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This article was first published in the October 2016 international edition of Accounting and Business magazine.

It’s not far from downtown Toronto to the Aga Khan Museum. In fact, it’s only a couple of underground stops away. But for Refat Jiwani FCCA, recently appointed CFO of the museum, the daily commute from his Ontario home is not just a route connecting destinations but a link between continents – and above all cultures. 

The son of an Africa-born mother of Indian origin and an Indian father, Jiwani’s longer journey originated in Tanzania. ‘Our culture at the time,’ he says, ‘was that your parents had a very strong influence on your career choices. My father saw my strength in maths and decided that I should become either an accountant or an actuary.’ After finishing his secondary education, Jiwani decided that the UK was the ideal spot to do his ACCA accountancy training, with a view to practising eventually in North America. 

Once he had completed his ACCA accreditation, emigration from England to Canada held out the promise of new opportunities for personal growth, economic independence and, perhaps more importantly, reconnecting with family. As he explains: ‘I visited Canada several times because the rest of my family was there. I soon learned that it was a country with a good standard of living, one that would allow me to participate in the local culture while maintaining my own heritage.’

On his ACCA Qualification, Jiwani says: ‘The accounting profession has been a great facilitator for my growth as an executive. The profession itself has evolved over the years and I feel that having an ACCA accreditation has actually given me what I would consider an MBA equivalent and more.’

About-face

Arriving in Toronto in 1980, Jiwani’s career began in a complex corporate environment. His first job was as an accountant with Canadian insurer National Life. He spent the next 26 years in progressive finance positions and line operations with the company but in 2006 did an about-face, leaving his role as a highly paid executive to volunteer as a management consultant with the humanitarian aid organisation Focus Humanitarian Assistance in Tajikistan (under the auspices of Focus USA). 

Asked why he left the corporate life for philanthropy, Jiwani recalls his long-term plan: ‘I decided I would devote my first 25 years to learning, in order to be able to earn a living; the next 25 years working towards career progression and financial independence; and the next 25 years giving back to society. To this day many of my friends don’t understand,’ he adds. ‘They say, “You were at the prime of your career, you were a step from the corner office, you were enjoying stock options and all kinds of perks, and the next thing we hear is that you and your wife are in some unknown country in central Asia as volunteers – what’s going on?” To this, I would reply: I made this decision from the heart.’ 

The inspiration behind his role as CFO at the Aga Khan Museum lies in his long-term devotion to his faith, his belief in the role of education in the advancement of a pluralist society, and a sense of pride in the achievements of his culture.

He says: ‘Our mission is to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the contribution Muslim civilisations have made to world heritage. Through education, research and collaboration with other museums and institutions, we hope to foster dialogue and promote tolerance and mutual understanding of people. This is why we feel that the work of the museum is very relevant, not just today, but perhaps for decades if not centuries to come.’

Jiwani realised from the outset that moving between sectors would not necessarily be easy. In fact, he says, it meant not just a lifestyle change but also a significant change in management styles, strategies and processes. Despite these differences, he says, there are also many similarities. ‘I was surprised to learn that the not-for-profit sector can be just as outcomes-driven as the insurance industry, just in another way. I have to admit that before I joined the charities world, for some reason I didn’t see it as a competitive or high-performance sector. However, I learned very early on that this was a misconception. The sector as a whole, and the Aga Khan Development Network in particular, is just as competitive, definitely very high performance and, because we receive funding from many sources, very accountable.’

More hands-on

The big difference from a financial management perspective, he has found, is mainly a function of scale and the nature of the outcomes he is expected to manage. ‘In a relatively smaller not-for-profit, one has to be more hands-on, and the metrics we use to measure our success are really quite different. Although the financials obviously matter, the real measure of value is the impact we have on the purpose that we serve.’ This, he explains, from a business perspective, is a long-term view, requiring investments that aren’t often measurable in terms of return on investment. 

For the museum specifically, the primary outcome is its ability to educate. ‘We’re looking at the museum as being an avenue to help people understand that pluralism in society is actually a strength. Very particularly, we want people to understand the impact that Muslim civilisations have had in the development of our world over the last many centuries. So at this stage, our impact measurements are more in terms of how many people we’ve reached, how many people come to the museum, how many people come to our lectures, seminars and performances.’ 

The Aga Khan Museum, which opened in 2014, is the first of its kind in North America. With seed funding from its benefactor, His Highness the Aga Khan, the financial foundation was there to build on from the outset, but the strategy for long-term self-sufficiency wasn’t necessarily fully developed. 

As the museum becomes more established, Jiwani explains, it will start gathering the metrics that will allow it to understand how it is affecting people’s awareness of Muslim civilisations and how it is influencing perceptions on why pluralism can be a strength to modern society. 

‘Initially everybody was focused on getting the museum opened on time and getting it opened right. As with many new ventures, the focus was short term, without enough attention to business fundamentals. To get the same people to then turn around and say okay, now we are in business, meant a change in mindset,’ he says. ‘To this end, the biggest thing that I might have accomplished over the last year is to help make this happen. This is where so many years of experience as a finance executive in the insurance sector has really paid off.’

The road forward

As a new venture, in terms of everyday financial management the road forward for the Aga Khan Museum will no doubt have many twists and turns along the way. As Jiwani explains: ‘We’re learning something new every day, including some lessons learned the hard way. Attracting members and new and repeat visitors is a fresh challenge, and fundraising and business development is also a major undertaking. 

‘Programming to stay true to our mission but also ensuring that we’re able to attract a growing audience is a fine balancing act right now. So these are all very different challenges and my role within that is dramatically different from the ones I’ve had in an established organisation.’

At the moment, cash is very important to the museum, as it would be for most new operations, and as Jiwani comments, his main concerns are daily cash management, forecasting cashflow and managing infrastructure costs as the museum builds its revenue base. It’s what you would typically expect to encounter in any startup organisation, he says, but perhaps compounded a little bit more because it’s a very different type of organisation and will take a little while to get its feet firmly on the ground. 

‘That’s the biggest adjustment that I’ve had moving from a large commercial enterprise to a startup not-for-profit,’ he says. ‘And clearly the road ahead will lead to many new and rewarding challenges.’

Ramona Dzinkowski is a Canadian economist and editor-in-chief of the Sustainable Accounting Review