Jessica joined our Business Risk Controls team in 2019 after completing a Masters in Risk Analysis and has flourished in her role ever since.
As an associate on the Graduate programme, Jessica focuses on financial services clients, performing regulatory gap analysis on large banks, controls testing for asset and wealth management and CASS clients, putting together proposals and has assisted in the build of a third party risk assessment tool internally. Working in Risk gives Jessica a huge sense of achievement and responsibility;
“It’s always been important for me to evaluate my actions and my work and be able to take a step back and think ‘okay that’s great, but how is it making a difference? How is it sparking positive change? What kind of impact is that having?' It’s a value which makes me challenge myself and keeps me striving to do better for myself and others."
Half Belgian and half Ugandan, Jessica grew up in Uganda until she was 13 and moved to the UK for school. Despite living in London and the surrounding counties ever since, she’ll always call Uganda home - “growing up there was the absolute best, I love the sun and suit an outdoorsy lifestyle!”.
When Jessica’s not working from one of our London offices, you’ll find her on a netball court playing for her university alumni team, and with mid-week training, she appreciates the trust and flexibility that she has with her work team to make sure she attends her training every Tuesday.
It’s one of the perks she’s an advocate of, alongside the dress for your day policy!
Since joining PwC, Jessica’s come across two challenges which she’s acknowledged and worked on. We encourage a culture where it’s important to recognise your own personal challenges, but most importantly, help you work through these and guide you.
“My first challenge was knowing when to say you don’t understand something and ask for help. It can be daunting to admit you don’t understand something and need help getting started on a task, but it’s important to remember you’re not expected to know everything when you first join. Secondly, networking - which can be extremely overwhelming and intimidating, especially approaching senior staff, but everyone at the firm has been so friendly and is always willing to meet you over a coffee if they have time”.
Joining one of the world’s largest professional services firms can often be daunting at first; where do you fit in? Will I make friends? Is it as hard work as people say it is? But as Jessica’s discovered, it’s the people that have been the biggest factor in how well she’s enjoyed her career so far.
“I was under the impression that teams would be quite hierarchical, but it was the complete opposite. When I joined, I got the opportunity to meet various senior staff who were genuinely interested in getting to know you and helping you find your feet”.
And with this confidence and support, Jessica has spoken in our Inclusion events and discussions and talked about the changes she believes need to be made within the firm. It’s important for our people to feel they can use their voice within work and be honest and open, helping create a more diverse and inclusive space for everyone.
As an Associate within our Business Risk Controls team, Jessica’s had the opportunity and encouragement to upskill herself with many of the complex technologies our teams use, such as Tableau and Alteryx. Designed to help client engagements, Jessica has also been part of our Digital Academies, discovering new ways to harness and use new technology to our advantage.
Being surrounded by industry experts within her Risk team has also helped Jessica with her own understanding; “Since joining PwC I’ve found that it’s the people in your teams who are the best resource, most have progressed through the Graduate programme too so understand your level of understanding and can take the time to explain the intricacies of some of the technology we use”.
Something that not many people know about Jessica is that she used to swim competitively when she was younger, competing for Uganda in Sub-Saharan Africa competitions around Africa.
“Firstly, the obvious work opportunities, the clients you get to work with and the variety of work is incredible. You’re at the forefront of everything at the firm whether that be regulation to digital disruption which allows for constant learning and development opportunities. You really don’t get that in many other firms.
Secondly, it’s the people and the culture that really makes working at PwC a million times better than I had expected. Your colleagues become your second family and are there to help you develop personally and professionally. The firm gives you the space to explore different avenues of work and opportunities outside of work as well. The culture is one where if you feel like something is missing at the firm, you can be part of the conversation to help introduce change.”
