Jamal Elsheikh

As the founder of One Love and the Chief Business Development Officer at personal emergency assistance platform Guardian Corp, I place enormous value on the power of connection and community building.

At One Love Australia we aim to inspire and educate students about the impact of racism and social exclusion on people. We want future young leaders to be able to have courageous conversations about racism. I founded the organisation after my own experiences as a migrant from Sudan and others from African communities living in Australia. My role involves running the day-to-day operations of the business, supervising our programs and engaging with schools and communities.

"At One Love Australia we aim to inspire and educate students about the impact of racism and social exclusion on people. We want future young leaders to be able to have courageous conversations about racism."

After completing my undergraduate degree in engineering, I knew I wanted a career that combined problem-solving with my entrepreneurial mindset. However, I lacked formal training and education in business so I decided to enrol in the Master of Business Administration at Monash Business School.

From my degree, I most enjoyed the tailored support. Despite having a different career aspiration from the rest of the class ­– I wanted to be a social entrepreneur – the program worked to add value to us all individually, to ensure we could take our careers to the next level.

There were a number of elements of the degree that really stood out for me. The first was what I learnt from my peers. In an MBA, you learn from your peers as much as you do from the professors and Monash Business School really assembles a diverse class. Second was the strength and expertise of the speakers and presenters of our courses and the ability to connect with these people. And the third point was the practical leadership classes which have been so relevant to my day-to-day work. This is where I learnt skills around managing teams, conflicts and negotiations.

While at Monash Business School I won the 'Leave No One Behind' competition run by the Monash Sustainable Development Institute with the faculties of Arts, Law, Education, Business, and Art, Design and Architecture. It is based on an idea of facilitating sustainable businesses for African youth. It was just another example of how the MBA program has opened so many doors for me in terms of opportunities and contacts.

My advice is that if you are lucky enough to be accepted into a program at Monash Business School, then do yourself a favour and make the most out of it. It’s an investment worth making, and your future self will thank you.

Find out more about Jamal's story on ABC iview