ICAEW has announced this year’s winner of its Chartered Star competition, which gives one member the chance to represent the Institute as a delegate at the One Young World (OYW) summit. This event brings together more than 1,800 young leaders from 190-plus countries, alongside influential political, business and humanitarian leaders, to create meaningful change. 

Aspiring future leaders (either ACA students or recently qualified) with an interest in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were invited to take part in the Chartered Star competition to secure a place at the summit. This year’s winner is Abigail Foster, founder of educational business Elent, which runs workshops for employees and students with the aim of ending social inequality using financial education.

“I was so thrilled when I found out that I had won,” says Foster, an ACA. “I stated as a target, at least six months ago, that I wanted to work with the UN. From the beginning, one of our missions at Elent has been to work towards UN SDGs four and five – better education and gender equality.”

To enter the competition, applicants had to create a short video in which they answer the following question: “How do you use your accountancy skills to solve global problems in line with the UN Sustainability Goals?”

In her winning video entry she highlights her aim of eradicating the gender pay gap and the benefits of better financial education.

The Summit will take place in Belfast from 2-5 October 2023, when the brightest young talent from every country and sector will come together to accelerate social impact. Delegates participate in four transformative days of speeches, panels, networking and workshops.

Foster found qualifying a real test of her abilities and is delighted to represent ICAEW. “To find out I’ll be representing ICAEW as an accountant at this huge event just makes me really proud.”

And the runner-up is…

A worthy second in the Chartered Star competition place goes to Singaporean member Damien Poh. His prize will be a contribution to his travels from Singapore to London to visit Chartered Accountants’ Hall in October this year. Upon arrival, Poh will attend various ICAEW events and network with global members.

Poh has three businesses: GP Landscape Construction, GP Interior Design and accountancy practice P&W Consulting. In his Chartered Star video, Poh highlights the UN SDGs that he addresses both as an accountant and as an entrepreneur in the landscaping industry.

One of them is ‘climate action’, which his business tackles by measuring, reporting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a chartered accountant, Poh implements carbon accounting practices to track emissions from his turfing operations, set reductions and mitigate their impact on climate change.

Qualified since 2021, Poh says ICAEW membership helps him in many different aspects of his businesses: “ICAEW provided training on strategy and business management, plus a case study for our final exam, all of which has helped me in my business ventures. Fundamentally, I gained a better understanding of managing the books and the financial position of a company, which gave me a solid base to build upon.”

He continues: “I’m really looking forward to visiting CAH. It will be great to meet some of the fellows and more experienced professionals in the industry. As a young chartered accountant, there’s certainly a lot I can learn from them, especially in terms of how the accounting world is changing, how technology’s improving workflow and the newly implemented ISSB Standards that everyone is working on.”