Since childhood, I have known my purpose was intertwined with business. My dad influenced my career path significantly. He was an entrepreneur focusing on selling cars. I was drawn to his work ethics whenever I accompanied him to work. He was a boss in his capacity. He was honest, sincere, and keen to details, a great conversationalist, and he carried himself with class and demeanor of an achieving businessman. I watched him keenly and felt inspired and sure that I was born to be in the business world. With such inspiration, I did not feel the necessity to go to college, and I focused on getting a job. I wanted to acquire the necessary experience in running a business, for instance, human resource management, project management, and time management skills.  

Interestingly, in 1991, I landed a job at Aramco Oil Company. It was a learning experience for me, and I kept in mind that if I wanted something badly enough, then I should work harder and smarter. My supervisor and colleagues were very instrumental in both my personal and professional growth. They nurtured in me important virtues such as self-discipline, common sense, time value, creativity, planning, decision-making, problem-solving, as well as self-awareness. That is why in just two years after joining the company, I was honored with the group supervisor position. I had to handle major tasks including monitoring, scheduling, decision-making, and making daily reports. I retired in May 2016 after 26 years at Aramco Oil Company having played different roles at the company from Security Support Supervisor and Area Supervisor in the Refinery to the Security Specialist position. My final position was the Identity Unity Supervisor.

As an ardent reader, I read books and newspapers primarily those focusing on business. I always crave for knowledge, and I buy economic newspapers on a daily basis. With my insatiable thirst for knowledge as I worked, I started out by enrolling for an English course, as well as a computer course. I also acquired a diploma in typing and secretarial studies. I have always wanted to grow and develop my career to a more senior position. Hence, I desired to earn my Bachelor’s degree, and I was willing to give it my all regardless of the challenges. During my free time at work, I went through study materials including those in accounting, statistics, communication skills, system thinking, and business behavior and I feel that earning my college degree was a great accomplishment. 

After graduating from high school, I knew post-secondary education was important for me. In 2008, I joined the Arab Open University for my Bachelor’s in Business Administration. At the moment, I was a husband, a father of four and had a full-time job. My undergraduate experience had its share of challenges. As a family man, I had the responsibility of catering for my family’s needs. Moreover, my work was quite demanding. Thus, it was hard for me to attend lectures. To top it all, shouldering all my study expenses alongside my family’s necessities was not an easy task. However, since I had the absolute commitment towards earning my degree in Business Administration, I made use of any free time available to work on achieving my goal.

During my time at Arab Open University, I opened to a different world. The new challenging environment excited me, and I aimed for excellence. Creating the perfect balance between work and university requirements was quite a challenge. That was not all since I had a family that I needed to provide for financially, as well as creating time for them. I choose not to relent, and the discipline that I saw in my dad had positioned me in good stead. I thank the heavens for the five years at the University. The experience had a significant impact in my life. I received the chance to work with people from different backgrounds and nationalities, which was quite eye-opening. English was the official language of study, which was perfect for my career as I had to get out of my world and explore. I got to meet Dr. Fouad Mimouni who is a professor at the University. He is also a manager at an Islamic Bank at Jeddah city. He led me in System Thinking, and his teaching mode was exceptional since he doubled up as a motivational speaker. With some years of experience in the world of business, he had a wealth of information in business matters, and he did a great job at mentoring me.

With a lifelong passion for business and entrepreneurship, I developed a keen interest in starting my own business. Through the years, I have been fascinated, intrigued, challenged, motivated, and I feel I have to put my creativity to task and apply all the amazing skills I had acquired through the years to create my success story. While reading the books, ‘The Intelligent Investor’ by Benjamin Graham and ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki, I was encouraged to invest in entrepreneurship. I secured a loan from a local bank and put up a commercial building, which contains four shops and seven apartments. The drive, ambition, and ability that I have been nurturing for so many years have propelled me to greater heights. My strengths lie in my capacity to make rational judgments, assessing business situations, managing people, and decision-making. I apply these skills in managing my business and throughout my professional life.

A year after graduating with my undergraduate degree, I felt the necessity of pursuing my Master’s degree. In August 2014, I enrolled for my MBA at the University of Business and Technology in Jeddah. I needed a solid foundation in the area of Business Management. The tutorials, seminars, presentations, and the entire experience during my MBA were remarkable. I regard it as the greatest opportunity I have had in my career as it cemented on the fact that my real interest is in business. In this program, I have systematically learned all the relevant management courses including marketing, market planning, and human resource. I had excellent academic performance scoring a GPA of 4.66 during my final semester. During the experience, I visited Saudi Railway and participated in the preparation of an organizational management research. The experience offered some significant insights about management and academic perspectives.

With that, I am quite specific about my academic interest and my future career objectives. That is why I am convinced that I want to be a university professor in the future. My focus of specialization is Business Administration. It is in the same regard that I believe that I need to customize my resume to be befitting of an international professor. I would like to study in a university whose official mode of delivery is in English, and I know that the research Western Universities will provide me with the is ultimate experience. Therefore, I am strong-minded to apply for a Ph.D. in Business Management at University XX, which is arguably one of the best Western universities in Business studies. Your prestigious university enjoys an esteemed academic position, as well as an unparalleled academic reputation in the Western world. In my proposed research study, I will make significant contributions in the field of international business and climate change, as well as in strategy, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, and market research. Recognizing the importance of specialization in this era, I hope to develop myself into a specialist in Business Management with assistance from one of the best training institutes in the world. So, I not only wish for my experience at University XX to be fulfilling but also want to get the opportunity to learn in an environment, which offers academic quality and diversity that will drive my career to the next level.