Takahiro Maeyama, Representative Director and President of Yayoi Co., Ltd.

I want to support small and medium-sized enterprises and make Japan a better place.

Representative Director and President of Yayoi Co., Ltd.　Takahiro Maeyama (Maeyama Takahiro)

■ Profile

Born in 1977. Graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Keio University. Completed graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Graduate School of Business at the National University of Singapore. Engaged in domestic and cross-border tax consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Office (now PwC Tax Corporation). Joined Yayoi Co., Ltd. in 2007 and left in 2011. After that, worked at Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory LLC, supporting the reconstruction of overseas subsidiaries and domestic business restructuring for Japanese companies. Rejoined Yayoi in 2020 and became Director and Head of Administration. Became Representative Director, President and CEO in 2023. Qualified as a certified tax accountant and certified public accountant.

Yayoi Co., Ltd. develops, sells, and supports accounting software that is easy to use even for accounting novices. They offer services that go beyond accounting software, including support for starting a business and starting a new one. President Maeyama describes the new Yayoi as a "challenge" and aims to evolve. We spoke to President Maeyama, who is a "returnee" who has joined Yayoi twice, about the appeal of the company and its products, and the future he envisions for Yayoi.

■ My university days were filled with passion for seminars

My life at university revolved around my seminars. I belonged to a seminar in the Faculty of Economics taught by Professor Haruo Shimada, who also served as an advisor to the Cabinet Office. The professor often said that in order to live in society as an individual, one must experience the complexity of the world and see things from various perspectives. For this reason, in addition to learning theory in the seminar, I also actively participated in events and tried to understand the trends in the world.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
My parents own an accounting firm, so I was always interested in accounting and obtained my CPA qualification. Many people who pass the CPA exam go on to work for auditing firms, but I wanted to take a different path, so I decided to work in the tax department at PricewaterhouseCoopers (now PwC Tax Corporation).

■Reasons for joining Yayoi twice

Actually, I joined Yayoi in 2007 and 2020. The first time I joined was through an introduction from a senior colleague I met at PwC. After that, I took a break from my career at Yayoi to study abroad and learn business management. The reason I decided to study abroad was because I didn't want to be restricted in what I wanted to do in the future by language barriers. I struggled quite a bit with the language, but I worked hard to build connections with people using my strengths in accounting.
My second time at the company was when the previous president asked me if I would like to return. I accepted without hesitation. The reason was that I loved Yayoi as a company.
At the same time, I thought I could utilize my background, which has an affinity with Yayoi's business, to contribute to the company in a different way than before. I grew up in an accounting firm family and actually used Yayoi products, so I wanted to help improve them from a user perspective. I was also attracted by the opportunity to work again with familiar colleagues.
I first joined the company as CFO, the person in charge of finances. This job requires managing and reporting the company's figures, as well as communicating appropriately both inside and outside the company. In becoming a CFO, a member of the management team, I wanted to use my approach as a certified public accountant and the management knowledge I had acquired while studying abroad to solve the company's problems. After joining the company, I also faced some unexpected difficulties. For example, coordinating with stakeholders, including the parent company. It was more difficult than I imagined to assert what we wanted while also understanding the needs of those involved and striking a balance.

■ The unique charm of Yayoi

What all Yayoi employees have in common is a strong sense of loyalty to the company and a love for its products. They also share a desire to support small and medium-sized businesses through their business and to improve Japan and its economy. I think it's rare to find a company with so many passionate employees.
We have received feedback that our product is easy to use not only for professional accounting firms, but also for business owners who are new to accounting. We focus not only on the product itself, but also on post-purchase support. In particular, our customer center receives 120 million inquiries per year and is used by many people. We believe that the presence of a customer center that can provide timely, interactive communication gives customers a sense of security.

■ A service that takes advantage of a huge number of users

Our greatest strength is our over 310 million registered users and accumulated data. Our solutions are used by many small and medium-sized enterprises. Small and medium-sized enterprises support Japan's economy. We want to help these small and medium-sized enterprise customers feel happy and energized. Until now, we have focused on streamlining our customers' operations and, in doing so, have strived to achieve a sense of happiness.
However, in order to continue increasing customer happiness, there are limits to what can be achieved through operational efficiency alone, so we feel that it is also necessary to support the success of the business itself.
Our goal is to provide users with information tailored to their needs. It's similar to how Google collects individual user information and uses it in its advertising. Our solutions are used by many small and medium-sized businesses, and business data from small and medium-sized businesses across the country is stored in the cloud down to the last yen. By interpreting this data, we can understand their economic activities. Compared to large companies, small and medium-sized businesses find it difficult to understand what is happening at their competitors, and they often don't understand the reasons for differences in performance compared to their competitors. Therefore, we hope to provide management information to small and medium-sized businesses based on the extensive economic data we share, allowing them to use it to guide their next actions.

■Message to university students

There are so many things you can only do as a university student. I hope you will follow your own interests, find something that you find fun, and work hard at it.
When hiring, we place importance on whether the candidate has a positive attitude towards things. We would like to work with people who are proactive in learning and growing independently in a new environment.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on January 15, 2024 by Tsuda University 1th year student Satoshi Okawa