Ali Ashraf, BBA candidate, has lots to celebrate. He’s just finishing his first year of the BBA program and recently won second place with his team in the Enactus York case competition.

You might never guess it, but Ali was once a quiet and removed student, who didn’t find an immediate fit as he transitioned into his program.

“As a first year student at Schulich, I was hesitant to establish new relationships,” he recalls. “My introverted personality made me feel isolated and unmotivated to come to school.”

Ali describes how disconnected he felt in his early weeks. “For the first three months of university, I had no friends, nor any extracurricular involvement,” he says. “I only knew one person, and that was my best friend from high school who also managed to get accepted to Schulich.”

Making a Change

As the term passed, he experienced a shift in mindset, recognizing that change was needed if he wanted to maximize his Schulich experience. “I realized that new friendships must be created to feel satisfied with my university life.”

Opening himself to this possibility, and the community around him, Ali describes meeting two second year students one day in the Marketplace. After some small talk, he quickly found common ground and made a connection. “I knew these were my type of people,” says Ali – and they would soon become his first ever business case teammates.

Looking to continue developing his networking and presentation skills, Ali decided to take things a step further by participating in a case competition hosted by Enactus York. His best friend and these two new second year students formed his group.

Team Success

All four teammates were brand new to case competitions, but their natural rapport and shared ambition helped them to unite and work effectively together. Ali says that he was surprised to see their team beat more experienced competitors, but he attributes this to great teamwork and collaboration.

“The case competition taught me that as long as you’re surrounded by like minded individuals who share your objectives, you can achieve your goals in no time.”

Most importantly, Ali has seen the benefit to building a network for success. He is no longer the isolated, reserved student that he was in the fall.

“They say character is defined by your friend group and I feel that is true!” says Ali.

Congratulations to this team on their first of many case competition successes!