From AAT apprentice to Co-Founder and CEO of Mazuma

Lucy Cohen reflects on how her apprenticeship led to her setting up her successful firm Mazuma at just 23 years old.

Lucy Cohen is CEO/co-founder of accounting firm Mazuma and was recently appointed AAT’s youngest-ever president. She started her finance career as an AAT apprentice, working in the accounts department of a Cardiff hotel. She co-founded Mazuma a few years later, aged 23 and with just £100 in her bank account. Today, the firm employs over 70 people and manages the accounts of 10,000 small business clients across the UK.

How I got there: my apprenticeship-to-CEO journey

I originally wanted to study media and drama at university, but it didn’t work out. Instead, I blagged my way into working as a production runner and ‘dance double’ on film sets. It wasn’t fulfilling, so I went to a careers officer who suggested working in accounting.

I then walked across the road to the Jurys Inn Cardiff hotel and asked if they had any jobs in accounting. A few days later I was working there.

I soon fell in love with accounting. My apprenticeship ultimately led to me starting Mazuma because I wanted to use my accounting skills to build a product for small businesses.

What advice would you give your former apprentice self?

Be prepared for knockbacks and don’t take rejection too hard. In the world of work, not everything will go your way, but there’s always opportunities to fix things.

I once screwed up so badly as a 19-year-old apprentice, I thought I was going to be sacked from the hotel where I worked. I entered the wrong number on the SAP when doing a food/beverage order, resulting in me ordering 60 bottles of the wrong wine! I did get a telling-off from my FD for accidentally ordering this more expensive stock, but the hotel manager managed to sell the wine at a profit.

It taught me a valuable lesson: when things go wrong, always take a breath and look at the bigger picture before flapping your gums.

Apprenticeships also help build resilience. When you’re in university or higher education, it can be a supportive environment. But as an apprentice, you’re suddenly thrown into a world where you’re expected to be a grown-up.

What’s the best way for a current AAT apprentice to follow in your footsteps?

Be curious. When running a business, you need to be curious because nobody’s there to give you the answers – the buck stops with you. As CEO, you need to figure problems out for yourself. If you approach challenges with curiosity rather than fear, you’ll find ways to overcome them.

We employ apprentices here at Mazuma. Alongside curiosity, I always look out for work ethic and enthusiasm in our trainees. If you ask your manager to spend a few hours shadowing payroll to learn more about the department, you’ll stand out.

What did you learn as an AAT apprentice that you still use today as a CFO?

One of the biggest benefits of being an apprentice is learning how to navigate how workplaces function early on. You’ll see first-hand what MDs, CEOs and CFOs actually do, plus learn how to operate in a multi-generational workforce.

Because you may be working alongside people you don’t necessarily like, you end up developing some useful communication skills.

I set up Mazuma at 23 with just £100 in my bank account, working from my spare bedroom. I sometimes look back and wonder why anybody trusted me – I was so young! I think they did because I was credible, thanks to my AAT qualification and the social skills my apprenticeship gave me.

There used to be a stigma around apprenticeships, that they were inferior to university degrees. I think that’s gone now. People are doing the economic return-on-investment on university and thinking, ‘Do I want to spend £40,000 on something that has no guaranteed job afterwards?’

How has CPD helped you progress?

I’m a dedicated lifelong learner – you never stop being an apprentice!

Look at how quickly the world is changing. You can’t be like, ‘Well, it wasn’t like this when I studied!”. If you want to succeed in your career, you’ll have to learn new things. But that’s exciting: who wants to do the same thing all their lives?  

What’s the best way to raise your profile as an apprentice?

Use personal development meetings to be clear about your ambitions. If you tell your line manager, “I want to be FD [Financial Director] in five years’ time: what do I need to do to get there?” they’ll guide you to the right experience and training.

What’s the best way for apprentices to acquire leadership skills early in their career?

Observe leaders and managers in action. In meetings and town halls, watch how managers communicate. Are they engaging? Do they feel accessible? Are people energised or switched off? Work out why they’re good (or bad) leaders. Sometimes you learn just as much watching a bad leader as a good one.

Lessons for apprentices

1. If there’s an area of accountancy you want to work in, just go for it. So what if you work there for six months and you don’t enjoy it? Learning what you don’t enjoy is just as valuable as discovering what you do.

2. Challenge everything. Always look for a better way to do things. For example, if a project’s too slow, figure out what could be delaying it.

3. Keep your managers in the loop on projects. If a deadline is approaching and I haven’t heard from my team, my assumption as a CEO is that it isn’t going well. Silence before a deadline is never good.

Christian Koch is an award-winning journalist/editor who has written for the Evening Standard, Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph, The Independent, Q, The Face and Metro. He's also written about business for Accounting Technician, 20 and Director, where he is contributing editor.