College wind under Falcon's wings

Running an international tech-age accountancy service from Bedford is former Bedford College student Alex Falcon Huerta.

A Fellow of the Association of Certified Accountants, Alex had the foresight to see how technology could revolutionise bookkeeping long before the current Covid crisis forced firms forward.

“As a young trainee in a traditional firm, I heard about a product from New Zealand called Xero which would streamline financial systems and enable businesses to better plan for the future,” said Alex who then set up her own firm: Soaring Falcon

A short journey but a long road with many decisions to make for the teenage Alex who soon had to leave family troubles behind and the Student Services team at Bedford College came to rescue.

Said Alex:

Bedford College was the most brilliant thing for me. They helped me find temporary accommodation when I had nowhere to live. I did my Business & Finance Course there, then moved on to do AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) to start my path towards being an accountant. It was like my ‘university’.

“Lots of people have harder challenges to overcome than me, but I hope I show that literally anything is possible if you put your mind to it and keep focused.”

“I have clients all over the world, have some great colleagues and friends here and I think Bedford is great.

“I would like to see more made of its rich cosmopolitan community.”

Alex is a Trustee of the Blues Foundation, the charitable arm of Bedford Blues Rugby club.

“Others in Bedford helped my family growing up, for instance the Harpur Trust gave us vouchers for my school uniform, which I remember going along to Josens in town to buy.”

More young people need support and inspiration now so I hope to be putting something back and showing them that being a successful entrepreneur will give them hope and they can be inspired to do the same.

To see more from Alex, you can visit her websites here:

www.alexfalconhuerta.com   www.soaring-falcon.co.uk