Victor Ajileye

Why an MBA?

When I sat down and thought about it, I recognized that experience is essential, but an MBA is about pre-planning – you are looking at what impact this has on my career ten to fifteen years down the road. You uncover topics that ensure you are prepared for the future of work.

I had thought about doing a set of courses towards a designation, for example, product management or project management, but when I looked at the MBA, it not only would give me knowledge but the ability to take that knowledge and make it my own. It positions me best for the future.

Why DeGroote?

Well, McMaster has the only blended learning option. I believed at the time and still do that it is way ahead of its time. With online courses, it was able to adapt and be ahead of the disruption COVID has caused.

Ultimately, I did not want to leave my job, but I also wanted to learn. My options were to either go fully online or quit my job. I had seen some colleagues choose to go fully online, but I wanted something more, and DeGroote’s program just caught my eye. This program structures an MBA around our busy lives.

You mentioned DeGroote’s pivot to online learning. How has the online experience been so far?

As I mentioned, the program was uniquely positioned to respond to COVID. The online experience has been great.

I did not know what to expect initially, but it has beaten my expectations. Zoom and its chat functionality work well for the in-class experience, and Slack helps our cohort connect online and offline.

Tell us A Little Bit About Yourself.

I originally came to Canada in 2014 with a background in Economics to complete a post-graduate degree in business management, specifically in international business.

I started my career at RBC as a banking advisor, learning, and ultimately selling banking products. My colleagues viewed me as someone who always had ideas, wanted to do things differently, but just needed to learn what options were available to meet those goals. Eventually, I spoke to my manager, and he agreed that I should be on a leadership track at RBC.

From there, I became exposed to several different facets of business, including digital transformation, and I realized I still needed to learn a lot about business and leadership growth. I bought a lot of books on leadership and business growth, but they were not enough. With all these factors, that is when I started to consider my future and what skills would help propel me to take that next step.

How has the MBA helped you to date?

For starters, everyone looks at you differently when they find out you are doing an MBA. I never thought about that at first, but It’s the small things, like, for example, speaking to a colleague at work about analytics and what I had studied, what my mark was, and the response was ‘oh, you’re smart, you got a good mark.’

Though doing an MBA says a lot about the individual. Once you begin, it is a phenomenal time management skill you are developing.

What skill have you developed since joining the program?

It is how I see work now. When I learned about creating customer value and understanding customer segments, I do this every day, and I took those right back to work. On top of it, the assessments we took earlier in the program gave me a better understanding of who I am, what roles I would flourish and what I needed to start doing differently. That had immediate impacts in my workplace and how I connected with my colleagues.

From the faculty to the staff, this program helps you from the get-go and enables you to figure out how to add value in your workplace.

Describe your experience in one sentence

I think that it has been an immersive learning experience with diverse people with diverse backgrounds.