Contact:
Zain Nayani, 604.354.5660. zain.nayani@msn.com
Dixon Tam, SFU media relations, 778.782.8742, dixont@sfu.ca

Photo: http://at.sfu.ca/CZdbWt

For a complete list of Spring 2013 B.C. graduands, listed by city, please see: http://at.sfu.ca/CyYuwF

Simon Fraser University MBA graduate Zain Nayani has dedicated his career to social development—and his education is helping him take this passion to the next level.

Originally from Pakistan, Nayani worked in the finance field in his home country before deciding that his career needed a new direction.

“I started to devote a lot of my time to working with developmental organizations, and it just clicked with what I was thinking,” says the Vancouver resident, who undertook some projects for the Agha Khan Foundation. 

He eventually decided to quit finance and find a way to marry his business and financial skills with social-sector development.

“I realized the SFU MBA would provide me with a perfect opportunity to do that.”

During his MBA studies at the SFU Beedie School of Business, Nayani targeted opportunities to assist underprivileged and distressed communities in achieving self-sustaining development.

For the MBA program’s internship, he landed an eight-month advisory position with the Kanaka Bar Indian Band, a small First Nations community in B.C.  He was tasked with developing and implementing much-needed governance, election, membership, and financial management policies for the community.

With relatively little experience in the field, it was a task that required him to think on his feet.

His MBA education clearly paid dividends, however—he has since been offered a full-time position as CEO of the community and its business entities. 

“The internship was essentially a test to see if I could do the job long-term. There were some hard times, but I was able to gain the trust of the community, which enabled me to navigate the challenges I was faced with.”

Despite achieving his goal of working in the social sector, Nayani is under no illusions that he can sit back and relax.

“I came here with a vision in my head that I would work in the social sector and I have done that, but I’m making decisions that directly affect around 200 people living on and off reserve,” he says. “The challenge now is to make sure no one suffers because of the decisions I make.”

Simon Fraser University is Canada's top-ranked comprehensive university and one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old. With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 120,000 alumni in 130 countries.

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Simon Fraser University: Engaging Students. Engaging Research. Engaging Communities.