Africa & MENA regions successfully hold a joint virtual meeting
MGI Worldwide CPAAI Africa & MENA members recently got together for a virtual meeting. Almost 70 people registered for the joint Africa & MENA region meeting that was held on the 13 July 2021.
Member networking as a starter
A networking session kickstarted the event 20 minutes before the official start time - a great opportunity for members to say hello and catch up before the meeting.
The main event started with a welcome from Africa Region IC leader, Daddy Nkuvu Wena (MGI Strong Nkv, Democratic Republic of Congo), emphasising the valuable opportunity that the meeting provided for members of the two dynamic regions to get to know each other with the end objective of members all contributing to the development of the region and each other's firms.
Clive Bennett's (CEO) presentation, “What’s Next- Celebrating being together”, focused on the merged strengths of MGI Worldwide with CPAAI, and steps for moving forward together. He highlighted the benefits for CPAAI members of joining MGI Worldwide network and ways in which members can collaborate and build more business together with the help of MGI Worldwide. The Virtual Global AGM scheduled for 20 October also got a plug.
Embracing Technology
An "Embracing Technology" panel discussion was chaired by Piyush Bhandari from Intuit Management Consultancy, (India, Singapore and United Arab Emirates), with Baraka Cassian from Cassian & Associates, (Tanzania), and Manjit Kothari from MGI HEM & Thakkar LLP, (Uganda), sharing how their firms are supporting clients in using technology to enhance their business. Piyush stressed the evolving role of the accountant and the importance of staying relevant to customers. The group spent some time discussing the barriers there are for businesses to digitally transform themselves and shared their personal journey and challenges they have faced.
Collaborate and Grow
"Collaborate & Grow", the second panel discussion chaired by Faiyaaz Rajkotwala from MGI Salim Rajkotwala & Associates, (United Arab Emirates), saw members share ways which they have collaborated on multinational and cross-border projects. MGI BFC & GAC Audit & Conseil, MGI Worldwide and CPAAI members in Tunisia, talked about how they recently secured a World Bank project. Nadia Yaich, Partner at MGI BFC and Chiheb Ghanmi, Partner from Financial Services at La Generale d'Audit et Conseil, highlighted that members must always be mindful of the strength of MGI Worldwide CPAAI membership and on the look out for ways to reach out to each other when opportunities arise.
Another project led by Faiyaaz, was the audit of DHL subsidiaries in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. Felix Kimoli from MGI Alekim LLP, (Kenya), Ahmad Haruna from Haruna Yahaya & Co., (Nigeria) and Charles Obeng from MGI O.A.K. Chartered Accountants, (Ghana) whi were all involved in the process, described what was involved. The fact that the MGI Worldwide CPAAI management team of Clive Bennett, Audrey Danasamy & Nicki Lynn were involved to coordinate the project helped the individual firms to focus on performing the audit and meeting deadlines set.
All members shared lessons learned and the importance of joining forces with each other to expand their business and capitalise on opportunities.
"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." – Ryunosuke Satoro
Marketing update
Maxine Brock, MGI Worldwide’s International Marketing Director, led the discussion on Marketing & Building a clientele. She shared ways in which firms can use the network to their advantage to build their client base.
She touched on the 3 ways in which the marketing & BD team can help
- Maintaining existing client & MGI-CPAAI relationships
- Developing new positive relationships
- Positioning you & your firm
Members Felix Kimoli, Nicole Stopforth and Piyush Thakkar shared their positive experiences of attending webinars, participating in practice groups, and using the MGI Worldwide mailshot facility to help in their business.
Thank you!
Whilst a virtual meeting is not the same as getting together in-person, members were pleased with the outcome, and we would like to thank Audrey and everyone who took part, especially all our panelists!
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“The meeting emphasised that now our firms need to re-skill if we want to excel in our service area. The embracing technology session gave an overview of how we can develop the analytics service for our clients and the winning of DHL and World bank projects instill confidence that we can take up such bigger assignments on a global basis” Sumit Dhada of DLS & Associates, Bahrain |
MGI Worldwide with CPAAI is a top 20 ranked global accounting network and association with almost 10,000 independent auditors, accountants and tax experts in some 460 locations in more than 100 countries around the world.