Mustafa Malik, B.B.A.'03

Advice to Students: Be Flexible

As WMU celebrated its Centennial, Mustafa Malik, B.B.A.'03, celebrated his graduation and refers to his class as “one of the Centennial batches of WMU graduates.” After commencement, he joined family in Toronto, Canada and began working for Bell Mobility in Call Center Operations. While working for Bell Mobility (a subsidiary of Bell Canada), he obtained his Master’s Certificate for Business Analysts through York University’s Schulic Executive Education Centre. Later, he joined the Supply Chain Organization at Bell Canada as manager - Supply Chain Business Intelligence. After working with the Bell group of companies for five years, Malik decided to shift careers and became part of the corporate finance department at Home Depot Canada. Currently, he is pursuing his CMA and will sit for his entrance exam in October.

Malik notes that his academic experience at the Haworth College of Business prepared him for today’s market, “Even today, there are instances I come across where I feel that the market is perhaps still adapting to what I’d been taught in college six years ago. It’s an amazing feeling to be ahead of the game.” Furthermore, Malik feels that though a bigger city environment might seem appealing to some students, “Kalamazoo as a city and Western as a campus both offer the best academic environment for students to focus on their careers.” He encourages friends and family to consider attending Western, and he proudly displays his alumni license plate and WMU static sticker on his car.

Persistence is the lesson that Malik took away from his classes and professors. He notes that Dr. Alan Rea and Dr. Bernie Han instilled the importance of being persistent in him.

Flexibility is the most important thing that Malik has learned on the job. He enjoys the flexibility that his business degree has given him to move between different areas and enhance his skills in the process. His advice to students is to be flexible when looking for that first job, “Be open to opportunities upon graduation even if they offer something different than what you planned on doing after graduation. Once you are in the market, you make your own moves and with dedication and hard work things only get better.”