• Current city of residence: Ottawa, Ontario

• Year arrived in Canada: 2009

• School(s): University of Windsor, BSc., Carleton University, MA.

• Academic program: BSc. Economics; MA Economics.

• Occupation: Economist, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

1.      What inspired you to pursue your studies in Economics of all the academic programs that were available to you?

I did not intend to pursue economics when I arrived: I wanted to do medicine, and I am sure this desire resonates with many other WUSC students. However, the need to develop knowledge of how institutions can transform people’s lives, the need to influence economic policy, and the need to participate in the economic development, especially if I was to relocate back home, became attractive to me when I settled here. These encouraged me to switch from Chemistry, which I did for a year, to Economics.

2.   What are your main success factors in your academic and professional journey? Inherent intellectual aptitude goes without saying.

While there could be an element of luck in my academic and professional successes, in large part because I may have been in the right place at the right time, I would attribute much of both triumphs to four factors: firstly, my success can be explained by my decision to stick with strategies that yielded results and doing away with those that inhibited me—there is a component of trying new approaches implicit in this point as well; secondly, the habit of reading widely helped, and I cannot overstate the importance of every piece of information that I absorbed or recorded, as much of it became useful at some point in my journey; thirdly, the initiatives that I took to consult or seek advice when I could not make any headway played a role, as the diverse perspectives that I received helped me to identify where I was falling short; and, finally, persistence in my pursuits was crucial: I think we have all received those rejections, whether it is from an employer or from an academic institution of your choice, and my strategy in keeping the dreams alive has been to not allow them to dampen my optimism.

3.      Can you tell me a bit about your career path and what led you to your current role?

I got into my current role through a post-secondary recruitment campaign, which is a competition run by the government on an annual basis. However, I do not think that it was solely my performance in the exams or tests—that is those that are administered as part of the campaign—nor do I think it was only my academic qualifications that were responsible for earning me the position; I do think that my previous employments, some of which were closely related to the current role, also played a crucial role in convincing them that I was ready for the role, and so too did the knowledge that I acquired through reading some books on innovation, all of which I did not think much of when I first went through them.

4.      What are the challenges you faced trying to get to where you are today, if any?

There are a number of things: first, getting experience in my chosen career was not easy, and it only became possible after I pursued advance studies in the field; finding people who could vouch for my skills professionally, particularly given my limited experience and small network at the time, was a challenge; and there has been instances where my work has been undermined, possibly because of my background—know that it is not everyone that cheers on a former refugee that is ambitious. I also think that racial prejudices, though subtle to pinpoint what role they played in certain decisions that did not go in my favour, have also been limiting.   

5.      From your experience transitioning to Canadian life and culture, do you have any advice for new students?

When things are not working out, it can be tempting to conform: some could alter their style of speech, mainly to make it palatable, and others could strive to please those in authority so as to make it easier for themselves. Personally, I do not think that changing who you are is a good idea; rather, I think that being respectful, demonstrating curiosity and keenness, and maintaining authenticity and originality  will all go a long way in enabling success than conformity. So, my advice would be this: no matter how unpalatable your speech may be, no matter how out-of-sync you may find yourself, do not strive to change who you are; rather, strive to explain yourself and push to be heard.   

6.      If you can reflect on your personal journey, were your aspirations met? What would you do differently if you were to start over in Canada?

The journey is long and continues, but I would say that, at this point, some of my dreams have been met and others have not. In terms of education, I would say that my academic pursuits have been partially met: I wanted to continue further but I ended up in the middle; I cannot complain, however, about how far I have got. Professionally, I am doing work that is commensurate with my training and academic preparation, so that aspiration can be checked off.

In terms of ambitions that have not been achieved, my desire to impact many people’s lives, which is something that I imagined doing with medicine, is not yet attained. While my current work is important in shaping decisions, it can only go so far as to impact a handful. Also, I am not a millionaire yet (just joking), but, really, my entrepreneurial endeavors  have not yielded results.

If I was to start all over again, I would, for sure, seek out internships or co-ops opportunities while studying. The importance of this experience, particularly in opening up employment opportunities, is something that I overlooked when I was undertaking my undergraduate studies. I would also experiment with some commercial activities so as to acquire some entrepreneurial experience.