“You all have so much potential, but if you don’t ask for opportunities, you’ll never get them. You just have to be bold enough and courageous enough to take that step.”
It was that advice from Yorkville University professor Adnan ul Haque, delivered to his Bachelor of Business Administration students, that spurred aspiring novelist Anjali Jogia to approach him after class one day to inquire about possible writing opportunities.
Fast-forward less than six months later, and Jogia’s initiative paid off when her name was published alongside her professor’s on a paper in the Polish Journal of Management Studies.
“A student at Anjali’s level writing a research paper and publishing it in a journal shows that she has given rise to her courage rather than her fear,” ul Haque said in praise of Jogia – the first student he’s ever commissioned to assist him in writing a paper.
“It is a proud moment for me, and for our Yorkville Ontario campus, that Anjali has contributed to this paper under my assistance.”
Co-authored by ul Haque’s Russian colleague, Aleksandr Guskov, Jogia’s contribution to Mechanisms to Support Open Innovation in SMART Tourism Destinations: Managerial Perspective and Implications was the development of its managerial implications section – an accomplishment the 21-year-old admits was a daunting task at first.
“To be honest, at the beginning, my first try wasn’t very good, but that’s because I hadn’t had any practice writing a research paper like this before,” she said.
“But professor guided me and I did a lot of research…and in the end, it really made a difference in the way I do research now. It has really made my research work much better.”
Born in Madagascar, Africa and raised in India, Jogia first came to Canada in July 2018 in search of just such opportunities to build a “bright future” for herself.
“Canada has the largest number of educated people, so it’s the most educated country in the world,” Jogia said of her decision to study business at Yorkville University.
“When I was applying for college diploma programs through an agent, I came to know about the university and how it provided a degree within two or three years. I got really excited about that and applied right away.”
As she settled quickly into her new life as an on-campus student at Yorkville’s Ontario campus, Jogia said ul Haque’s Business Writing and Communications course quickly emerged one of her favourite classes – in both its content and teaching technique.
“The way professor teaches was really interesting. I found I was really learning – I wasn’t just preparing to give exams,” she said.
Now armed with a published paper on her resume, Jogia said she’s hopeful she’ll be able to parlay her BBA from Yorkville into an opportunity to pursue an MBA after graduation – a goal ul Haque said is even closer within reach, now that she’s demonstrated her research writing ability.
“I remember saying to her, ‘At some point in your career, if you decide you want to do a Masters or a PhD or a doctorate, the first thing any supervisor will look at on your resume is how good you are at research work,” ul Haque explained.
“So, professionally, having a published paper should definitely help her.”
Jogia’s ultimate career goal – aside from publishing a novel – is to work in Marketing or Project Management.
“I’d like to work at a company where I can grow. I don’t want to be in the same position with the same knowledge within five years ,” she said. “I want to be at a company where I can grow my skills and my knowledge – that’s what really matters to me.”
Until then, she’s simply happy to have been able to make her parents back home in India proud of her accomplishments thus far.
“I didn’t tell my parents about the paper at first, because I wasn’t sure my name would be included,” she explained. “So, when it got published, I sent them a PDF of the paper and when they saw my name, they were really extremely proud of me.”
