IBTC Pass Assured Promise - Athi Biko's story

CIMA student, Athenkosi Biko, failed Strat ICS in February. Luckily, he is an IBTC student and could make use of our Pass Assured Promise. Athi returned to the exam room in May and left a champion!

Here, in his own words, is his CIMA story and road to success.

“I have always dreamt of being a qualified finance professional and originally started studying towards a CA(SA). Sadly, life got in the way and I had to abandon my studies and start working. First, I was a call centre agent. I then moved into accounting and product control within financial services and banks. It was here that I learnt about CIMA. After some research, I realised CIMA was the route I had to go. I had finally found a global qualification that combined both finance and business. While studying I enrolled at IBTC Professional Business Education and attended their Strategic Case Study classes. The classes followed a different format to your traditional ‘knowledge dump’ lecturing. Studying for the Case Study exam requires a reasoning and application approach. The candidate needs to know the material and how to apply it. My lecturer, Kuda, understood this.

I thought I was ready, so I booked and wrote. I failed. Let’s face it, failing is never fun, but giving up just wasn’t an option. That’s the thing with CIMA, you need to keep your head down, keep going and not lose momentum. It’s hard to get back into the race if you stop running. I didn’t fail by much. I was literally a few marks short of a pass. I realised that I knew my subject, but my delivery required work. Luckily, I could make use of IBTC’s Pass Assured Promise. So, I booked again for the May sitting, wrote and passed.

My CIMA journey is almost over but I have grown in my career and as a person. I have learnt to balance technical, business and people skills in each task I complete. I can now look at a problem from every angle and solve it holistically. This helps daily in my job as a Finance Business Partner, to me this is priceless.

My advice to anyone thinking of studying CIMA? Do your research. Only then will you realise the real value of a CIMA qualification and how it will change your life. With CIMA the sky really is the limit.”

Study CIMA with IBTCAll our CIMA courses are Pass Assured. To study CIMA with IBTC go to www.ibtc.co.za and click on the book now button. Alternatively, you can call Robert on 0861 111 411 and he will gladly help you get started.