A humble, respectful and well-mannered gentleman, Mlungisi Hlongwane is a philanthropist, an entrepreneur and a social transformation agent. Mlungisi hails from a deep rural area called Bergville in Kwazulu Natal. The place boasts the infamous Drankensberg Mountains – one of the worlds heritage sites. He was raised by his grandmother who was and still is an entrepreneur in her own right. She ran a spaza shop, she was also quite big in farming in the area and from a very young age Mlungisi assisted her at the spaza shop and in the fields. The passion for entrepreneurship and philanthropy grew from then.

Having completed both SAICA Initial Test of Competence (ITC) and Assessment of Professional Competence (APC), Mlungisi is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He is currently pursuing his Master of Philosophy in Entrepreneurship with the University of Pretoria under the faculty of Economic and Management Sciences – Department of Business Studies. He obtained his Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal under Faculty of Law and Management Sciences and obtained his Postgraduate Diploma in Accountancy (Certificate of Theory in Accounting) with University of South Africa (UNISA) under the College of Economics and Management Sciences – CAS Department.

Mlungisi’s strong will to succeed has earned him several accolades. He was recently nominated for the SAICA Top 35 under 35 Competition 2018 and won the public vote of the same competition. He was also selected to be a part of the Top 100 Africa’s Brightest Young Minds in 2017. Mlungisi was voted as the best performer for the PFMA audits of the Gauteng Provincial Government Departments and Public Entities in 2015 at the Auditor General of South Africa. He was part of the Top 25 CTA students in the Auditor General of South Africa and formed part of the organised Boot Camp for the preparation of 2014 UNISA Exams.

This hard-working and well achieved young man has the world chasing him with opportunities, read his story below to see how he made it through university:

1. Why did you choose to go into the CA field?

It must be the realization of the value and the importance that the CA(SA) profession has. I have a passion to contribute to this profession that has taught me a lot throughout the journey to becoming a CA and beyond qualification. This combined with my curious personality, I always want to learn and explore new things through research and being able to package it for the next person to understand it better so that they derive value out of it. Academia allows me to do this with ease. In addition to this, I believe that Academia is my calling. It allows me to empower the next person to realize their dreams and this is to the betterment of the families, societies and eventually the world. When the next person is empowered, then I am fulfilled.

2. Have you always known you wanted to study towards becoming a CA?

Because of my background i.e. entrepreneurial background, I always knew that I had to pursue a career related to finance. I always wanted to understand how finances worked and to help my grandmother with the finances in her businesses. I must however, admit that I never knew anything about Chartered Accountancy at that point. It was through doing research that I found out that the perfect qualification for my intended career would be to become a Chartered Accountant. I started following and learning more about the very few people in my area who were Chartered Accountants. I made it a point that I ask them for guidance until I eventually attained the designation.

3. Do you think it’s possible for someone to be in the wrong field of study?

I believe anyone who does not follow his passion or calling is in the wrong field. I have made it my mission to offer career guidance to young people and make sure that they choose the careers that are more aligned with their passion. I have seen that those who do something that they like tend to do it best.

4. What would you say to that person who is experiencing those depressing thoughts because they feel they are in the wrong field of study bearing in mind exams are still in progress? How would you motivate them?

It is often tempting for one to feel like they are in the wrong field of study whereas the natural challenge and anxiety that comes with the exams. One would need to first be clear that the feeling is genuinely because they are really not passionate about the course. However, I believe one must always remember the reason why they started something. That normally provides them with the motivation to weather the storm. If they want it bad enough, they will find a way to make it work. I also encourage working in groups of common interest.

5. There is no smooth academic journey, what are some of the obstacles that you’ve had to overcome? How did you overcome them?

The first biggest obstacle was coming from the rural schools and often the English language becomes a barrier that also works against self-confidence. Adjusting to the university where English is the teaching language became a challenge. I have learnt throughout my academic journey that the best way to overcome any challenge related to academics is to understand the type of a person you are. This will allow you to come up with the strategies that work best for you and not copy other people’s way of doing things. An example would be to understand whether you are someone who learns better on their own or in a group set-up, are you a person who learns better using visuals, someone who is able to memorize something for a longer period. That allowed me to understand that I am a slow reader and therefore I allocated more time in my studies. The other challenge I faced was when I did my Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting part-time. It is extremely challenging to balance work with studies. This one requires discipline, focus and lot of sacrifices. I had to sacrifice my social life but, in the end, it was all worth it. Here is the last one, you need to want it bad enough for you to be able to soldier on and overcome the challenges. I was never afraid to ask for assistance when I was struggling. This speaks to the right associations.

6. Has your upbringing affected your academic journey in anyway? If you feel it limited you in anyway, how did you move past those boundaries?

It is true that people who come from disadvantaged background start from the back foot, however this is by no way an indication of the impossibility to attain one’s academic goal. I have mentioned the communication barrier i.e. English language but that can also be overcome. The lack of appropriate mentorship and guidance during the schooling days had an effect as well. I feel that if there was appropriate guidance and exposure to certain information, I would have navigated much easier. There were and still are no information centres in our community to expose pupils to more information about the careers and just to prepare them for the next stages of their life.  This remains one of the biggest differences between the children from disadvantaged backgrounds and the rest. By the way, it is not only the children that do not have access to information but also the parents, which magnifies the problem. The determination to succeed and not being willing to ever give up is what helped me move past these boundaries.

7. There are students who didn’t get DP (minimum entry requirement to be able to write an exam) for some of their modules. They are feeling discouraged. How would you advise them in this exam season?

I am firm believer in self-introspection. I must admit that I have never been in the same situation before but I have experienced failure in my academic life and in life in general. I would encourage the student to allow for the process of acceptance, which is normally very hard. They are probably thinking about the people they have let down e.g. parents, themselves and the standards they might set for themselves, friends and their communities even. We should never forget that making it to tertiary is still a privilege to many and thus it puts some students under pressure because they become ‘role models’ in their communities and have to be seen as successful. When one finds themselves in this situation, they need to get through the stage of acceptance and when that has happened they need to do self-introspection and understand what went wrong. After they have diagnosed a problem, they need to come up with a strategy to rectify what would have gone wrong. Importantly, they must rid themselves of the pressures, internally and externally, as that is not going to help them in any way.

8. Time management is imperative in a student’s life. How did you manage your time between exams? Especially, if they were close to each other.

As soon as I receive my exam timetable, I would draw my exam preparation timetable and plan how I am going to approach my studies. This would require one to look at the time available and the activities that they have to do, prioritize the most important ones and sacrifice some activities that are not that important. Allocate more resources to the subjects that are either complex or have more volume of work. Importantly, one needs to be disciplined and stick to the timetable.

9. Fear is one of the biggest hindrances to success. How did you get over the fear of asking for help when you didn’t understand the work you were studying?

One needs to always gage, which one is more valuable between fear and getting help. There were instances where I would fear asking for help but after asking myself the above question. One hundred percent of the time, I would find that asking for help is more valuable. I have learnt that nothing in life is guaranteed and therefore we would always be faced with uncertainty that we have to respond to. Fearing to ask is one example because you fear how you will be received by the next person. I have learnt to always be prepared to get either favourable or unfavourable responses. Always ask for help when you are unclear about something.

10. Quotes are motivation for a lot of students. Do you have any quote which has kept you going in your journey? And who is it by?

I live by this quote from the late John Lennon “In the end, it will be ok. If it is not ok, then it is not the end”. The other one is by Henry Ford “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right”.

11. In summary, what words would you like to extend to students writing exams?

Always ask yourself, how bad do you want to pass this exam. If you want it bad enough, you will make it happen. Always keep a positive mindset and avoid things that demotivate or discourage you. Set goals, strategize (plan) and go for a kill.

Thank you for your responses Mlungisi. Your story of humble beginnings is so encouraging. All the best to the students still writing. You almost there, keep going. #YoungAcademics