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 Name: Akinjide (Jide) Falaki
Universities attended: University of Ibadan
Country of origin: Nigeria
Career history
After graduation in 1998, Falaki joined Citibank Nigeria as a banking operations officer. In 2000 he took a position with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Nigeria. After five years in the work force, Falaki decided to pursue his MBA degree.
"I had good technical skills and received rave reviews from my superiors, but I wanted to take my career to the next level. I wanted to be globally competitive; I wanted to receive the best available business training in the world's largest economy," Falaki explained. He applied to Baylor because of its reputation. "I knew a few people who had attended Baylor, and I was impressed with them not just professionally but because of the broader context of how they view and approach life and how they embrace the doctrine of giving back sacrificially. I saw Baylor as a nexus at which my faith and my desire to advance learning could intersect well."
Leaving his job and family behind, Falaki began MBA studies in August 2003. He found the lockstep program valuable because it transcended mere academics and mimicked the way business problems are approached and resolved in the real world.
"The lockstep approach further prepared me to look at the big picture, with the attendant interdependencies and issues within different functional groups. It brings to bear the true challenge of management, which is driving synergies and shareholder value from the combination of these functional groups," he said.
He distinguished himself during his time at Baylor. He was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma; he was a member of a team that captured third place in the DaimlerChrysler-sponsored National Black MBA Association case competition; and the core faculty named him the Most Outstanding MBA graduate in Fall 2004. His performance at the case competition attracted the attention of recruiters from several top companies, out of which he joined Best Buy in January 2005.
In the last two years, he has worked with Best Buy's Fortune 100 company's enterprise financial planning and analysis team. He was recently promoted to finance manager supporting the company's properties group.
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