Nigerian Web Coder Heads To Edith Cowan MBA In Bangalore To Boost His IT Management Expertise
Samuel chose to study at Edith Cowan's partner school, Bangalore Management Academy, so that he could learn from the best programmers and IT managers in the world. He still codes in his spare time!
Samuel Okonkwo, is a full-time MBA at Edith Cowan University, not in its main campus in Perth, Australia, but at its partner school in India's software capital Banaglore.
Samuel opted for the Edith Cowan MBA offered by Bangalore Management Academy because he wanted to work at the cutting edge of IT programming, a skill he had already taught himself and turned into a profession in his native Nigeria!
Samuel was born in Abia State, Eastern Nigeria and studied a Bachelors in Accountancy at Abia State University. He found the first few months of studying Accountancy tough and uninteresting and because it wasn’t easy to change courses at his Nigerian university, he decided to teach himself coding, programming and web design and development.
Samuel says he always had a passion for IT and so coding was something he found relatively easy to learn. When he felt he was good enough, he started out building simple websites as favours to family members and friends until one day someone placed a monetary value on one of his completed projects. He immediately saw how he could earn more money from his passion and quickly came up with a business strategy to do so.
On graduating from university in 2006, he was already quite skilled in graphic design and building websites so he worked for himself providing web services to clients. Samuel eventually landed a full-time role in 2010 as a Web Development Team Leader for IT company AmscoHost in Lagos, Nigeria.
The revenue from his web development services funds Samuel’s place on his MBA. In his spare time, he still works as a web developer and takes on jobs worth anything between US$3,000 and $50,000.
Immediately prior to embarking on the MBA at Edith Cowan, Samuel had moved out of IT and was Director of Business Development at Neon Touch, which supplies equipment to the oil and gas industries in Nigeria. He left after 11 months to enroll on the Edith Cowan MBA, convinced his management skills needed a boost.
Since he started the MBA, “My reasoning and decision-making style has changed”, he says. He continues, “Questions I ask in relation to business, especially e-commerce are different. These are key considerations such as supply chain, and organizational issues that I did not previously think of”.
Samuel says he wanted to do an MBA in India because of the country’s expertise in IT. “I wanted to be around brilliant programmers so I could learn from them but I also wanted to see how they manage their advanced IT systems”, he says. He has concentrated on Information Systems.
Samuel's short-term plan is to return to Nigeria to take on a role in IT management when his MBA ends in June this year. He’s been making job applications and has already had a few promising interviews. We wish him the best of luck!
Edith Cowan University offers a two-year full-time MBA at its campus in Perth, Australia. Read more about the full-time MBA and connect with students and alumni of Edith Cowan University here!
Looking for info on a top business school? Check out our interactive pages
- Author:
- Ifeatu Nnaobi
- Published:
- Monday 30th April 2012 12:06:29 GMT
- Perth Graduate School of Business
Related stories
-
Russia RisingPosted on 05-07-2009 | 0 comments
-
Where Are All The Broads? A Ratio AnalysisPosted on 26-10-2009 | 4 comments
-
Mexico: Home of the World's Cheapest MBAsPosted on 09-11-2009 | 6 comments
Why you should join BUSINESSBECAUSE...
Connecting people before, during and after b-school
-
Build a network of useful connections
-
Gather information & get weekly newsletter
-
Get job and b-school application tips
-
Read real life stories published daily
Stories from around the web
Related Stories
Most Read
Categories:
Comments
Tuesday 1st May 2012, 13.36 (UTC)
I love this. Greater heights my Brother. The secret to success is consistency in purpose. See you at the top.
Tuesday 1st May 2012, 17.34 (UTC)
sharp photo mr okonkwo!
Wednesday 2nd May 2012, 13.12 (UTC)
Nice one mate, Out of curiosity, why not another Asian country e.g. China?
Wednesday 2nd May 2012, 19.18 (UTC)
Nwannem, I'm so so so proud of you. I pray that God will increase your greatness and help you to attain new heights. KEEP FOCUSED!
Wednesday 2nd May 2012, 22.41 (UTC)
Yea!! Am extremely proud its all headed somewhere great!!! You are now ready for the BIG ONE!!!
Thumbs Up!
Tuesday 8th May 2012, 08.32 (UTC)
Hi Ned,
the choice of a place for personal improvement is only dependent on how much one knows about his environment. I have lived a long time finding India always on the news as one of the most advanced countries in IT development.
China is another great choice, just like other locations like Tel Aviv, Moscow, Singapore, etc. However, the choice of India was borne out of the fact that it is an English speaking country and is also cheaper to live in, as I thought. I was also moved by the fact that it offers ECU certificates.
I'd love to be in China. However, that will be as my drive grows.
Best regards.