How this CA from a semi-rural area in South Africa built a thriving 250+ member practice

• I am Desmond Msomi, a practicing chartered accountant in South Africa and CEO of an auditing firm known as Ngubane & Co.
• Growing up, in Amatikwe, the ravages of apartheid ensured that people in that area did not progress.
• In 1995, I resigned from Lever Brothers and joined Mr. Wilfred Ngubane to start an Auditing firm from scratch.
• Today the firm has 7 offices in 6 provinces in South Africa with about 260 people including 16 directors. Here is my story.

Backstory

My mother was a privately-paid teacher earning R11 per month when I started school in 1968.

I remember as kids my mother showed us (my sister and me) graduates wearing gowns saying ‘those people are highly educated’. It, therefore, became my ambition to wear this funny-looking cap and coat.

As expected, I started giving my best at school and was always in the top 5. (I always had this drive to achieve, mainly to please my mother who had struggled alone to get us to where she could afford.)