Meet This Chartered Accountant Who Became A CFO and COO Of a Leading Company Under The Age Of 35

• Hi folks! This is the side of Julian Johnson. I am a proud South African and a SAICA (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants) Chartered Accountant.
• I have worked across the continent, faced failures, molded myself into different job profiles, and now… I am the CFO and COO of a leading renewable energy power producer in Africa.
• Here’s my story. how I became the CFO and COO of a leading company under the age of 35.

Tracing My Ancestors: How I Began My Career in California

Born and brought up in Johannesburg, I am a proud second-generation Chinese South African.

Growing up as a minority (in the final years of apartheid) we never quite fitted on the South African ‘color spectrum’ which created a challenging dynamic of neither being ‘white enough’ nor ‘black enough’.My parents went through a lot of hardships and made many sacrifices to ensure I could have a better future.

During my 11th grade year, I undertook a job shadowing programmes at PwC, South Africa. At that time, I didn’t know entirely what PwC did or what auditing was. Honestly, I didn’t even know what a chartered accountant was! But this exposure to the “business world” opened my eyes to a wider world.