SE: K-State MBB Alum Victor Ojeleye to Graduate from Prestigious Chicago Booth
May 26, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
Victor Ojeleye wants to be the president of a multi-national company some day. His vision for this goal is purposely incomplete, as he sets benchmarks for life a few years at a time, not 10 to 15 years down the road.
On June 10, when Ojeleye walks across a stage set up on the campus of Chicago Booth, one of the most prestigious business schools in the world, he will have hit one of those benchmarks.
"It's been challenging and, I think, in a good way because I'm the kind of person who looks for challenges," Ojeleye said. "It was a goal of mine to get my MBA from a top institution."
For Ojeleye, the journey to Chicago Booth truly started at K-State, where he played basketball for four years as a walk on and where he doubled majored in finance and accounting.
"I would say K-State, academically, was the environment that really taught me how to work hard," said Ojeleye, a three-time First Team Academic All-Big 12 honoree. "K-State was an awesome foundation for me."
From a basketball perspective, Ojeleye, a captain his senior year for the Wildcats, said being able to work well with people from all different backgrounds helped prepare him for life after K-State.
"Being thrown into an environment like Booth where you have people from all over the world who all have been very successful, I think being personable, being able to work with different types of people, and then bringing that same work ethic combined with the things I learned that I was good at, really helped me become more prepared," he said. "K-State prepared me for the fundamentals. My core values, my hard work, being good to people, working with teams. So the background I had, being a team captain at K-State and then also working in the classroom, really prepared me for a lot of the experiences that I had here."
Chicago Booth accepts less than 25 percent of applicants and has a job-placement rate around 97 percent, with starting median base salaries above $100,000. In August, Ojeleye will start working at Cargill Inc., as a corporate strategy associate in Minneapolis, Minnesota, an opportunity to continue to build his business acumen.
"No one can really plan five or 10 years down the road, but one of my goals is to become the president of a multi-national company," he said. "The last two years my goal was to get my MBA. The next couple of years my goal is to become really good in the strategy group at Cargill and then set myself up for opportunities."
To get to this point, Ojeleye credits his mentor, Mark Soucie, a 1986 K-State graduate who planted the seed of pursuing an MBA at Chicago Booth.
"He's really guided me. Whenever I've had big decisions to make, he's someone I rely on," said Ojeleye, who met Soucie when he worked for Koch Industries after graduating from K-State in 2012. "He always told me to set my sights really high if I was going to do my MBA. As a young guy, I was thinking, 'Oh, man. How am I going to get into (Chicago Booth)?' But here I am about to graduate."
Ojeleye navigated Chicago Booth's two-year program with the same approach he brought to the basketball court at K-State: make the most of it.
He served in multiple school leadership positions at Chicago Booth, volunteered as a course note taker and gave back to the community in many ways. He traveled all across the country, even venturing to Iceland and organizing a trip to Ireland. And, of course, he was an active member on the Booth Basketball Club. (A more complete list of Ojeleye's activities can be found here.)
From a curriculum standpoint, Ojeleye said Chicago Booth is unique because of its flexibility. "You get to choose your own way," he said.
Ojeleye focused his curriculum on general management with a concentration in finance and operations, while he also delved into behavioral science studies. Last summer, he interned for Nike in Oregon and even worked in a retail store for a day to gain a more complete understanding of the business. All of it derived from his drive to become as well rounded as possible.
"I think the broad experience I've gotten has continued to give me tools," he said. "I've built a network. I've gotten a little bit smarter. I've been exposed to new things through my peers and through the resources available at the institution that have really helped me grow as a person and outside of work."
Despite his already full plate at Chicago Booth, Ojeleye maintained a strong connection to K-State. He's a member of the Young Alumni Leaders program through the K-State College of Business Administration, in which a recent graduate is paired with a current student to help their professional development. At least once a month, he is on the phone with his mentee.
"I think it's important," he said, "and that's why I joined because I want to be able to shape the future of the K-State College of Business by preparing other students to do what I'm doing or other things in their career."
As for basketball, Ojeleye doesn't play as much, though he said his last time on the court was in the United Center in Chicago in a battle against Kellogg, Northwestern's respected business school.
"I actually hit the game-winning shot. I've got a video of it on my phone somewhere," he laughed. "So I've got proof."
Ojeleye still keeps close tabs on the Wildcats as well. He's followed the NBA Draft build-up around Wesley Iwundu and is on Twitter regularly to catch up with the latest going on in the program he once suited up for. Simply thinking about those days quickly stirs up special memories.
"Beating KU at home, I remember standing up on the scorer's table when we beat those guys. That was really memorable," he said of K-State's 2011 win over the Jayhawks. "Then just being out on the court. Being a walk-on, I had an opportunity to play, and every game that I played, every time I practiced, was special to me."
Ojeleye named a long list of off-the-court memories as well, including being in the wedding of his very close friend, Collin Klein. "That speaks volumes to the great friends and relationships that I had," Ojeleye said.
His community involvement as a Wildcat also quickly came to mind, from being involved in the Special Olympics to reading to elementary school students to various activities through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
"Being in a buddy's wedding, being involved in the community, getting a chance to play ball and get my degree were things that I always remember and things I think to when people go, 'Oh, you went to K-State?'" said Ojeleye, whose parents moved from Africa to Ottawa, Kansas, when he was four. "My story has been interesting because I've always been transitioning to the next thing. I think that's something important to tell young people. Nothing lasts forever, but you can measure progress in whatever you're doing by knowing where you're headed, even if you fail. I've had failure. I've had exams or projects that didn't go as well as I wanted, but by keeping that focus in my faith and the people around me, keeping my eye on the end goal and learning from others, I think that's really what's helped me.
"It's been fun. I still have to pinch myself, like, 'Man, I got to go to Chicago to go to business school and that's been one of my goals.' Those are fun things to take a step back and be happy about."
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