How professionals from India can boost the British economy

Manali Zaveri, accountant at Shenward, moved over to Bradford in 2017 after her husband, an IT professional, secured work in the city.

“The UK is going to benefit if it has more skilled workers,” she told The Yorkshire Post. “It will definitely boost its own economic development.”

Although she isn’t completely sure of how the new points-based immigration system in the UK will work, Ms Zaveri believes it is a good thing.

“It’s a good thing if it is points-based and they are accepting people based on their skills,” the accountant said.

There is a rich talent pool for UK businesses to tap into, says Ms Zaveri as India has a “tough working culture”.

She added: “In India, we’ve got a lot of competition. That makes us more productive. We are used to working long hours. We’re really hard working.”

The Mumbai-born accountant qualified in India – gaining chartered status from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Despite this, she has had to sit more exams to gain her ACA qualification from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Ms Zaveri admits that it has been at times frustrating having already proven herself in India but knows she had no choice but to gain further qualifications here.

As well as obtaining more qualifications, Ms Zaveri has also had to adapt to a different work culture.

She said: “The work culture is very different. In India, the work culture is stringent. Over here it is quite liberal.

“In India, all of the companies have the same year-end. March is the year-end for all of them. You’ll have some 50 companies with the same deadline.

“Over here, different companies have different year-ends so the work gets spread out evenly across the year. The work environment is also more flexible over here in terms of working hours and working patterns.”

Ms Zaveri joined Shenward, which has 26 employees across two offices – one in Bradford and one in Leeds – three years ago.

The accountancy firm was established by Rajeev Dewedi in 1989. Four years ago, Sherad Dewedi joined the family-run business and became managing partner.

Ms Zaveri said: “When I came to the UK, for the first six months I was trying to adapt myself to the country with the weather and people around here.

“Then I realised that I was getting bored sitting at home. I needed to do something. I was searching for a job in the retail sector.

“I also went searching for voluntary work but then I came across Shenward and I thought let me give it a try and see if it works.”

After an initial trial period, Ms Zaveri was kept on. The accountant hopes to pass her final exam next month and gain her ACA qualification.

Accountancy is venerated as a profession in India. It provides a route into business for many professionals giving them the opportunity to work with multinational corporations.

“It’s highly trustworthy,” Ms Zaveri said. “It’s also a good way of getting into business by understanding how clients operate.”

Despite this, it wasn’t a career that Ms Zaveri always had in mind. In fact, it was her sister who convinced her to study accountancy.

The accountant would prefer to stay in the UK in the long term, however, this is very much dependent on her visa status and her husband’s job.

Acclimatising to the UK weather

Coming over to the UK, Manali Zaveri not only had to acclimatise to a different work culture but also the weather and Yorkshire accent.

She said: “One of the biggest challenges was adapting to the British accent, especially the Yorkshire accent.

“The other thing is the extremely challenging weather in the UK. In India, we have a set pattern to the weather. Over here we don’t have proper seasons. You could have three different types of weather in one day.”

Ms Zaveri returned to India after a year and a half here and even she was astounded at the rate the country was developing.