5 Questions With Emeka Udeagha

Emeka Udeagha is a Vancouver Island University alumnus, who now works at as a Financial Consultant at Investors Group Financial Services Inc. In 2014, he completed his Master in Business Administration, and after living on four different continents decided to call Nanaimo his permanent home, thanks in large part to his experience at VIU.

If you had to do something different, what would you do?

I suppose I would probably be a surgeon. That was the path I was on for most of my life. I have an undergraduate degree in biochemistry, and was heading to medical school until I fell in love with business and the stock market. My father spent his career as a professor so I was strongly guided towards advancing my education in certain fields.

What trait do you admire most about yourself?

I am very persistent. It’s good and it’s bad because when I set my mind to something I don’t stop until it is done. It means I do a lot, but it can also wear me down. I think mostly though, it has been a good thing. It lead me here, and I love what I do.

One of VIU’s values is Global Citizenship. What does this mean to you?

I came here as an international student, and I have lived in many countries. Being a global citizen opens up the world and creates broader horizons. There was a big mixture of cultures in my MBA cohort, and my life is the richer for it. My best friend is from Hong Kong and I met him here. You don’t realize how much you have in common until you start talking, and this big world becomes much smaller. I was recently in Dubai, and I met another VIU MBA grad there who is a banker.

As an alumnus, what is one of your favourite memories from VIU?

For me, that’s easy. I got engaged last year and I met my fiancée here. We were friends for a year before we started dating, and I relied on her heavily to help me figure things out in Nanaimo. She is actually the reason I decided to come to VIU. I knew I wanted to come to Canada, but I was thinking UBC because of the weather, and I had only ever lived in really big cities. On a chance weekend on the island, I met her and she convinced me to come here. Now the rest is history.

You could have lived anywhere, why did you decide to stay?

The lifestyle and the work-life balance. I couldn’t imagine doing my job anywhere else. You can leave work, go home and shut off. The hectic pace of life in places like London doesn’t allow for that. It’s beautiful here, and Nanaimo is a nice sized place. It is easy to make connections, and you can maintain your sanity day-to-day, but is close to Vancouver. I can go there when I want to be in a big city.