Nick Saijrakh ’09, Managing Director at Azarga Capital LLC and Director at Khan Investment Management as well as founder of the first Alumni Chapter in Mongolia, attributes part of his professional success to the important skills, knowledge and experience he gained at AUBG.
Saijrakh began his career in finance with a local investment bank and eventually co-founded a boutique investment management and advisory firm together with his foreign partners. The company mainly focuses on cross-border investments, so Saijrakh travels to different countries on a regular basis. “Nowadays, businesses are more and more globalized, and therefore, sophisticated, with business transactions inevitably encompassing multiple countries’ jurisdictions,” he explains. His longest foreign experience after AUBG was in London, UK at a capital markets training with the London Stock Exchange for over a couple of months. The program was designed to let participants gain hands-on experience in wealth management and trading equities at the leading financial hub in the world.
Through his rich international practice, Saijrakh has realized that in today’s dynamic environment, an individual needs to be truly a global citizen, where his ability to embrace different cultures and respect their intricacies is crucial for running a successful business and completing objectives. “With its tight schedules, variety of activities and international student body and staff, the atmosphere at AUBG certainly resembles the dynamism and “multiculturedness” of the world,” points out Saijrakh. “I feel very fortunate to have had such an experience, because, among others, the ease of communication with people helps me with networking, which is one of the most essential aspects for successful business dealings.”
Saijrakh believes that another great benefit of studying at AUBG was that liberal arts education exposed him to a variety of subjects and fields, while receiving focused knowledge in his chosen discipline. “You get to see the issues from different angles and eventually interconnect them and make them work for you in completing your objective,” says Saijrakh. He has found that in our current globalized and technologically savvy era, successful people need expertise and knowledge of multiple different disciplines in order to complete every little task.
Apart from liberal arts education, Saijrakh’s high involvement with extracurricular activities helped him to prepare for the multilayered world of business. In addition to being a member of the American Football and Olympics teams, a performer in theater plays and musicals, a magazine contributor, and a resident assistant, he participated in a few international level competitions as a Debate Club member at AUBG. “Competing internationally gave me confidence that I am as competent as any person from an opposite part of the world.” Saijrakh said. “I also realized how tough and global the competition is. Even today, I have to constantly compete with and prove my worth to people from all sorts of different backgrounds and experiences, not just my peers in the field.”
Saijrakh’s advice to current AUBG students is to work on their analytical and critical thinking skills, perfect their writing abilities and time management. He also finds that extra-curricular activities are crucial for success, as it enables people to explore their talents and find new passions.
“And lastly, cherish your college moments and most importantly the friends you make there, because they will be your close friends and business contacts for life,” adds Saijrakh.
Story by Nikoleta Gancheva
Article reprinted with permission.
Originally published on AUBG website.