4 minute read
NABA Comes to Campus
NABA's founding board members (from le ): Bernice Uwase, Kwadwo Owusu, Tari Nagberi, Elias Righi, Amani Becker-Waganda, Kevin Boeing and Mina Porte.
Minnesota State Mankato’s National Association of Black Accountants chapter did not let the pandemic slow down its inaugural year on campus.
e National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) is a national nonpro t membership association “dedicated to bridging the opportunity gap for black professionals in the accounting, nance and related business professions,” according to the organization’s website.
In the fall of 2020, seven students in the College of Business launched a NABA chapter on campus—only the second in the state of Minnesota. Despite a year lled with virtual classes and social distancing, NABA’s Minnesota State Mankato chapter has already made a name for itself as a powerful and active RSO.
“NABA was a big deal because it allowed us to actually expand on diversity opportunities to get direct contact between rms in the region hiring students and members of NABA,” says Dr. Oksana Kim, chair of the Department of Accounting and Business Law. Kim assisted NABA in obtaining sponsorship funding and continues to make connections between regional businesses and NABA members.
An Active First Year
Kwado Owusu ’21 is the founding president of NABA on Minnesota State Mankato’s campus. He became a member of the Twin Cities’ chapter early in his college career and recognized its potential right away. He launched Mankato’s chapter in order to o er those same bene ts to students closer to home.
“I noticed that when an organization like NABA is active on the campus, freshmen and sophomores have an immediate connection to upper division students in business-related majors they can identify and connect with,” Owusu wrote in a letter to potential NABA sponsors. “More importantly, they can make the connection to others in their elds earlier in their academic career. I realized NABA can play a critical role on campus in attracting and retaining students to the business-related majors.”
e NABA chapter has certainly lived up to that promise over the last year. e group has held a number of virtual meetings aimed at connecting members with recruiters and industry professionals. In October NABA members logged on with a
representative from Best Buy for a Navigating Corporate America seminar. In February the group was able to connect with tax and consulting rm, RSM. For its March event, NABA invited Big Four rm Deloitte to share interview insights with members.
“ ey were very, very active. ey kept their schedule full this year,” says Kim. An impressive feat given the challenges of canceled in-person meetings and a membership scattered across the country.
Kim also notes that NABA had a noticeably strong presence at the College of Business’ annual Meet the Firms event, which took place online.
“NABA actually stood out and kept their active status during the entire event,” says Kim. “Even though it was online and technically they didn’t have a desk, they were present all the time.”
Owusu reports two members have received internships and one was o ered a full-time position as a direct result of connections made through NABA.
Passing the Torch
Starting in the fall of 2021, a new leadership team will take over. President Simale Kadir, Vice President Elias Righi and Chief Marketing O cer Kevin Boeing are looking forward to a new year for NABA. Boeing, a junior Marketing major, is excited for the possibility of more in-person connections once it’s safe to gather again.
“We will probably collaborate with Best Buy again and a few other companies that we collaborated with this year,” he says. “ e next few years we’ll de nitely start reaching out to more companies and students.”
For Finance major Righi, “my personal goals for next year are to inspire and connect many business majors with people that have helped me in my college career so far. I have gained lots of insight into the business industry and how everything works... I believe that I am preparing myself to put my best foot forward when I inevitably leave Minnesota State Mankato.”
Get to Know NABA
NABA began in New York in 1969 as a way to “address the concerns of minorities entering the accounting profession and to make a commitment to professional and academic excellence.”
Today, the nonprofit organization represents more than 200,000 Black professionals in accounting, finance and related fields, and provides “education, resource, and meaningful career connections to both professional and student members, fulfilling the principle of our motto: Lifting As We Climb.”
The motto is particularly relevant as businesses and institutions deal with shifting work and learning models in the midst of a global pandemic.
Keirra Williams, NABA’s student member services director for the central region, has been encouraged by the way NABA students across the country have risen to these challenging times.
“NABA’s students are impeccable at living out our motto of Lifting As We Climb,” she says. “We are all pushing through the various emotions and stressors of the pandemic. However, our students have rallied around each other to be of support to one another. For some chapters that may be mental wellness check-ins, sharing of study tools and even financial support. NABA is a community that begins at the campus and grows with you through your entire professional career.”
NABA was started to support Black accountants and accounting students, but the Minnesota State Mankato chapter welcomes all students and is dedicated to providing students of all backgrounds and majors a platform to grow personally, professionally and academically while serving diverse communities.
