From Chickens to Chartered Accountancy: My Unlikely Journey

Hi, I’m Ebrahim Kaloo, and I recently achieved a nearly-impossible milestone: I am now a Chartered Accountant.

I grew up on a farm just outside Inanda, KZN.

It wasn’t an Instagram-able life — It’s the kind of farm where your main accountant is your chicken, and your spreadsheets are eggs in a basket.Honestly, I thought “debits and credits” were just fancy words farmers used for counting feed.

But my story didn’t end in the coup.

After finishing high school, I began this CA journey with my BCom at UKZN’s Westville campus.The first day I arrived, I saw the CA roadmap. It stopped me in my tracks: “Wait, why does it look like someone vomited a whole bunch of nonsense on there? Is this a career path or a treasure map?”. It took me 9 years: after many twists and turns, and more coffee than my heart can handle,  I found the gold.

The journey wasn’t smooth. I was derailed by a global pandemic. During my Honours year, just a week before my finals, I got COVID-19.

I still wrote the exam.

But I failed.

It left me confused. I was deeply disappointed, and wondering: maybe my chicken-farming skills were more useful than I thought. So I took a gap year. That year, I began my articles at Accensis. I remember telling my manager, “I don’t want to study further.” She told me, calmly: “Give it one more shot.”

And that one line changed everything.

I went back, passed CTA, and faced my first SAICA board exam. I failed… twice. For true: By my third attempt, I was starting to think those exams had a personal vendetta against me.

But on the third attempt, I passed.

I’ll never forget: Coming out of hospital after being on life support, passing my 1st boards brought my father to tears. It was one of those moments that makes you appreciate why you keep going, even when it feels impossible. Board 2 results came. And what a time to receive them: I was doing a stock count, stressed out stuck in traffic, and busy refreshing the SAICA page as if it owed me money.

And there it was: I passed. It was super surreal — proof that my perseverance paid off. I just had to keep having faith.

Along the way, I learned a few things:

• If you don’t fail, how can you learn?. Sometimes, you fail. You then question your life choices and wonder if sitting in the chicken coup was your best bet.
• Persistence beats perfection. I kept showing up, even when things didn't make sense.
• Laugh at yourself. If you can survive your APC exam with three hours of sleep, stress, and a lifetime supply of caffeine, you can survive anything.
• Support matters. Having a network of managers, mentors, colleand agues, family makes a huge difference — nothing compares to having someone believe in you.

I started with eggs, and now i am here - a whole CA(SA). Finding your “treasure” may take time, but it’s worth it. To my mentors, colleagues, family, and even my chicken farm — thank you for being part of this journey.

From farm boy to Chartered Accountant, this is one adventure I’ll never forget. Thank you Accensis, now onto the next step in my career.

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