MBA student has big plans to support entrepreneurship in Africa
As a part-time MBA student specializing in international development management, Axel Ndayisaba is connecting his academic and professional experience to achieve his goal of creating a development bank to help young African farmers and entrepreneurs.
Axel understands the importance of international development because he’s seen the impact it can have on people’s lives. The child of diplomats, Axel was born in Burundi and also lived in Ethiopia, Guinea, Senegal and Canada growing up.
“Whenever I go back home, I see that a lot of young people don’t have jobs,” he said. “Access to credit is very difficult, with interest rates approaching 20 per cent on a two-year loan.”
After completing his undergraduate degree in biochemistry in 2009, Axel worked at Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, a federal government agency supporting discovery research and innovation, before starting at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, where he works as a program officer.
In his current role, he works with the Advance Payments Program (APP), which provides short-term financing to Canadian farmers. It’s his hope to bring programs similar to APP to areas in Africa where financial tools like it don’t exist.
Two years ago, Axel got involved with a non-profit organization called Kazoza. Created by young Burundians living in Canada, Kazoza established a revolving fund to help young people in Burundi access credit, in hopes of improving the self-sufficiency of the people while lessening reliance on aid.
His work with Kazoza and his experience of growing up in Africa is what inspired Axel to pursue international development as a profession.
Axel started to look at different graduate programs, including master degrees in public health and international affairs, but couldn’t find a program that matched his goals and offered a part-time option that would allow him to continue in his job.
It wasn’t until a chance encounter with a brochure that Axel considered doing an MBA.
“My sister actually went to one of the Sprott MBA events and brought back some brochures,” he said. “When I read about the MBA international development management program I said “’That’s it, this is perfect.’”
The Sprott MBA international development management concentration develops the specialized skills and knowledge needed to effectively plan and deliver international development programs and projects. In addition to business courses, students also take courses from Carleton’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) and the School of Public Policy and Administration.
The part-time option of the Sprott MBA lets students like Axel enjoy a healthy balance between work, school and life.
“The schedule is very flexible and I only spend about 6 hours a week on campus,” he said, adding that he completes assignments and group work on the weekend.
Axel said while his background in sciences gave him problem solving and analytical skills, the MBA fills in areas that he didn’t cover in his undergraduate degree, such as accounting, marketing, human resources and operations management.
“Learning these concepts as I go through the MBA has been very beneficial to me in my work.”