One Leader’s Path From Accountant To CEO

Henry Lukenge’s life has taken him from Idi Amin’s Uganda and apartheid South Africa to the UK and finally Canada—and his professional trajectory is equally fascinating.

After working as a certified chartered accountant first in the UK and then in Canada, Lukenge in 2009 left the professional tax and accounting services sector as the global financial crisis hit.

Disillusioned by his profession, he took a hiatus and travelled to Africa while he figured out what his next role would be and how he could make a broader societal impact. Lukenge explored various business ideas, one of which led to the establishment of Nexim Healthcare Consultants, a healthcare staffing company based in Toronto.

Once the company became profitable, he was able to start putting a significant portion of the company’s net earnings towards charitable efforts in resource-limited regions via an associated organization that Lukenge also founded, Nexim International Development Organization.

Lukenge spoke with Chief Executive about how his accounting background is helping him as CEO, why it’s so important to him to give back and why he calls the job of a chief executive a “lonely road.”

What made you decide to leave the accounting profession?

At the end of 2008 and early 2009, two major crises hit the global economy—the real estate-inspired banking market crash and the crisis of confidence in the accounting and professional services space when Arthur Andersen collapsed.

At the time, I was a senior finance executive with a major Canadian trust fund, having been recruited from the UK to help with an IFRS-driven acquisition between a major pension fund in Canada and one of Canada’s largest phone companies. That deal fell through due to the credit crunch—and so did my role and right to stay in Canada as I was on a temporary work permit.

However, before I could go, we had to help the trust fund with its role in the implementation of the many bailout initiatives governments all over the world had set up to help the fast-falling global economy. While doing that work, it became apparent to me that help was going to those that did not need it, and for the most part those who looked like me were not getting adequate help to overcome the effects of the property crush.

I was disillusioned with my career as a chartered accountant, and I thought seriously for the first time about what else I could do with my skills. With senior roles in finance and accounting in short supply, especially at my level, I chose to travel as I rethought my next career move. Spending some time off the beaten path—walking among men and kids in the Maasai tribes of Africa as they travelled miles to find good grazing grounds and water for their animals—would help.

When you travelled and explored various business ideas, tell me about the process you undertook to determine what was right for you.

I have always been comfortable travelling alone and off the beaten path—probably because as a youngster I was displaced a few times. I was born in Idi Amin’s Uganda in the mid-’70s—one of the most dangerous places to be born into the world, and for those like my parents who had an education, it was even riskier. They were forced to drop everything, and we ran off southwards into apartheid South Africa.

As a chartered accountant, I found that backpacking or camping across Africa, Southeast Asia and Brazil helped me remain grounded. I find myself very comfortable among the world’s most disadvantaged and poorest. So when I began struggling with my direction careerwise, I first went to visit my mother in Africa, who has always been my strongest advocate and my wisest counsel. I also shared meals with people who do not have much to share, but do so anyway—that allows one to think objectively and honestly about themselves.

While on the road from Nairobi to Cape Town—and paying attention to the challenges kids face going to school, the fight to protect the African wildlife, the impact climate change is having on people’s lives and food insecurity—one of my next career choices became self-evident. I would set up a corporation with a related charity to help advance access to education, wildlife conservation and the fight against climate change.

But I needed to figure out what business I would get into and that is where my mom would help put clarity to my thoughts. She was a retired UK nurse who had also held part-time agency jobs working through a third-party staffing agency. She had kept in touch with her boss, and she offered to ask him to talk me through what it took to succeed in the health and social care staffing space in the UK. Then I could figure out how to do the same in Canada if similar industry circumstances existed.

He offered me a week working and learning by his side—the ropes on what it takes to succeed in this space—cash flow, scheduling, training, customer service and above all else, being there for your nurses and healthcare assistants.

I got back to Canada and filed for permanent residence immigration. I started Nexim in a small two-desk office above a coffee shop, and have not looked back since. Nexim currently has three large branches covering four provinces, with close to 50 full-time staff and we’re about to go countrywide.

How does your accounting background help you manage Nexim?

I have dual CA/CPA designations that allow me to practice both in the UK and Canada, plus a statistics degree and other designations. These all combine to help me function more efficiently across the multiple roles I now occupy, but the accounting background has particularly been essential when it comes to costing our services, positioning new services into the marketplace, cash flow planning and tax planning.

As a CEO and business owner who happens to be a CA, I help our business better navigate the changing tax and interest rate regiments, while also helping it better manage other risks. I’m able to communicate with banks, tax regulatory authorities and external auditors about compliance issues that come with working in a tightly regulated healthcare staffing environment.

My accounting background helped us negotiate and exit high-interest factoring as a source of working capital into conventional A grade financing with a high street bank. My background also helped us discover that the factoring company had overcharged us by close to $1 million in fees and interest by relayering terms on top one another—something it sought to deny culpability for due to a legal technicality that our lawyers are working to resolve.

Also, the first year Nexim opened I kept a consulting job at an accounting firm in London. I flew there from Canada each Thursday night and worked through the weekend, heading back to Canada on Sunday night so on Monday I was at my Canadian desk growing Nexim. That work helped top up our payroll until we broke even.

What led you to also form the associated charity, the Nexim International Development Organization (NIDO)?

All my success is because I was able to go to school, so it has always been a core belief of mine that every child needs to have equal access to an education. Once I set up Nexim, I granted 10 percent of my shares to NICO, so that the moment Nexim became profitable, a portion of its profits went towards access to education, wildlife conservation and green energy programs in our priority areas of geography: east, central and southern Africa.

NIDO is now a registered international development charity with active programs and projects in several countries. It operates several social enterprises whose purpose is to generate revenue to fund NIDO programs, so NIDO can become a self-sustaining organization. Its programs directly impact 2,000 students across several countries, and with increasing net earnings from social entreprises, our goal is to help 10,000 students over the next five years.

What advice do you have for other professionals who are considering changing careers and becoming a CEO for the first time?

Our world is facing many challenges, and if you can find a solution to one at a price that few can match, you are one step ahead.

Also, being CEO is not a team sport. For the most part it’s a very lonely road between you and your goal or vision, and it’s going to demand every ounce of patience and persistence—and the discipline of a group of ants.

Find some mentors, listen to them and act on their advice. Take as many people as you can with you on the road to your success. Do not forget to take time out to enjoy the journey and never let success get to your heart.