At Woizero Sehin secondary school in Dessie, a town in north-central Ethiopia, my dream was to be a scientist working in electronics. In the 1980s, though, where you studied was largely determined by the government and I landed in the social science faculty at Addis Ababa University. My dream of electronics had gone for good.
The next step was to choose a suitable alternative field of study, and I found accounting to be the best fit for me. As the course progressed, I started to love my chosen career. I graduated in 1990 and qualified as ACCA in 2003. We are an ACCA family – my wife is also a member and my daughter is studying for her first ACCA exam.
It is exciting to see farmers making a decision based on the simplified financial reports they have produced themselves
I love developing accounting teaching materials and providing training to farmers' cooperatives and SMEs – a key part of our work. It is an exciting moment to see farmers making a decision based on the simplified financial reports they have produced themselves, with only a couple of days' training.
My objective in pursuing the ACCA Qualification was to become a financial management consultant. I thought consulting would give more space for professional development than working in practice. My first job was internal auditing in a state-owned corporation where I worked for three years, and I then served as a senior accountant, chief accountant and finance manager in different companies until 2003.
My exposure to different consultancy tasks paved the way for public expenditure and financial accountability (PEFA) assignments. Public finance is a different world in which you learn more in practice than in school.
I participated in many PEFA projects at national and sub-national government levels. It's challenging work as timeframes are always tight, many documents have to be read in a short period to understand the various aspects of the country being assessed and findings and ratings have to be defended.
If the political crises can be resolved, Ethiopia's potential is enormous
A lot of stakeholders see the PEFA report, so each rating must be backed by clear evidence and justification. PEFA is enjoyable and there is a lot to be learnt from the process.
This experience has helped Target Business Consultants to win public finance-related tenders. The consultancy market in Ethiopia is growing, and firms able to work in multiple sectors stand to win more business than those specialising in one specific sector.
Ethiopia faces macro-level business challenges due to political instability. Furthermore, the shortage of foreign currency reserves limits businesses’ ability to import raw materials and operate affordably. The inflation rate is spiking, the finance available to the private sector is far below the demand and industry is affected by an insufficient supply of power.
However, there are positives. Ethiopia is a sleeping giant – a big country of more than 115 million people, with a significant young population to call upon. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is expected to address the power shortfall. If the political crises can be resolved, the potential is enormous – there is plenty of economic growth to be had.
If I had law-making powers, I would reform the constitution and the tax laws. They need to be more business friendly, comprehensive enough, and clear and transparent, with limited discretionary power to the tax authority. Tax liability is the most unpredictable matter in Ethiopia and the cost of compliance with tax reporting requirements is getting high even for mid-sized companies.
I enjoy my job, especially learning from each assignment, working with a range of different people and of course seeing happy clients. I am proud to have established a company that has remained in business for 17 years and counting, serving more than 400 organisations. Target is among the few indigenous consulting firms offering a wide range of products and expertise.
I love to solve problems. If I were not an accountant, I would have been an electrical engineer or have had my own electrical workshop.
My interests outside work are visiting new places and reading books about the Ethiopian Orthodox church. I would also like to take up painting.
