A Magazine for Alumni and Friends
After graduating from Laurier’s BBA program in 2012, I spent two years working at a large accounting firm in Toronto where I eventually obtained my CPA designation. In 2014, at the end of another long and hard “busy season,” it was clear the audit game was not one I was cut out for. I decided it was time to make a change.
I began looking for opportunities to volunteer my skills in a developing area of the world where I could leverage my finance and business acumen in a more adventurous and impactful way. After hours of searching in an industry unfamiliar to me, a friend (and fellow Laurier alum) referred me to an organization called Anza in Moshi, Tanzania. After a few emails and Skype calls with Anza’s CEO, I packed my bags and headed off to Moshi in January 2015.
What started as a six-month contract has transformed into a two-year commitment that will take me through December 2016, and I could not be more excited.
Anza exists to “start and scale social businesses,” and believes that problems facing low-income families in Tanzania can be addressed by social businesses that find creative ways to develop profitable business models around solving these problems. The company’s vision aligns exactly with what I was looking for when I made the decision to leave Canada, and I find myself calling on lessons learned from my time at Laurier and in the accounting world nearly every day.
Tanzania is a traveler’s dream, and I’ve done my best to take advantage. From staring down lions in the plains of the Serengeti, to relaxing on the beautiful white sandy beaches of Zanzibar, and climbing to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania has been everything I could have imagined and more.
Leaving a comfortable paying job for a small city in East Africa may seem like a risk to some, but it ranks as one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. If anyone is looking to make a career change, or just a new challenge, give me a shout at lucas@anza.co.com. We are always looking for enthusiastic and talented professionals in these parts!
Are you a Laurier alumna/us living abroad and interested in sharing your story? Email campusmagazine@wlu.ca.