Mavis Satande

Finalist

2022

Finalist

Mavis pursued her passion for accounting, discovered while working as an IT tutor in Zimbabwe, after moving to the UK. Mavis volunteered for various accounting roles and studied accounting, while also working full-time as a cleaner at the University of Bolton. Through her hard work, she landed a full-time role in the Exchequers team at the University of Bolton.   

In Zimbabwe, I held various teaching positions where I would often work with teachers and students to support them with IT issues and work on community projects such as HIV awareness. On one project, I was assigned to the finance team – this is what triggered my passion for accounts. I soon moved to the UK, where I was able to find work full-time as a cleaner at the University of Bolton. Meanwhile, I was also pursuing my passion for accounting by volunteering in accountancy sector in the afternoon and studying accountancy in my free time. In 2011, I successfully completed my level 2 qualification and was later hired full-time as an apprentice in the Exchequer team at the University of Bolton. I have since completed my level 3 AAT qualification at Bolton College and am working towards my level 4 AAT qualification.

Learning has positively impacted on my life, and my level of self-respect in particular. My confidence, motivation and self-esteem has increased from not only gaining employment in an area that I am passionate about, but also by passing my exams and earning qualifications. I still want to progress with my education to develop myself and to support others, with the aim of reaching the same professional level as my mentors. I have found that I am more determined than ever, and this has been recognised by my family who have also strived hard with their studies while supporting and encouraging mine. I will never become stagnant with my learning as I know there is always something new to learn.

Karen Jackson, Work Based Tutor at Bolton College said, “As a general assumption, there are a lot of people at her stage in life who would not have wanted to retrain and could easily have given up at the first hurdle, but Mavis has shown if you have a passion for something and want to learn then it becomes a goal that you strive to achieve.”