Every single day is a fight for Areeba. As being the young, and a daughter on top, the 19-year-old faced many troubles due to her age from the beginning in her home country Pakistan. “There is a specific mindset in my hometown and the entire sub-continent when it comes to girls and women,” she explains. “I’m an introvert person, but I can share everything with my mother, because she’s the reason for my success today,” Areeba says. And a frequent topic they talk about is how hard it is for girls and women to work and grow professionally – even if they have perfect grades and a smart mind.
“I wanted to become financially independent and strong”
Of course, Areeba falls into this category. “I got 90% A+ Grade in my matriculation”, she says, “and at the age of 15, I was granted a scholarship in ACCA based on my result.” Areeba always considered herself a multitasking person and a quick learner, describing herself as someone who’s eager to learn new skills and successfully complete complex tasks. She’s not keen to waste time. “I wanted to become financially independent and strong,” Areeba explains. And after passing 11 exams of ACCA, she got her Higher School Equivalency (A-Levels Equivalent) and was being offered a Teaching Assistant position in my ACCA institute from where I studied.
At age 17, she started as a Trainee SAP Financial Accounting and SAP Controlling Consultant in one of the top Big4 Consulting. This is when a new phase of my life started. I had to deal with people older than my age and having more experience than me, I had to prove my skills every day. Gradually I developed my interpersonal and SAP skills more to answer all the biases. “Despite all the mocking and stereotyping based on my gender and age, I focused on my goals,” Areeba says. She got hands-on experience, led a team, worked with many local & global clients, and got certified in SAP Financial Accounting at the age of 18, became the youngest certified consultant. I was also involved in other ERP projects like Microsoft Dynamics etc. When she started exploring SAP Cloud solutions, she stumbled upon SAP’s digital skills initiative, where SAP sponsors 10,000 free certification exams for people who are considered underrepresented in tech. “I got certified in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition – Financial Accounting at the age of 19 and became Pakistan’s first SAP Certified Associate – Implementation Consultant in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition - Financial Accounting as I hold this title”, Areeba says with pride.
Looking for positions to use her in-demand cloud skills
Since she applied for the initiative “I feel like being surrounded by people of similar interests and goals,” Areeba shares. “As I got to connect with many peers around the globe through SAP Community, we all help each other in understanding SAP better. There are numerous free of cost resources available to get you started like learning.sap.com.”
When she got certified, Areeba was immediately recognized by employers, and was offered a position as a Trainer in an initiative of Ashreitech in collaboration with the National Aero Space Science and Technology Park, Pakistan Air Force, where I trained more than 30 students, end-users, and consultants in SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud in Finance. “I was selected as a trainer because I am the first certified SAP-certified Implementation Consultant in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for Financial Accounting.” The training ended successfully with most students getting hired immediately.
“I don’t want to waste my cloud skills,” Areeba explains why she is now looking for a new position outside of Pakistan, where she says there are only little opportunities for her. She’s hoping to find a job in Europe or the Middle East soon, leaving behind the invisible systemic barrier and glass ceiling that prevents her from rising to higher positions. She not only has the skills, but also the right experience and certification to demonstrate her expertise, don’t you think?
Start your own success story or hire go-getters like Areeba
Did you feel inspired by Areeba’s story? Then kick-start your own success story with SAP today. Benefit from tailored and self-paced learning opportunities that meet you when and where you learn best on SAP Learning site. Get certified to demonstrate your expertise and boost your career. We are looking forward to many more remarkable success stories!
Are you looking to hire people like Areeba? Reach out to the digital skills initiative for information on how to contact her and other people like her who are entering the SAP ecosystem with a fresh cloud-first mindset. We are happy to connect any partner or customer with our candidates to provide a mutual growth opportunity for new talent and the organizations supporting our ecosystem.
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