In October 2012, after working for the big four, KPMG, I set my own accountancy firm called SME Outsourcing. The firm was set up to provide an in-house service to clients to meet their accounting, taxation and business needs.
What motivates me to continue with my business is how I can visually see my business growth and how I am making a difference in clients’ businesses by supporting other entrepreneurs. It is not easy creating a sustainable workforce as well as providing an excellent added value service to clients, but what inspires me is seeing how I can inspire others too. As a British-Asian Muslim woman it can be challenging working amongst a male dominating industry. Proving to myself that being a woman, being a working mother, being a woman of colour, can help inspire others too. I also mentor woman who suffer from domestic violence to believe in themselves, that they can achieve, because I have achieved. I have to self-motivate myself to set an example in order to inspire others too.
The services I provide is very unique in comparison to other accountancy firms. We offer advisory service as part of the accountancy service. We listen to client’s business needs, and help implement systems to support the financial growth of business. Having 23 years experience in accounting and insolvency, coupled with qualifications to support this, helps business owners take calculated risks with the support and advice from me. I help business develop from a tax savings point of view together with how they can grow their business further without the risk of insolvency. I have also teamed up with business sales coach, corporate lawyers, qualified financial advisors and banks to help support clients needs whilst providing excellent accountancy and taxation service.
I have won Business Woman of the Year 2019 before the pandemic started and also British Bangladeshi Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.
I also sit on the board of Asian Business Chambers of Commerce (part of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce) which allows me to support our local business community further.
The real challenges in my business began on 16th March 2020, when Boris Johnson announced the upcoming potential lockdown in UK. You can imagine as an accountant that my clients were in a state of disarray, wondering how this would affect them financially. As a firm, we received an unprecedented number of enquiries.
If this was not enough to contend with, I contracted the Coronavirus on the 18th March 2020 and with running my firm, I felt the pressure increased, as many people depended on my advice and support. Within days of the national lockdown, I was severely ill whilst gasping for breath.
Despite my personal battle against the Coronavirus, at this crucial stage, I made the decision to not charge any additional accountancy fee for dealing with the processing furlough applications to my clients.
None of us were prepared for the lockdown in advance, which meant we had to deliver a front-line service to clients and ensuring all understood what their entitlements were.
Providing a free Coronavirus Support here at SME Outsourcing has been my biggest achievement to date. I have provided superb customer services to my existing clients which has led to word-of-mouth referrals. I have been extremely busy meeting new clients’ demands. My business turnover has quadrupled over the last 9 months.
Due to my recent expansion in business, I have recently moved to a large Penthouse offices in the heart of Edgbaston, Birmingham where I am able to grow my team further. In 3-5 years I’d like to achieve a further 500 clients. I currently have 510 clients. I am also looking to acquire another accountancy firm, where I can merge my team and re-train staff to provide a much more improved accountancy services to more clients. Currently I have 8 staff. By 2026, I’d like to increase my workforce to 25 employees at least.
Entrepreneurship means thinking outside the box, get more creative and you have to take risks. Being an entrepreneur means more dedication to work, work smartly and be a great sales person. You need to be able to sell your services, as well as retaining existing relationship with clients/customers to grow your business. There is no such thing as a typical 9am to 5pm job. Being an entrepreneur means, you have to make sacrifices to make your business a success. Building trust with people too show that you can be trusted. Looking for ways to improve your business also plays a key role to entrepreneurship. There will always be competitions but what makes your different is adding more value to your service to get more clients interested. Being an Entrepreneur you get to control your pay cheque which means it naturally motivates you to look for ways to earn more.
