Fife Avenue Partners (FAP) has been offering clients accounting and back-office solutions for four years and has grown solely by word of mouth. They pride themselves in being the solution source that their clients deserve without the significant monetary outlay associated with hiring a full-time CFO. FAP clients comprise mostly of venture funds and a few high-net-worth individuals who have a significant angel investing portfolio. FAP’s role is to collaborate with tax and audit service providers to manage all deliverables as well as assisting clients with tax planning.
As a young girl growing up in a rural village in Zimbabwe, Linda Maduwura knew she wanted to become an accountant. An uncle who lived in the big city was all the inspiration she needed. As the only accountant in the family, his kids were the only ones with bunk beds and visits from Santa Claus. In her little village Chakari, it was not uncommon for girls to get married off before they entered high school. For Linda, becoming an accountant meant making a comfortable life for herself.
Linda studied part time for a college degree while working at Ernst and Young in Zimbabwe fulltime so that she could obtain her accounting degree without burdening her parents with the tuition necessary for college. Upon leaving Zimbabwe for Bermuda, Linda worked for various hedge fund administration companies before moving to San Francisco in 2006 where her husband had been offered a job. She took additional classes to enable her to sit for the CPA exam before joining BDO and later KPMG where she rose to the role of Director in KPMG’s private equity group. About four years ago she realized that she was much happier servicing smaller clients than large global ones. Her husband, Edson, encouraged her to start her own business serving micro venture capital funds and high net worth individuals who focus on startup investing.
The move to start her business was made easier by an understanding she learned from years attending church with her parents. Linda explains it this way, “There is a parable in the bible that talks about bags of gold. In the story, the master gave gold to three people according to their talents, one servant received five talents, the second had received two, and the third received only one. Upon his return, all except the last one had deployed their talents to multiply the gold they had been given. The last one, who had received one talent, had kept the talent for safekeeping. The master was angry and took away the one talent and gave it to the one who had used their talents to multiply their resources. This parable rings true in my life because as I rose through the corporate ladder, I felt that I was not using all my talents. I realized I was more afraid of losing my talents than I was of starting my own business and failing. I understood then that starting my own business would create the opportunity for me to use all my talents, including the ones I didn’t have.” She values becoming a trusted resource and loves matching people with others who share similar goals.
Linda Maduwura and her husband, Edson, are raising two girls, Ndanatsa and Nandi. They are all avid golfers and travel often to Zimbabwe to work on the family farm and help feed the local community. Linda has been featured on PBS’s program for her efforts to create opportunities for others: ‘Brief but spectacular” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChzvTAmTWjI&t=18s).
Linda loves sharing her knowledge and can be reached at linda@fifeavenueparnters.vc.
By Kara Navolio