Starting out with a start up?

Few months ago, my career mentor shared her experience about working with a start up here, After reading, I imagined that I might write something close sometime soon, guess what, today is the sometime soon I saw foresaw few months ago.

I started working with Taxaide Professional Services about eleven months ago, and it started with a one month internship, a reward for winning a Tax competition, then spilled over into three months, then an application for graduate internship

Tax wasn’t my first option, it has always been HR, at least since I discovered that numbers wasn’t a forte, but Taxaide felt like home, so it was quite easy to request for a graduate internship. I got an invitation for an interview ( from one of the big four) and while I was considering going or not, a Tax audit which I was a major part of was fixed on the day of my interview thus I closed my mind to other openings and opened my mind to Taxaide, for me it was home.

Working with a startup is a great favor you can do for yourself at the early stage of your career. Funto Koya.

This assertion was made by my mentor and my experience at Taxaide Professional Services ascertained this assertion; below are the reasons why.

1. Work for a boss, not for a company- Jack Ma; The Chinese mogul once advised that working with a boss in the early part of your career gives you a sense of purpose, direction and most importantly, someone whose footsteps you should follow and that's what exactly Taxaide gave me. Working with my MD Olumide Bidemi Daniel my head of department, Michael Gbenga Sile has been an amazing experience. I have learnt to learn, unlearn and relearn, I have learnt that the more I learn, the more I learn that there is more to learn. I have picked up core values like tenacity, thoroughness and the need to be immaculately impeccable at every point in time. I would never forget the day I spent three hours editing a three page article with my boss,yes we spent GOOD THREE HOURS on a three page article, in his words "You must learn to get it right, and getting it right means paying attention to every meticulous details". One of the best moments with my MD is when he comes and says "Emmanuel Faith, let's take a selfie and pulls me into a warm embrace". It brings pulsating sensations that is surreal and serene.

“Being a great place to work is the difference between being a good company and a great company.” Brian Kristofek, President and CEO, Upshot

2. There is a huge difference between a good company and a great company: Because I am an HR enthusiast, I value people's culture a lot. I once turned down a job offer because there were no millennial in the organization and I wasn't treated with respect during the interview. Taxaide has an amazing people's culture. From the birthday parties that reverberates the building to the let's have fun days that pops up randomly, Taxaide is an organization that balances work and fun excellently well. People are treated with mutual respect, Interns flow freely with associates and relates even with the Managing partners, when necessary. There are no bureaucracies or unnecessary protocols, instead, there is a lovely bond that keeps every one on an ebullient momentum to get things done. What better place is there to work than a place where you can grow, stretch, make mistakes and get better?

“We believe in relentlessly refining our skills and knowledge, as a team and as individuals.”

– Liz Liu, Head of Culture, Scopely

3. Start ups gives you the room to grow and express your abilities relentlessly; There is a garment of responsibility you automatically wear when you realize that your action or inaction causes a lot of reaction and repercussion that makes you think thoroughly about your decisions, and working with a start ups gives you that . Do you know this line in your CV; Ability to work under immense pressure? Working with a start up will test the validity of that line. At Taxaide, I stretched, strained, and learnt rapidly, I worked with different departments and performed different roles at diverse points in time. From learning the rudiments of VAT and WHT, to my first Tax Audit which came just five weeks into my internship where I had to apply what I learnt, Taxaide gave me the room to grow and grow fast. One of my best experiences was when I was assisting on personal income tax and payroll management. I assisted my associate on the payroll management of about ten clients with over a hundred employees. Imagine that, the salaries of some hundred employees somewhere depend on you as an intern and you must not make any mistake. Tasking right?

At Taxaide, my skills were judiciously utilized, work processes were rearranged and tilted to suit my abilities. For instance, the head of my department, made me do more negotiation related tasks than computation tasks, when he discovered my halo effect and negotiation skills, (I once saved a client from paying a 6 million interest because of my negotiation skills, I also collected a Tax clearance certificate we had chased for 8 months amongst many other amazing feats).My associate made me draft a lot of letters and liaise with clients, saving me from the headache of building payroll models (another really number laden task). It didn't mean I didn't do computations (remember, I participated in Tax audits, both LIRS and FIRS), It just meant at every point in time, worked processes revolved around my forte and made our departmental goals achievable easily.

“Company Culture is the product of a company’s values, expectations and environment.”

– Courtney Chapman, Product Manager, Rubicon Project

4.Bigger than the big four? Participation management is a term I learnt while preparing for my professional exams a while ago.It's an interesting concept that examines a lateral approach to management, as against the top-bottom approach, thus enhancing every employees potential to be stakeholders in the firm as well as contribute immensely towards the progress and growth of the firm and that is what is practiced at Taxaide. The introductory line of this point is the title of the last chapter of my forthcoming eBook. It is almost natural to aim for the big four or other reputable multinationals immediately after graduation, especially when unlike myself, you finished with a good CGPA however the honest truth is that we won't all get dream jobs at first. While I am not asking you to shortchange yourself, I am saying working with a startup might be one of the propelling force that would build the solid foundation your career needs to propel rapidly.

In the last eleven months, I have assisted on VAT, WHT, PIT, managed payroll processes, assisted on CIT and PPT, worked as a product manager for one of our products, worked with the intelligence and communications department, represented my company for an HR sessions with undergraduates and created content for our blogs. Can you imagine how loaded my CV is? As I take a bow out of Taxaide, I would never forget the last eleven months, the people, the places, the platforms, the opportunities, and I dare to conclude in Funto's words that Working with a start up is a great favor you can do yourself in the early stage of your career, and for me Taxaide professional services was a good place to start .

You can visit us here for all your tax related challenges, we provide cost-effective, timely and sustainable to tax related problems.

Till I write again, keep getting better.

My next article should be how I got invited for four interviews in three days, turned down two jobs offers from two multinationals. Till then, I still remain your friend, Emmanuel Faith.