ACCA Building Blocks for Emerging Career
SHALOM OLALEYE
The ACCA annual student summit themed: ‘Building blocks for emerging careers’ held in Lagos with the need to prompt, strategize and encourage students.
The summit was kickstarted by ACCA global president, Ms. Orla Collins, who commended and addressed the students at the summit while stating the Values that make ACCA unique, “ACCA stands out as a professional body for its dedication to inclusion. It means we accept all people regardless of race, Nationality, creed gender or anything else”, She said.
Aderonke Adebule, The Senior Business Development Head for ACCA Nigeria, shares the inspiration for the event.
In her words, “Action for Employment addresses the changing employment landscape and how these young and aspiring professionals can start to build sustainable futures through the mentorship provided today at the Lagos Summit.”
Damilola Lawal, Treasury planning and control, Total Energies who was the moderator of the event, Folawe Omikunle – CEO, Teach for Nigeria, Maris Akinsulere -Head, Recruitment-KPMG, Nigeria, Dr. Adedeji Kowobari- Lead, Concierge DentistNG, Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye -Convener, Lagos SME Bootcamp and Abisola Adefarati -FCCA Ex-Finance Director-Coca-Cola Nigeria were all in attendance at this year summit.
Convener, Lagos SME Bootcamp, Ayo-Bankole urged the students to be proactive and have self-leadership. He said,
“One downside about social media is people/employers are attracted more by packaging than realize there’s little substance out of the packaging.
“Work on yourself as well as the packaging, be proactive, be rigorous, be Emphatic towards others, be humble because only the humble can truly learn.”
Folawe stressed the importance of learning while explaining that continuous learning is the only way to improve oneself personally and professionally.
Meanwhile, Head Recruitment-KPMG, Maris Akinsulere, elaborated employability actions.
“You buy your future. We are in an era where we have everything at our disposal with a high level of distractions. The first thing to do is to sieve through the distractions, have a strong digital skill and the need to differentiate between getting a job and getting a career”.
Others like FCCA Ex-Finance Director-Coca-Cola Abisola Adefarati
said strategies that employers can adopt to harness employees’ great potential, saying, “Build a culture of entrepreneurship in organizations. Employers should provide real-time feedback for the new generation employees to bring their A-game.”
Also, Dr. Adedeji advised that
employers should encourage the new generation employees to be entrepreneurial and create platforms for mentorship.”
The Keynote speaker and CFO, Sub Saharan Africa Tecnimont Nigeria, Alessandro Amoruso buttressed Adedeji that students should constantly update themselves, saying, “You need to constantly update yourself, try to keep your knowledge up to date at all ages.”
Head of ACCA Nigeria, Tom Isibor, added that it doesn’t matter where you are from; there is nothing you cannot become with the ACCA qualification.
