One Young World 2019

Teo Yen Shan Maria

ISCA Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants

Being an accountant has been a continuous learning experience for me – besides learning my trade, interpersonal skills and also growing as a person, I surprised myself by enjoying passing this knowledge on to the upcoming accountants as a trainer and mentor. Every day is different and that empowers me to continue developing myself to be a better version of myself.

My inspiration to be an “out of the box” accountant came by meeting new people – students with a science background wanting to learn accounting, IT engineers who wanted to develop solutions to help the finance sector, or non-profits hoping to improve their compliance posture.

Along the way, the most valuable tools I’ve acquired is to put a creative spin on solving problems and learning not just from the classroom, but from our daily experiences. Taking the road less travelled has made all the difference to me.

• Twitter: @aeslyna

Lontya Kalililo

CAANZ Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

My name is Lontya and I’m in my final year of my Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) degree at Torrens University Australia. Apart from study, I am a Chartered Accountant Student Representative, a graduate accountant at William Buck and a strong lover of old movies, books and all things food.

Francis Bacon once said, “Knowledge is power”. I can attest to this seeing how I have been privileged with the gift of education and it’s changed my life unimaginably. Therefore, I’m intensely determined to assist young men and women to receive an education that gives them the chance to prosper. It is also my hope that by advocating for gender equality, girls and women all around the world will be empowered to reach their full potential.

I am extremely eager to be representing CA ANZ at the One Young World Summit in London and I hope to learn from other young leaders making a positive impact in the global community. I aim to learn not just for myself, but for a generations yet to come.

• Twitter: @Lontya_Low

Christian Bien

CAANZ Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Coming from a refugee background, I am committed to supporting a community that has provided my family with many opportunities, leading to the involvement of the John Curtin Leadership Academy and to the founding of the Curtin Consulting Group. As co-founder and president, I lead teams of high achieving students to solve strategic issues for not-for-profits organisations to extend their capabilities and focus on developing their impact for their clients and communities

As a former Chartered Accountants Student Representative, I am honoured to be able to extend an opportunity to represent the CA ANZ at the One Young World Conference in October 2019. The conference will provide an opportunity to further define the vision for change in our community, with a strong passion for educational equity, seeing from my own journey the transformative impact of education as a key in unlocking an individual’s potential regardless of personal circumstances and background.

• Twitter: @Christian_Bien LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianbien/

Jackie Crane

ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Jackie joined PKF Francis Clark as an apprentice following completion of her A-Levels. She began her journey in the business services department of the office in Cornwall, whilst completing her AAT qualification. She joined the audit department during her ACA training where she achieved an international prize for her mark in the business planning: taxation exam, prompting an opportunity to transfer to the corporate tax team. She now supports the firm in her role as Tax Technical Senior. During her training Jackie joined the SWECASS committee, where she took on the role of chair and sat on the ICAEW Student Council for two years, followed by the role of president for one year. She is currently studying towards her CTA qualification to support her in her tax role.

I am overwhelmed that I have won and feel privileged to share the ‘winner title’ along with four other amazing individuals. The Chartered Star competition has been on my radar for a few years but I was not in the best mental place to enter. This year has been transformative for me and gave me the strength to enter. The competition gave me a chance to have a voice but winning means I am empowered to share more with the world.

OYW is driving change and I cannot wait to be part of that. To learn from such inspiring people and share the experience with individuals who can change the world alongside you, is going to be so uplifting. It lights a fire in my stomach that I could make an impact to the world.

I really do believe that education is the key to creating a sustainable future. Our education can support each individual to develop into ethical, compassionate and collaborative leaders of themselves and others. Through education I think we can inspire and enthuse all generations, which will be the driver of change impacting each of the plenary topics.

A platform to have a voice – to be able to inspire and engage others to create change in their world. I want to take away from the summit real time issues in the world, affecting people now and in the future, so that I can share this with people in my world.

Becoming a Chartered Accountant is not just learning technical knowledge. It’s given me the confidence and self-belief to know that I am able to interpret and challenge information. You come away knowing how to deal with a problem, learn skills that enable you to pursue lifelong learning and with the amazing support network you feel like you can make a difference to the future of the profession and to launch yourself into being a future leader.

• Twitter: @Jackie_M_Crane

Onneile Maripe

ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Onneile Maripe, ACA is one of the first BICA graduates in Botswana, this being a historic event in the Accountancy profession of the country where she also attended the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) ceremony in London in October 2017 to receive her membership after the obtaining the BICA qualification.

She worked at Deloitte Botswana for a period of 6 years where she left as an Audit Supervisor. She is currently working as an Accountant at Sesiro Insurance Company (Pty) Ltd a Member of the Debswana group. The company provides insurance services for Debswana and its associated Companies. Onneile is also responsible for the compliance and Anti Money Laundering affairs as endorsed by NBFIRA (local financial services regulator).

As part of the company’s objective in skills development, she is responsible for the training needs of the company’s employees.

As a Chartered Accountant, she is also responsible for both statutory matters of the company and reporting the company’s performance to the board.

In her personal space she enjoys traveling with a purpose, such that in October 2018 she attended a World Congress of Accountants in Sidney Australia. The key taking here was the transformation of the business processes to automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and digitalization. This resulted her contribution to the February 2019 BICA (local accounting body) technical ebulletin on Digitization and Finance. She has taken keen interest in this space as believes greater change will come out of this. This makes her truly honor this nomination to take part in this year’s One Young World Summit in London and act as an ICAEW ambassador in the Chartered Accountants Worldwide delegation. She is very excited to meet and network with world leaders and young leaders as myself sharing a common goal.

She has taken part in the BICA Public Sector Committee, this Committee assists the Botswana Government to implement relevant standards in their Financial Reporting, such that we may be in line with other Countries among other mandates.

She is very passionate about promoting and growing Botswana’s Economy, because she has noticed a significant potential among entrepreneurs which at the current moment lack support not only in funds but information and knowledge sharing, hence intends to provide be active in promotion of local talent and potential in this space for awareness.

Onneile is a fitness fanatic such that she runs, cycles, and attends gym. She enjoys spending time with my family and she has a twin, loves good music.

What does winning the Chartered Star competition mean to you? This win allows me to also talk about the talent that we have in our own country, Botswana. As a third world country or developing economy, we are able to compete in international competitions as long as we have the opportunity, means and determination. The dynamics in the global economy also affect us as a developing nation, and we also need to be active in the changing world. I get to share my experiences in my own country with the world and bring back the knowledge which is also able to put our country and effectively our continent at par with international economies.

Why are you exited to attend One Young World? I am excited because I get to be an ICAEW ambassador in the Chartered Accountants Worldwide delegation. This opportunity alone has widened my networking space and given me a chance to fully believe in anything I set out to do. I get to meet other young global leaders from other countries who have gone through this journey of being an ICAEW Chartered Accountant not only facing the changes that affect the profession but also engaging in conversations to find ways to deal with them. We will get to meet other seasoned global leaders and learn from their wealth of experience. Meeting leaders from other industries further increases our energy and determination to learn and want to make a change as future global leaders in this profession. I am excited to learn about diversity and change and how this can be used to make an impactful change.

What plenary topic are you most passionate about and why? Planetary Health: How is climate change endangering our health – this is one topic that is am actively studying and researching about especially that there is a lot of discussion around it. Climate change is one topic that I like because it calls new way of doing business that will not be harmful to the habitants and also calls for a sustainable environment, not just by governments by also Corporates. The #GoGreen movement is changing at a fast pace, zooming down to the world of Insurance, we can see campaigns like the #UnfriendCoal hashtag, putting pressure on insurers that they must cease insurance on companies who are involved in the production of climate-destroying greenhouse gases or find ways to produce it in more eco-friendly manners which may not be very cheap. I am looking forward for this topic to be discussed at the Summit in London. I am really keen to learn more on it from Global leaders and ways they have managed to stop productions that involves these harmful emissions to the health of the communities and also ensure safety for living species.

What would you like to get out of attending One Young World? There are various topics that are currently popular (Automation, Robotics, AI, Block chain, Trade wars, Climate change, Emotional Intelligence, Design Thinking etc.) including the ones that were part of this competition, at times these topics relating to the changing world can compete for time, resources, even learning about them ,as they vary extreme cases in their content but have a common ripple effect in businesses and governments.

I want to know how other nations are handling the changes in each areas and dealing with the competing time to manage each and every one of them. I want to get successful stories on ways countries have handled these issues and are making sure that they are instilled in the lives of people in their countries so that everyone is involved and even not so successful stories. I want to be part of these conversations to also make a contribution on what our own country and even continent is doing about these debatable issues. This will enable me to go back home after the Summit and ensure that I engage further with stakeholders on these topics so that we are not left behind, the youth of the country is not left behind.

What value do you think your skills and training in Chartered Accountancy bring to being a future global leader? One of the most pertinent issues I see is the importance of the Accounting profession in the ever so changing world. Not only does the profession account for companies’ resources but we are able as Chartered Accountants to measure and assess the impact of all these changes to the sustainability of the business, and make contributions on viabilities of issues. The expectations of the modern Chartered Accountant and CFOs more broadly (cited in the Wall Street Journal) is that we need to have experience dealing with investors and lenders taking companies public knowledge of tech-specific regulations and accounting practices etc. This is working towards the training and skills required for me as a Chartered Accountant to being a future global leader.

Luke Fletcher

ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Luke, 29 is a Partner at Stewart & Co, an independent firm of Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors, based in Surrey. He joined the Practice in 2018 having trained and qualified at BDO, spending five years in their tax team.

He has a wide variety of clients but specialises in the SME sector, using his experience to help growing, owner-managed businesses get the most out of their companies.

Excellent communication and lasting relationships are at the heart of Luke’s approach. ‘We live in a modern age but I believe social intelligence is an immeasurable strength which is only going to become more important. Without human connection accountancy is nothing but numbers.’

Luke wants to help empower the next generation of accountants to create a positive and impactful industry to be proud of.

What does winning the Chartered Star competition mean to you? It’s nice to be able to share my thoughts and address one of the One Young World plenary themes, but to win and be an ICAEW Ambassador at the Summit is fantastic. I am delighted for my thoughts to be recognised and can’t wait to attend later this year.

Why are you exited to attend One Young World? I’m excited to meet other impactful young leaders, who are passionate about responsible, effective leadership and making a difference. It’s going to be great to connect and share ideas with this community, and have an opportunity to meet the world leaders who are helping to tackle these global challenges.

What plenary topic are you most passionate about and why? Each plenary topic is fascinating in its own right, highlighting some of the global challenges which together we are facing. Personally, I have always been passionate about education and ensuring tomorrow’s generation have the knowledge and skills they will require in a changing world, and that is why I chose to address the future of learning as my plenary theme.

What would you like to get out of attending One Young World? To take inspiration from World leaders and fellow attendees and be empowered with the means to make a difference!

What value do you think your skills and training in Chartered Accountancy bring to being a future global leader? For me, being a future global leader means being responsible and having a holistic view to deliver success without compromising on ones values and our long term future. Chartered Accountants follow a fundamental principles of ethics which means we are well placed to handle ethical dilemmas and avoid compromise. Our training also helps to develop the social and emotional intelligence needed to support people to achieve their goals.

• Twitter: @LukejFletcher

Alec James

ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Alec James was born and raised in Bristol. He graduated from the University of Exeter in 2016 with a first class degree in Geography, accumulating 5 awards in the process, including the Lewis Memorial Prize for Excellence in Geography and an Exceptional Dissertation in Georgraphy award.

In his final year at University, he was elected Vice-President Welfare and Diversity of the Students’ Guild by the student body. In this role, he helped establish the first Disabled Students’ Forum, an employability event for disabled students, secured a significant recurring addition to the University mental health services budget, and launched a scheme where unsold food on campus gets taken to homeless shelters across the city.

He then spent a year in Parliament, working for both an MP and a member of the House of Lords, whilst also working as a community organiser at a church in East London, equipping local leaders to campaign on housing issues.

Alec joined Buzzacott in August 2018, choosing to work in the Charity and Not-for-Profit team, and has secured first time passes in all exams to date, including 93% in Financial Accounting and Reporting.

What does winning the Chartered Star competition mean to you? I am delighted to be offered this opportunity. One Young World is unique as an organisation gathering young leaders together, and the summit is an inspirational and transformative event. I’m proud to be able to attend, and to do so representing the ICAEW and Chartered Accountants Worldwide is a real privilege. I can’t wait to make the most of it.

Why are you excited to attend One Young World? There are plenty of reasons for this! One of the reasons I began training to be an accountant, and particularly chose to work at a firm that works with charities was that I was excited about the possibilities that exist within the profession to make a difference. Being able to attend is just one practical outworking of this. One Young World gathers people who are already having a huge impact, I’m excited to be one of that number this year but more excited still to meet and share ideas with young leaders from across our planet.

What plenary topic are you most passionate about and why? Peaceful Future, for sure. All of this year’s plenary themes are of vital importance at the current time. However, at a time when society feels divided, and people feel isolated and misunderstood, the opportunity to come together and dream about how things might be done differently could not be more timely or more important. Building relationships and understanding between people with differing perspectives is essential in tackling so many of the other problems we face today.

What would you like to get out of attending One Young World? One of the most remarkable things about One Young World for me is that it fundamentally isn’t about me or any other individual, but about a hope that our world can be a better place. My hope is that I will meet and be challenged and inspired by people actively changing their communities and world for the better, and come away better equipped to do the same thing myself, both professionally and personally.

What value do you think your skills and training in Chartered Accountancy bring to being a future global leader? I think there are several ways of thinking about this. Being trained in accountancy means you can offer technical expertise and attention to detail, it also near guarantees an understanding of the way different organisations are run. Working with varied clients also means we have the opportunity to build relationships with people in many different sectors and areas of society.

Pearlyn Lau

ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Pearlyn is currently a 2nd year associate in PwC’s Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment group, General Assurance line of service. As part of People’s Initiative Committee, she organises and executes numerous events for the department.

Pearlyn was awarded the Joint Winner of the International Subject Order of Merit – ACA Certificate Level/ICAEW CFAB Management Information (August 2018) for attaining top honours for the academic paper globally. Amongst her other accolades, she received the Highest Achievement for the Business Planning: Insurance exam (June 2018) and the Audit & Assurance exam (September 2018).

What does winning the Chartered Star competition mean to you? Winning the competition meant that I would be able to represent ICAEW and CAW at the Summit which is an incredible honour. Being chosen out of so many entries means that I have been some form of inspiration and that my thoughts are on the right track.

Why are you excited to attend One Young World? The One Young World Summit is an attractive opportunity to interact with my peers and be counselled by the current leaders of the World. I’m looking forward to hearing from the speakers, as well as interacting and building strong relationships with other like-minded youths.

What plenary topic are you most passionate about and why? Education is the topic that interests me the most. This is as while technology has been improving rapidly, education has remained fairly constant and archaic. This is likely to lead to most of us being inadequately trained in using the latest technologies and could result in inefficiencies.

What would you like to get out of attending One Young World? I hope that through the One Young World experience, I would be able to expand my horizons and gain new perspectives.

What value do you think your skills and training in Chartered Accountancy bring to being a future global leader? A future global leader requires many skills. One key takeaway from my journey towards becoming a Chartered Accountant is that it is important to be sceptical and think critically. One cannot simply take things at face value but must instead, attempt to have different perspectives and interpretations.

Patrycja Jurkowska

Chartered Accountants Ireland

Patrycja, 33, from Poland, moved to Ireland at the age of 18 to improve her English while she worked as an au pair. Fourteen years later, she now works as an Operations Accountant with GOAL Global (International Humanitarian Aid Charity) and is the President of Junior Chamber International (JCI) Dublin.

In 2009, Patrycja went back to college to study office management at Athlone Institute of Technology. Two years later, she transferred to The Bachelor of Arts in Accounting course where she received the Student of the Year award. In 2014, Patrycja completed a Masters of Arts in Accounting and subsequently completed her training contract with Deloitte.

After 3 valuable years in Risk Advisory with Deloitte, Patrycja moved into a General Ledger Accountant role with Amdocs in 2017, before commencing her current role with GOAL Global.

• Twitter: @Patricia_J0804

Lyle Malander

SAICA The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants

Lyle is the winner of SAICA’s Top 35-under-35 competition for 2018.

He is a daring and driven entrepreneur who launched Malander Advisory, a chartered accounting and financial advisory firm, in 2015. He has since also launched Malander Placements, a recruitment firm, and Malander Digital, an IT firm. And they just recently opened a branch in London.

At just 30 years, Lyle Malander is not merely a trendy businessman but a trailblazer whose ambitions are fuelled by making a difference and creating a legacy. His core focus is providing professional advisory and resource solutions to various large and listed entities.

Lyle is proud to say that in 2,5 years the Malander businesses have derived revenue in excess of R40 million. His hard work and arduous hours have turned his dreams into reality.

• Twitter: @LyleMalander

Matthew Longo

CAANZ Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Matthew is an Australian chartered accountant currently working in London. Having grown up in Australia and finishing high schooling in Hong Kong, he has had a long standing interest in global affairs and commerce. After graduating from the Australian National University with a dual degree in Commerce and Asian Studies, he started his career with KPMG Sydney before moving to London where he currently works with the Crown Estate, a business with a diverse portfolio of real estate and renewable energy.

Matthew has been fortunate in his career to work with organizations that take corporate responsibility and sustainability seriously. This has allowed him to take part in exciting programs such as the Jawun aboriginal partnerships program with KPMG Sydney and compiling elements of the Crown Estate’s sustainability reports.

In his spare time he enjoys running, drone photography, scuba diving, motorbike riding and is always planning the next travel adventure!

• Twitter: @matt_longo1

Nathaniel Japhta

SAICA The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants

Nathaniel is a Chartered Accountant(SA) who is passionate about people and business.

He leads a boutique talent and finance consultancy. He most recently helped save a client more than R100 million in less than 12 months using learnt strategies and his expertise in SCM.

Nathaniel is the Managing Director of PRO 226 AFRICA; an organisation focused on education and sport. It’s global partner is GSE-AAU, led by ex NBA and Euroleague superstars. Nathaniel is one of only two Fiba qualified basketball agents in South Africa.

Nathaniel specializes in fixed assets, financial planning & analysis, small business governance &a ccounting, non-profit governance & accounting as well as public sector and Pharma advisory. He scouts and equips young talent, leading to matching companies with the best person for a particular role.

He is also the co-owner of Easylife Kitchens Kenilworth and is actively involved as an adviser to small business owners and self-employed individuals.

Nathaniel is an effective communicator, facilitator and winner of the SAICA Influencer award at the 2018 TOP 35 under 35 CA’s competition. Also, a winner of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans and Media 24s Young Mandela of the future 2018.

Felix Mwansa

ZICA Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants

My name is Felix Mwansa, I was born on 17th September. I am most passionate about influencing my society postively in order to leave it a better place than I found it in the interest of the unborn generation. I am also passionate about imparting knowledge because I believe that education and information acquired from learning act as one’s greatest tool in life that bring to an end all the struggles faced.

I did my tertiary education at Zambia ICT College from July, 2017 to June, 2019, where I pursued the Chartered Accountant Zambia Professional Qualification. I served as interim General Secretary and then as Vice President of the College Student’s Chapter. I also attained remarkable achievements, including; obtaining highest marks at National Level in the ZiCA CA Zambia Professional examinations and was awarded with nine bestperforming student certificates.

I am currently employed by the Bank of Zambia as an assistant accountant in the finance department.

I am also the author of a book titled ‘Living A Purposeful Life’, a motivational/Inspirational speaker, part-time lecturer, teacher and a strategic advisor.

• Twitter: @TgkFelix

Bernadette Scanlon

CAANZ Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Originally from Wellington, Bernadette graduated from Victoria University with a double degree in law and commerce, majoring in accounting and economics. She went on to work for PwC New Zealand for six years in various lines of service – namely taxation, restructuring and management consulting.

Bernadette has spent the past year and a half experiencing what it is like to live in Europe. She worked as a Cyber Security Manager for Aon Netherlands – quantifying the impact of cyber related risks for entities. Bernadette has recently moved to London to pursue her passion of generating systemic and positive social change, and will commence her role in July as Consulting Lead for FutureGov – which focuses on reforming health and public services.

Bernadette is an active member of CAANZ, having served on the executive of the Wellington Young Accountants Group for several years.

She also has extensive frontline volunteering experience, predominately centered around working with youth and her Pacific Island Community.

Chamath Siriwardena

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka

Chamath is a dynamic young professional who is currently the Manager-Financial Reporting & Planning at Citizens Development Business Finance PLC. His achievement as the youngest manager at CDB is one of the many feathers he wears on his hat. Before joining CDB he worked as an Assistant Manager at KPMG Sri Lanka and has focused experience in the banking and finance industry.

He is a graduate of Department of Accounting, University of Sri Jayewardenepura with a first class honors and the gold medal for the most outstanding student. He also holds an MBA from the University of West London.

Chamath is an Associate Member of CA Sri Lanka, Associate member of ACCA UK which he completed as the world prize winner for Advanced Performance Management in 2016 and also an Associate member of CMA Sri Lanka. He is an enthusiastic community worker involved in many projects in a variety of arenas. He was the president of Accountancy and Financial Management Association (AFMA), the student association of department of accounting, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and currently he is a Toastmaster and the Treasurer for CDB Toastmasters Club.

Chamath is also the Treasurer for CDB Autism Trust Fund and he is actively engaged in other community projects in multiple arenas. Chamath is passionate about disseminating the knowledge he has, and work as a Lecturer in Corporate Reporting for CA Sri Lanka corporate level examinations.

• Twitter: @ChamathSiriwar2

Sandeepa Bandara Jayasekera

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka

Educational Qualifications
Sc. Accounting (Special) Degree with First Class (Honors) from University of Sri Jayewardenepura – 2015
Reading for Master in Business Administration from Postgraduate Institute of Management – University of Sri Jayewardenepura – 2020

Professional Qualifications
Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka)
Member of Certified Institute of Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA Sri Lanka)
Senior Member of Association of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka (AATSL)
Passed finalist of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

Experiences
Three-year work experience as the Chief Executive Officer in JMC Jayasekera Management Centre (Pvt) Ltd
Six-year work experience as a Part Time Lecturer in JMC Jayasekera Management Centre (Pvt) Ltd – Professional Education Faculty
Three and half years’ of work experience as an Auditor in Ernst and Young Chartered Accountants
Six months’ work experience as Accounts Assistant in JMC Jayasekera Management Centre (Pvt) Ltd, Colombo 02

Achievements
Professor. Y.A.D.S Samaratunga and B.R. De Silva Memorial Gold Medal for the most outstanding student in Accountancy Department of University of Sri Jayewardenepura (2015 September)
Advanced Financial Reporting Prize, CA SL Strategic Level 2 Examination (2014 June)
Aggregate Prize for Best Performance, CIMA Strategy Level Examination (2012 November)

• Twitter: @sanjayz90

Izz Ghanaa Ansari

ICAP The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan

Izz Ghanaa Ansari is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA), currently working in a Big Four firm. She received 3 National Distinctions in CA, and has represented Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) at various international platforms. Due to her accomplishments, she was conferred with ICAP CA Women’s Achievement Award 2017 and IMA USA Young Professionals Leadership Experience Award 2018, and is currently serving as the youngest member of CA Pakistan’s Women’s Committee.

Izz is also co-owner and part-time dance instructor at Urban Tehelka Dance Studios. She believes that dance is one of the most powerful forms of teamwork and expression, that has been rendered taboo in Pakistan’s society for ages – something that needs to change.

As an AIESEC Exchange Participant, she worked on projects geared towards UN’s SDG 4 “Quality Education”, SDG 5 “Gender Equality” and SDG 16 “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”.

• Instagram: izz_ansari https://instagram.com/izz_ansari?igshid=bamcyht8eda8 Facebook: Izz Ghanaa Ansari https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=561091790 LinkedIn: Izz Ghanaa Ansari https://pk.linkedin.com/in/izz-ghanaa-ansari

Hamisha Mehta

ICAS The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

Hamisha began her career as a summer intern at EY and subsequently joined the audit practice as a graduate. She then moved into consultancy where she worked across a variety of industries delivering finance transformation programme, where she was subsequently promoted to Manager and selected for the EY Accelerated Leadership Programme. After 7 years at EY, she moved to the role of Group FP&A Controller at United Biscuits.

After UB was taken over and pladis Global was formed, Hamisha led the UK wide project to align UB systems, processes and ways of working to the pladis financial calendar and P&L. In her current role as Senior Commercial Finance Manager, she works closely with the McVitie’s Brand team to bring new products to the market in a way that supports a balanced diet while bringing happiness to consumers. Hamisha has also taken on an active role within the recently launched pladis D&I team, where she is helping to shape the agenda and drive a cultural change through the Being Me initiative.

Outside of pladis, she has held the position of Chair of the Resources Committee for an inner-city primary school and as a Governor supported the school’s leadership team in improving the OFSTED rating. Hamisha is also a full-time working mother, a financial advisor to the social enterprise Know You More and Director of a software development company.

Osama Ahmed Shaikh

ICAP The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan

Osama Ahmed Shaikh began his professional career in October 2012 as an Audit Associate at “EY” for a 3.5 years training program to pursue Chartered Accountancy and subsequently joined EY as a permanent employee in the role of Manager, Audit and Assurance Services. He manages a mixed audit and non-audit portfolio of over 40 clients including large public sector companies, listed, private and multinational companies.

He also represented EY at National Finance Olympiad 2018 as a team leader. He currently has moved to a rank of Executive Manager at EY. During his so far tenure with EY, he has the exposure of working with EY offices of different countries including Saudi Arab, United Arab Emirates and Malaysia for the purposes of external and internal audits of different companies.

Apart from his role in EY, He also serves as a senior member in the role of Chief Financial Officer at “Foundation Fighting Poverty” which is a non-profit organisation working in Pakistan for 10 years now in areas like Zero Hunger, No Poverty, Climate Change, Gender Equality and so on. He also manages a business venture with the name of “Royal Tourism Pakistan” engaged in serving tourist activities and packages within Pakistan.

• Twitter: @osamashaikh41

Marie Kubo

ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Marie joined Saffery Champness in January 2018 as a trainee. As a member of the Business Advisory Group in the London office, she works predominantly on audit and accounts assignments for clients operating in a wide range of sectors. Those clients include large corporates, owner-managed businesses and not-for-profit organisations.

She took an unconventional route into the accountancy profession, having graduated from Imperial College London with a medical degree and first class honours in reproductive and developmental sciences. She then worked as a doctor on the frontline of the NHS for two years where she practised in a number of specialties such as paediatrics, psychiatry and obstetrics.

Marie hopes to bring together her experiences as a doctor and an accountant to make a positive impact in the industry.

What does winning the Chartered Star competition mean to you? I saw the Chartered Star competition as the perfect opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone and I am extremely glad that I did. I am thrilled to attend the One Young World Summit with fellow members of the accountancy profession from across the world.

Why are you excited to attend One Young World? One Young World is one of the biggest youth-led movements of its kind. I believe the One Young World Summit provides a unique platform for discussions with young people from a variety of industries and countries. I am sure that the Summit will provide me with the tools and motivation to make meaningful changes in whatever capacity that may be.

What plenary topic are you most passionate about and why? The five plenary themes all warrant our attention and commitment. However I am particularly looking forward to the Planetary Health Plenary Session. Like many others in recent years, I have an increasing awareness of the devastating effects of climate change on both nature and human health. My desire for creating change is not only driven by my interest in human health, but by the possibility of contributing to the wider sustainability agenda with my knowledge and skills as a future chartered accountant.

What would you like to get out of attending One Young World? First of all, I hope to widen my perspective and to gain ideas from the various speakers and fellow delegates. It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to meet young leaders from across the world and I hope to share what I have learnt with those around me. Secondly, I want to make long-lasting connections with the people I meet at the Summit. I believe that change can only happen if we continue to work together and learn from one another, which is why I want to continue the conversation after the Summit.

What value do you think your skills and training in Chartered Accountancy bring to being a future global leader? We can all make a difference through our actions and the opportunity for businesses is that their influence can reach far into their markets and society. Accountants are uniquely placed to assist business leaders to make decisions with a positive social impact that lasts. Being a leader also requires you to have a broad perspective and this is something that I believe our training develops through our interaction with a range of people in different professions across different industries.