Pinoy couple in Dubai quit jobs, now run global accounting firm

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A couple in their 40s, who both used to work as accountants here, now runs a successful accountancy firm they opened 10 years ago, providing services to companies across a range of industries around the world.

Janice Lino Destajo, 41-year-old accountant with an MBA in business administration from Geneva Business School – Switzerland, and Dexter Bordas Destajo, 45, a certified public accountant and lawyer, quit their jobs and opened their own company 10 years ago, convinced they should not be employees all their lives.

"We've been in the UAE for quite some time already. We were at a crossroad, pondering on what's next for us," recalls Janice, a 2003 accountancy graduate of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

Before taking their leap of faith, Janice, who came to UAE in 2005, had been working as accountant, first at a Sharjah hypermarket, and then at a big automotive company.

Dexter, who arrived in 2009, was managing director at a consultancy firm. Dexter was previously a group accounting manager at a steel manufacturing company also in Dubai.

A 1999 accountancy graduate from University of San Carlos City in Cebu and a 2006 law graduate from University of Cebu, Dexter, who hails from Surigao City, started out as plant accountant at Goldilocks Bakeshop–Cebu in 2000. He became a junior litigation lawyer at the Arnado and Associates Law Firm also in Cebu in 2005, and was associate business law instructor at University of Cebu in 2007, the same year he passed the bar.

He came across online accounting software while traveling to Shanghai, China in 2013, and that triggered everything.

"He was very convinced that sooner or later, that will be the future of accounting—everything will be in cloud or online—he was so not wrong! We took the biggest risk and a leap of fate. We both quit our good-paying jobs and invested all our money, time and energy in starting our own accountancy firm," said Janice. It was 2014. She was 31; her husband, 35.

There were learning curves and startup pains.

"We had to deal with the common challenges. Our firm was operating at a loss, and our family was in great debt. Our gratuities, personal savings, and credit cards were exhausted, so we had to take some bank loans, which we never did before," said Janice, who married Dexter in 2012 and gave birth to their only child in 2015.

By 2018, things finally began looking good. "God started working wonders in our lives and saved us from the challenging times. Our business operations grew tremendously in terms of clients and team members. We were able to set up our branch in Makati," said Janice, who hails from Cavite.

As the business slowly recovered, the Janice and Dexter got their footing back with their financial issues.

"We were able to settle all our loans from the bank, credit cards, and individuals. We were also blessed to, finally, have our own house and lot in the Philippines," said Janice.

Based in Dubai with a six-member staff including themselves, the couple's accounting firm also has branches in other parts of Metro Manila, as well as in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, employing 36 people working from home.

The company has a wide array of clients, from fintech to technology startups, local and international trading, project management, e-commerce, digital marketing, creatives and retail.

"Aside from online or cloud accounting, we are also an outsourcing accountancy firm, meaning instead of hiring accountants, the clients outsource their accounting needs to us," Janice said.

She said their clients are mostly located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, parts of Europe, and some Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. — VDV, GMA Integrated News