Tayabali Tomlin A Definitely Not Boring, Award-Winning Accounting Firm
Walking into the office of Tayabali Tomlin is an experience that’s more like walking into a creative agency.
The first thing you see as you walk through the deceivingly ‘homely’ entrance is a funky receptionist’s desk that looks like a well-polished small airplane wing with bright pink boxer boots sitting comfortably on it. (Pink, or more accurately ‘salmon’, is a favoured colour here.)
Behind it, you spot numerous plaques of the awards the firm has won as ‘ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST INSPIRING ACCOUNTING FIRMS.’
…Hold on right there. An accounting firm that’s INSPIRING?
It sure is.
Different From the Norm
Tayabali Tomlin is an innovative firm that focuses on one thing: ‘changing lives’. To them, this means that they are here to change their clients’ lives through the services they provide.
Naturally, they don’t just provide compliance services. They leverage their expertise to help small-to-medium-size companies move to a new level by providing proactive advice in various areas.
And to everyone in the firm, it’s also about changing the lives of many people around the world beyond the direct work they do as a business.
Life-Changing Impacts
Since joining B1G1 (Buy1GIVE1) in 2011, Tayabali Tomlin has created a staggering1,097,964 GIVING IMPACTS.
This includes giving 373,240 days of access to water to people in need in Africa, providing 181,814 days of eLearning education to tribal children in India and contributing 146,400 bricks towards building a school in Cambodia…
When they joined in 2011, they got the idea of the Buy1GIVE1 model in a heartbeat. They were already aware of other examples of ‘one for one’ giving like Toms’ (“every pair of shoes you buy, we give a pair of shoes to children in need”).
But for an accounting firm — a service based business — the Buy1GIVE1 model of giving was not perceived as something easy to implement. So they simply started with some giving involving their team.
Sophia Maynell, the Chief Operations Officer of the firm explains how giving is tightly integrated at the heart of everything they do today.
“We do daily giving...that’s looked after by somebody that’s relatively junior. We also have mini teams. And within those teams we have a little budget and we can actually decide what projects to give to. That engages everyone in the team.”
And starting with that ‘let’s just give as a team’ approach, they quickly figured out simple ways to integrate more giving in the Buy1GIVE1 way too. They now have many Giving Stories that enable their clients to be part of the difference they are making.
Doing The Things That Matter
Being part of B1G1 and implementing giving is closely aligned with what the entire team believes in.
But this is NOT some ‘cause-marketing’ effort or a short-term charity donation drive.
Aynsley Damery, the CEO of the firm simply describes why they give back as “IT’S REALLY WHO WE ARE.”
And that’s why 5 years on, Tayabali Tomlin still gives. To them, giving more through everything they do is just a part of the expression of their business identity.
The firm also participates in the B1G1 Study Tours regularly and has sent their team members to share in the special experience too.
The more they learn how their giving is actually impacting lives of people who have less opportunities in life, the more giving and caring become ingrained in the culture of the team at Tayabali Tomlin.
Here at B1G1, we’re passionate about doing all we can so that all businesses around the world will eventually think and act like them one day too.
And that’s simply because we believe that the world that’s full of giving businesses is a happier world.