If there’s a recurring theme in the career of Murad Al-Katib, it’s to always ask, to doggedly pursue a goal.
Take his degree in international business. He completed his commerce degree at the University of Saskatchewan when he was in his early 20s and decided his next step was an advanced degree in international business.
He went looking for schools, and settled on a short list that included the prestigious Thunderbird School of Global Management. Others from the short list, including Harvard and Stanford, might be better known, but not in the international business community. In that trade Thunderbird is the best of the best.
Read Also
Producers aren’t panicking over tariffs and trade threats
The Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) surveyed its members this spring to get a sense of how trade uncertainty was…
There was a hurdle, though. Thunderbird had a few reservations about a student that young. Those pursuing advanced international business degrees tend to be older students with a decade or more actual experience in international business. But Al-Katib wouldn’t take no for an answer.
He wrote a letter requesting the school’s director consider his international experience to date — and in return got an invitation to meet in person and make his case.
Following graduation he lobbied the Canadian embassy in Washington for help gaining placement at the World Bank. Then he wrote the fateful letter telling the premier of Saskatchewan that the province should be promoting international business — and himself as the best man for the job.
“I always tell young people, whenever I speak to them, create your own opporunities,” Al-Katib says. “If I look at every stage along I tried to create the opportunity.”
