Zainab’s Journey From Entrepreneur to Aspiring Business Analyst

Zainab came to the UK from Nigeria 3 years ago to pursue a Masters Degree in International Management. Having successfully run her own fashion business back home, life took a new turn for Zainab after completing her degree and welcoming her fourth child two years ago. Recognising the need for a change and seeking new career opportunities, she turned to the GRoW programme for guidance in her pursuit of becoming a Business Analyst.

Zainab said; “After completing my masters and having a new baby, I took a 2 year break to focus on my family before thinking about going back to work.  I had been running my own fashion business but moving to a new country added new challenges – understanding the market, finding customers, and adapting to the cultural nuances. My degree had opened up new opportunities for me and I decided I wanted to pursue a different career as a business analyist.

I found out about the GRoW Programme when I started job searching and signed up with the hope that they could help me build my confidence and better understand how to present myself to employers. The GRoW workshops provided clarity and self-awareness that really helped me understand my skills, strengths and achievements better and gave me practical advice on how to navigate the UK job market.

My next steps now are to work with GRoW on developing my CV and they have also put me in touch with Business2Business who will be providing some additional support such as interview techniques. I am applying for Business Analyst jobs but also looking at admin roles to develop my work experience.

Being on the GRoW Programme has been a great experience for me and I would recommend other mums take advantage of the benefits they provide, especially in confidence-building and skill recognition. It has been quite a self-reflective experience for me”.