easy to try out if I'm working for someone else. I admire successful entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, who's a source of great inspiration.'
Karl George FCCA runs a successful consultancy in England , running leadership and personal development programmes. His break into entrepreneurship was driven by necessity: ' The thing that did it for me was being made redundant - and trying to get a job as a finance director at the age of 23. I couldn't get work at that level, so I thought: now's my chance.'
For some entrepreneurs, working long-term for someone else was never an option. Samantha Griffiths FCCA runs Sagenius, a UK consultancy that advises companies on enhancing investor appeal: 'I always knew I wanted to run my own business,' she says. 'An important trigger was my frustration, as a paid employee, at not being able to do things the way I wanted.'
Practical obstacles
For those who're starting out, it's not as simple as just having a bright idea, as Sama is discovering: 'So far, I've tried to do research work, especially in the agricultural field, including projects on fishing and maize cultivation,' he explains. 'But my research largely depends on information I get from the media. Entrepreneurs themselves rarely sacrifice time to help orientate young people like me, although they'll find time to talk about their own achievements.' Getting financial backers is an obvious difficulty: 'When I submit a proposal, the first thing they ask is how much I've got to invest myself - and when I say nothing, the project goes to sleep. They're afraid to try out ideas that come from an inexperienced young man.'
Charles Tushabomwe-Kazooba, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda, observes a number of common obstacles: 'One of the challenges entrepreneurs face is to think outside the box - they often try to copy what others are already doing, not being innovative or trying to be different.'
And even the most sophisticated achievers can be hampered by naivety, as Karl George found out: 'I had my first office in my mum's house,' he recounts. 'It was only when clients from London came up to see me and I saw their body language that I realised that wasn't the right way to do business. Within a month, I was renting a space in a serviced office in the city centre.'
But George also faced more conventional hurdles. As a twenty-something, he found difficulty convincing partners in accounting firms with whom he wanted to merge: 'I prepared detailed business plans to show how I would acquire various practices. The challenge was persuading them; they regarded me as too young. I was finding that my peers were 20 years older than me - I had fantastic ideas but couldn't find people to believe in me.'
Psychological barriers
George is convinced that mental issues can pose the biggest problems for would-be entrepreneurs: 'People are too scared of failing,' he says. 'Yet one of the best ways to learn about business is to fail - that's when you start to learn.'
Samantha Griffiths agrees: 'The only person stopping you is you. Barriers are just things your mind creates when you're tired. Yes, there will be many low points - such as cash-flow, long hours and self-doubt - but these are compensated by the buzz when things go right. It can feel like a long time coming - but when it does, it's great.'
Griffiths says young accountants can often be conditioned out of a leaning towards enterprise. 'Lack of security is common - but many also lack the drive to operate outside their comfort zone,' she says. 'People who have been professionally trained in particular can over-analyse situations and become paralysed. They're unable to break the bonds of working in more conventional ways.'
Learning from mistakes
Some entrepreneurs succeed only after conquering adversity. And sometimes, it's not a lack of business know-how that does for hopeful ideas. Atia Silas, an affiliate who's also from Cameroon, started his first business with two friends - but came a cropper when he realised they had different priorities: 'The venture only lasted a year but I learned a great deal from the experience, which has moulded me into a more informed entrepreneur,' he says.
Silas and his friends started up a consultancy, but it wasn't long before one of the friends introduced unfair practices: 'He overcharged clients,' says Silas. 'We also advertised more services than we could offer and accepted jobs that didn't fall within our scope or capacity. More marketing attracted more clients, and other friends wanted to be part of our team - we needed even more advice than our clients. We drew up a new plan of action to address these issues, identifying the training we needed to implement a new business plan. In the meantime, we went dormant while we reorganised.'
But one of his new colleagues continued to solicit clients: 'At that point, I decided to quit,' says Silas. 'My friend just wanted to get the money - despite the fact that we were not worth what we advertised.'
Samantha Griffiths has a philosophical approach to business blunders that harks back to her childhood: 'I always remember a sign on a school classroom door when I was 10,' she recalls. 'It said "A mistake isn't serious unless it's repeated" - and I guess that's the trick. You have to learn from your mistakes to move forwards.'
Enterprise culture?
But does today's business world foster a spirit of enterprise? Are young people exposed to the right role models? Many successful entrepreneurs think not.
'In my experience, working with young people, finance isn't the number one complication,' says Charles Tushabomwe-Kazooba. 'It's just want to get good grades and go onto be employed by established businesses. The school curriculum in Uganda doesn't promote an entrepreneurial spirit. Young people tend not to want to take risks.'
He believes other youngsters are simply too over-ambitious, and don't realise the effort they have to put in: 'They want to start big because they're making comparisons with established businesses,' he says. 'That's a wrong assumption.'
Why is this the case? Perhaps it's the media profile given to entrepreneurs such as Donald Trump and Richard Branson - who have propelled entrepreneurs into the limelight. Television shows on every continent feature 'wannabe' entrepreneurs - but can they mask the effort needed to reach the top?
' Today's society doesn't necessarily have the right culture for promoting enterprise,' says Chris Barlow FCCA, a partner with Birmingham-based accounting practice Bloomer Heaven. 'Programmes like the The Apprentice and Dragon's Den serve a certain purpose by highlighting what it's possible to achieve - but they often miss out the hard work that must go on. Young people don't always understand that a crucial part of anybody's learning process is making mistakes and learning from them.'
Karl George says the change in business culture needs to be more dramatic: ' I still hear youngsters saying they want to become famous footballers or pop stars. So we have to somehow make business trendy - and to make company directorship a fashionable occupation to aspire to. Young people don't realise that company directors are amongst the most highly paid professionals, and they're surprised when they find out. Enterprising businesses should engage more with the education system to encourage them and lead by example.'
Practical advice
So what should aspiring entrepreneurs do, in order to give themselves the best chances of success?
Ganseh Sama is using the internet: 'I'm subscribed to a number of online management and entrepreneur sites, and frequently visit business news sites. I regularly read magazines like the Economist and the New African.'
Take small steps to start with, says Samantha Griffiths: 'You don't have to give up the day job,' she advises. 'Try selling something without a big name behind you to open doors. Do it in a small way - go to a car boot sale, use eBay or trade with friends and family. See what it takes to earn just a little bit of cash. Once you've done that, it gets easier.'
And why pay for your own training? 'If you want to do something you don't have much experience of, it's better to learn on someone else's payroll,' she continues. 'If you want to run a pub or open a florist shop or gallery, get a Saturday job in one, to see how things work from the inside. It might make you think again - but at least it'll open your eyes.'
But qualify!
Let's not forget your top priority for now: seeing your ACCA studies through to completion is crucial, says Atia Silas: 'I advise people who want to become entrepreneurs to embrace the challenge - but to always remember to uphold the integrity expected by ACCA,' he urges. 'Accountants should be able to run businesses in a responsible way. It's not just about making money but having a vision and deciding the kind of legacy you want to create.'
Even if you have a world-beating business idea, Karl George advises sticking the course: 'ACCA s tudents should unequivocally get through their qualification,' he says. 'It gives you credibility and shows you can complete things - which is invaluable when trying to win over backers. You'll also gain theoretical knowledge about different facets of business you'll be faced with, such as law, IT, HR and regulation.'
And qualifying as an accountant will also give your business a backbone: 'You need to be the financial cornerstone of your business,' says George. 'When I was setting up my businesses and growing my workforce, the job of finance director was one of the last I delegated before becoming managing director.'
Learn as you train
For all that there may be a clutch of aspiring accountants wanting to become business moguls, most students - even those with plans for world domination - are for the moment focused on passing their exams. However, according to Chris Barlow, those with an eye to future empire-building - under their own steam or within a practice - should nevertheless strive to learn from what's going on around them: 'As you train and progress, and grow as a professional, you get exposed to a range of different situations and experience the different ways that people do business or run companies,' he explains. 'It's therefore important to try to take the best bits from each, and use them to help create the approach that's right for you.'
Karl George believes enterprising students should try look at every business they're exposed to from a commercial mindset: 'If you're in practice, continually observe what your clients are doing, right and wrong,' he says. 'And if you're in an accounts department, it makes you a better accountant if you think like an entrepreneur. The figures will make much more sense.'
The future
It may seem like a tall order - but those who want to be their own boss are rarely put off by the prospect of obstacles.
Still want to go it alone? Ganseh Sama hasn't given up: 'I have a long-term plan for five to ten years, during which I'll continue in research work, gain experience and bring potential investors into the show,' he says.
'It's good to start up a business of your own,' says Atia Silas. 'If you succeed, you learn - and if you fail, you also learn. That just makes you a better entrepreneur. Careful planning should increase your chances of success, so a business plan is indispensable.'
'It's a challenging world out there,' concludes Karl George. 'But if you have the will, the chances are you'll find you also have the way.'
