We speak to Kelvin Abdallah ACCA, managing partner, LIMA Partners, Ghana, about how he has developed his career and now runs his own business
The career path of ACCA member Kelvin Abdallah is one that many ACCA students also want to follow. When we first interviewed Kelvin in 2007, he was a prizewinning student working for PwC Ghana; by 2011 he had moved on to become a tax specialist and (eventually) associate director at Oxford & Beaumont solicitors, based in Accra, and in 2014 we find him running his own business – LIMA Partners – a specialist tax practice set up with a fellow ACCA member who Kelvin met while they were both ACCA students.
Kelvin had always wanted to work on his own, but knew he needed the right experience first: ‘Although I had essentially set up the tax division for my previous employer, I did it with professional help and used established systems, so it wasn’t the same as starting from scratch. However, I was then tasked with establishing a new office in Aberdeen, Scotland, and asked to explore possibilities in New York and China, which gave me the skills I needed to go it alone.’
LIMA Partners was established in late 2013, and is now focused on building its client base and attracting the right talent needed for growth – including hiring ACCA students.
‘For me, the most impressive candidates are clearly passionate about the accountancy profession, but also have a good range of soft skills,' says Kelvin. 'Technical skills are a given, but what sets a candidate apart is an ability to communicate clearly and also evidence of leadership skills.’
Kelvin accepts that for many ACCA students – especially those studying full time – soft skills can be hard to develop, but not impossible: ‘Consider volunteering, part-time or seasonal jobs. When I was younger, I worked as a bookkeeping clerk in a café and this gave me the basic knowledge I needed to be successful in my first "professional" interview.’
Kelvin also has advice for any student hoping to run their own business in the future: ‘Develop your profile as early as possible in your career.
‘Network with senior colleagues and build up a pool of external contacts – these contacts are vital for any accounting firm as most of your income will come from referrals and repeat business.’
Kelvin also taught some ACCA courses earlier in his career, a CV-enhancing move that expanded his network even further: ‘A number of my former students are now in decision-making positions, and so may use our firm or recommend us to others in the future.’
Kelvin’s career demonstrates the versatility of the ACCA Qualification, and the value of ACCA membership. Together, they have helped him set up an already successful company which, although still young, has very ambitious plans.
‘We aim to become Ghana’s leading tax practice in the next five years,’ he states, ‘and in the next 10 years we aspire to be the fifth leading advisory service firm in Ghana after the Big Four.’
With Kelvin’s skills and drive, we have no doubt he will succeed.