Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th

Desiree gases

“Now is the time to chase your dreams and pursue whatever career or opportunities you want.”- Tinashe Manika

Tinashe Manika was born in a family of 3 children with him being the first born. Manika is followed by 2 little sisters aged 13 and 11 years. They were all raised by their mother.

“I owe my mother so much and today have so much gratitude for all the opportunities and sacrifices she has made for me to be where I am today,” Manika says. Growing up Manika was always a hopper because of the line of work his mother was involved in they always moved from one city to another. During his primary education Manika schooled in 5 different schools and 3 different schools during secondary education. Manika was born in the city of Bulawayo in his home country Zimbabwe. Manika competed a large portion of his primary and secondary school in Zimbabwe. In 2016 he enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in accounting at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and completed this in 2018. In 2019 he enrolled and completed his Certificate of Theory in Accounting (known as CTA in the profession) at the same university. In 2020 Manika then started his journey at PWC.

Manika’s journey with PWC began in February 2020 when he started his training. “It has been an interesting journey marked with so much to lessons,” adds Manika. Manika is currently in his second year of training and thus far he has been involved in a number of engagements of clients across different industries and sectors but mainly specialising in the financial services sector - insurance. Manika has played roles of audit senior on some of his smaller engagements where he has been able to conduct an audit from planning right until completion and sign off of financial statements. On bigger engagements Manika has been the assistant to the senior audit team member seeing that he has coached and given guidance to those below him in the hierarchy of the engagements as well as contributing meaningfully on every engagement that he placed on. Manika has also held other responsibilities such as being the technical champion for the team he works under where he’s responsible for updating the team with the latest developments in the profession as received from their Africa head office and global firm structures.

Careers asked Manika what some of his accomplishments and challenges were.

“In the journey and road to be a CA (NAM) there are 2 main qualifying examinations you need to complete before obtaining the designation. After my completing my Certificate of Theory in Accounting I sat for my 1st board exam in January 2020 and this didn’t go well I failed it. I sat again for it in November 2021 and I failed it. I sat again for my 3rd attempt in April of this year and finally I made it through. This was one of the challenges I’ve faced in this journey so far where you start even doubting yourself and your capabilities. The biggest lesson was that whatever life throws at you, you just need to keep going, to try and try again and to keep moving forward.

“As the Chinese proverb goes, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second-best time is now. Now is the time to chase your dreams and pursue whatever career or opportunities you want. Forget about the past, what you may have failed or whatever your circumstances may be but focus on the now. Now is the time to pursue and live your dreams. Looking at the future I can but just say we the young need to be present and involved. We need to demand a seat at the table. The future is bright, and the future is undoubtably young, if they do not give us a seat at the table, we need to bring our own chairs to the table.”