A Student of the University of Ibadan, Ayo-Salako Faithful, recently emerged as the national champion of the Ernest and Young Tax Professional Competition and has progressed into the international level of the competition. Ayo-Salako is a 400 level student of the Faculty of Law, and the President Kuti Hall Literary and Debating Society. In an interview with UCJ UI correspondent, Olajide Oladokun, he revealed the challenges he faced in the course of the competition and how he overcame them.
UCJ UI: You recently won the Ernest and Young Tax Sponsored award, what is it about?
Ayo-Salako: Yes, the competition is Ernest and Young Tax Professional of the Year, 2021 edition. The one I won was the national round; it starts from the local to the national, then the global so those who win the national rounds in different countries are the ones that represent their countries in the world round, like the global round. The Ernest and Young Tax Professional of the Year is organized by Ernest and Young, one of the big accounting firms. The Ernest and Young organizes an annual tax professional competition. It is a global competition but it first starts at their different branches in the different jurisdictions in the world so in Nigeria, for example, I just won the national competition so that makes me eligible to represent Ernest and Young Nigeria branch in the global event. Ernest and Young is about tax, essentially the competition as its name is. Ernest and Young Tax Professional of the Year is about tax and it seeks to discover young talents in taxation and to be able to groom and allow them to showcase their skills and knowledge and all of that. That is essentially what it is all about.
UCJ UI Correspondent: How was your experience in the competition?
Ayo-Salako Faithful: My experience in the competition was great. I was taught, let’s just say, I learnt to not give up actually because it came at a time that was a bit tight and at a point I thought maybe I was not sure again but I probably had in mind that okay, this period is going to pass and I would love to, in a week to come, look back and at least not regret that I didn’t give my best so that made me to still push on in spite of everything. It was quite tasking, I won’t lie and it was quite stressful but that made me push on and I’ve always had God, most importantly. It is always good to reevaluate something before you stop so I always had comfort from God.
UCJ UI: Did you expect to go far to the point of winning, considering the challenges?
Ayo-Salako: Well to be honest, when
I put in for the competition, I just thought, well, this will be nice, at least
for the experience; and to just have it on the CV that I participated in this competition.
Because to be honest, I didn’t start with the mindset that I was going to win.
What happened was, every time we were given a task, I just made sure I gave it
my best. I tried as much as possible to not let, you know, not having very
great expectations in the first place make me not put in the required effort.
Maybe because it is just for me, that is a matter of principle even if the odds
are against me. As a matter of principle, I just like to put in my best and
enough hardwork to make me satisfied that I did what I could do regardless of
the odds.
UCJ UI: What were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
Ayo-Salako: Well, maybe I should start with the fact that this is Nigeria and at times, we are going to have bandwidth problems because we had to make presentations and all; for example, although I did not have that subsequently but the first time I had it, I was supposed to start at a particular time but I couldn’t connect until after 20-30 minutes. I could not really get through to the meeting and presentations. That was enough to weigh the organizers down but they forgave me and edged forward when I finally was to able to get connected properly. According to their feedback, I was able to go on with the presentation like nothing happened so it was more or less good crisis management skill, so that was the challenge and that was how God helped me overcome it. There was also the issue of… you know we are all UI students… exams are there, so there was the pressure. I was thinking, how am I going to do all of these? You know exams are looming, I need to capture, I need to do this and do that you have to do one and the other must not suffer so that was another challenge and that was why I was thinking that should I? In spite of that, I was still able to like, give it my best and as I said earlier that, I looked ahead and I didn’t want to look behind and think ‘oh! I wish I gave this more so I just decided I’ll do it the other way and you know, going to pay the price as God helps me to still make sure academics does not suffer. Perhaps the last challenge was well, I just thought some people have been probably doing this taxation thing longer than I have. I haven’t been there so long really, there was always this underdog syndrome that I had, so I guess maybe my advice to everyone is to never let that position or situation as an underdog, you know, prevent you. Just always give it your best, you can never tell what will happen. I just continued regardless of what happened so yeah, that’s it.
UCJ UI: What do you think has been the greatest benefit of entering the competition?
Ayo-Salako: I think the greatest benefit of entering the competition for me is just to see fruits, to see it yield results. And this is what I mean, the lesson for me is a life-long lesson. You don’t have to be so sure about how it will turnout. You don’t always have to be so confident that I have what it takes. You just have to try, perhaps that’s the only thing we can always be sure about, we can try and we’ll leave the rest to God. That’s the greatest benefit to me; to just give something a trial even though there wasn’t all that certainty about the outcome and to get such an outcome that’s been the greatest benefit because it’s a life-long lesson I’ll take.
UCJ UI: How did you feel when you were announced the winner?
Ayo-Salako Faithful: I was very elated. I had a rush of emotions; I don’t think I always have that. Yeah, I don’t think I always have that. It was just a rush of emotions, of course positively. I was just really happy, to be honest, very happy, positively surprised or something like that.
UCJ UI: What advice do you have to students planning to go for the competition subsequently?
Ayo-Salako Faithful: Firstly, know that with God all things are possible. Yeah, so at least that should encourage you to put in for the competition, and it just keeps you going. Secondly, never underestimate the place of diligence and persistence. Actually, I won’t call it diligence, unless it is persistent. You have to be persistently diligent if I can put it that way. More or less two words that connote the same thing but yeah, that’s it, you can never underestimate the power of diligence, always be diligent, whichever task you are given, always be diligent and always be persistent, don’t be diligent in the first and not as diligent in the second one. Be persistent.
UCJ UI: Being a law student, what led you into entrepreneurship?
Ayo-Salako: Well, I guess just the need to diversify; I wanted to do a little bit of adventure; I wanted to know something other than what I was taught strictly in school and also I just wanted to broaden my knowledge base, adventure essentially.
UCJ UI: What are your plans for the future?
Ayo-Salako: As regards that one, I could do more, just do more, we can’t relent on things like this. Someone said champions stay hungry so we do more, yeah so that’s what I plan to do, I plan to gain more knowledge; I plan to do more things to build my network; to just establish myself to grow in the industry. Yes! My plan for the future is to do more.
UCJ UI: You mentioned that you’ve advanced into the next level, are you scared of the international stage?
Ayo-Salako Faithful: No, actually. I’m not scared, more excited. Yeah, I’m not scared actually, I’m just excited about what is to come, about what I will learn. That is my disposition.
