Creating opportunities

‘I thought I would be able to walk into an office, drop my CV and people would come calling,’ she says. ‘But the reality was far from that, as outside of the multinationals most employers in Nigeria just didn’t understand the value of the ACCA qualification. It was a very tough journey.’

It was also an experience that has shaped her career.

Olufon worked extraordinarily hard to achieve her ambition of becoming an accountant, even relocating after university to one of only two states in Nigeria where it was possible at the time to study ACCA. ‘I had a laser focus. I wanted to be an accountant and a global player. I needed a qualification that would help me become that, and that meant ACCA.’

She has never regretted her decision. ‘The ACCA training gave me a very solid foundation for my work and shaped the kind of accountant I am today,’ she says.

Landing a job

Olufon eventually secured a contract working for an NGO that needed a third-party payment system. Within a few years, though, she had set up Lefort, which offers business consulting, audit, accounting, tax advisory and HR services.

‘I was only around 26 at the time and while my first few projects were a light bulb moment for me in terms of wanting to be a consultant, the fact that I come from a family that has always owned a business was important in developing my acumen and competence. My mother had a series of retail businesses and as soon as I could walk I was always with her. Business comes naturally to me.’

Olufon’s experience of breaking into the profession, though, remained front of mind.

‘I kept thinking how difficult it would be for someone who didn’t have good grades or the ability to train with ACCA,’ she says. ‘It meant that their dreams would die because of the bottlenecks that exist in life. They would have no opportunities to grow their skills and pursue a career.

‘I also saw a gap between the training accountants were getting at university and the sort of accountant needed in the workplace. It felt like two parallel lines that could never meet. I decided l should do something about it.’

Levelling the field

The result was The Techy Accountant, a charitable initiative set up in 2018 with three aims: supporting young graduates and undergraduates who want to work in finance through tech-focused learning and mentorship; creating employment opportunities; and improving employability. ‘I wanted to level the playing field a little and give people a chance. And it has worked – we have seen tangible results.’

So far, more than 1,000 young people have graduated from The Techy Accountant Academy, which offers a three-month intensive training course in technology and data analytics, followed by internship opportunities. Thousands more have benefitted from online training in areas including accounting software, data analytics and financial modelling. ‘We’ve had a lot of success stories,’ Olufon says. ‘Our students are thriving, and it’s been a joy seeing lives transformed, giving people a shot at achieving what they really want to become in life.’

Tech touch

It is clear that The Techy Accountant is producing highly valuable finance professionals for companies across Nigeria (and perhaps in time, beyond). ‘It’s not enough just to be an accountant; to be able to add value you need to be a tech-savvy accountant,’ Olufon says.

While businesses across the world are tapping into the value of data, the key, she says, is the ability to analyse and interpret it well. ‘Accountants are ideally placed to make meaningful interpretations because they understand the relationship between a financial statement and the business.’

In August 2024, Olufon took her concept one step further by holding the inaugural African AccounTech Summit. ‘We are limited in the number of people we can take in with The Techy Accountant,’ she says. ‘I wanted to make an impact on a larger scale.’

More than 2,000 online and in-person delegates attended the event in Lagos; the second summit will take place in August 2025. ‘It has been a success even beyond my expectations and I’m so grateful for the support I received from ACCA,’ she says.

Entrepreneurship clearly comes to Olufon easily. She aims to exit Lefort Consulting in five years or so and then move on to the next project. ‘I have lots of ideas, and a plan for another business. I tend to see opportunities rather than problems,’ she adds with a laugh. ‘Even though, sometimes, that feels like a curse.’