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Member proﬁ le

Making

CENTS

From ﬂ eeing her war-torn country to building two
successful businesses, IPA member Natasha Janssens
explains how she’s kept pace with ﬁ nancial services by

embracing challenges head on

by Jotham Lian

rriving in Australia as an Fast forward to today and “The beauty in all of that
18-year-old refugee from MsJanssens operates as a especially with working with
Serbia following the quali ed accountant, licensed smaller businesses, I got to work
A1999 NATO bombing nancial planner, and mortgage very closely with successful
of Yugoslavia, Natasha Janssens broker under her own boutique entrepreneurs and business
had to strike out on her own rm in Canberra, Sova Financial. people and learn directly from
and make sense of a whole Her journey was by no means them,” Ms Janssens said.
newenvironment. a uke, with MsJanssens diving “[I got to understand] what
At the time, she had little into different opportunities their thought processes were,
interest in the world of nance, presented to her, starting as a how they managed their
choosing instead to study tax accountant at Taubenschlag business, how they negotiated
software development, before & Associates, then as a deals and all those sorts of things
a stint in a family-owned retail management accountant at the so it really gave me a lot of those
business saw Ms Janssens Australian Pharmacy group skills that you wouldn’t really
handling some bookkeeping before a break as a senior learn at university — all the
work, piquing her interest in the consultant at the big four practical aspects of navigating
accounting world. rm,KPMG. the world of having a business.”

pubacct.org.au October / November 2017 51

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