I received my Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Kazan National Research Technological University. I had an uncle who was a chemical engineer. He was my inspiration. It also helped that Nigeria, my home country, is a big oil producer. So the faculty of chemical engineering, with concentrations in downstream and upstream technologies seemed a good choice for a bachelor's degree.

I joined Skoltech's Energy Science & Technology Program (now: Energy Systems) in 2016. During my first year, I concentrated mostly on theoretical coursework and projects with classmates. There were lots of projects! This project-based learning approach was very useful not only to gain hands-on experience, but also to form useful bonds with my colleagues. Closer to the end of my program, the focus shifted more towards my research and laboratory work.

During my second year, I completed an internship at New Gas Technologies - Synthesis. The work there was focused on refining technologies using a novel proprietary catalyst. It was a good experience being part of the team that helped develop a greener approach to refining. The process ensured less carbon footprint of refinery operations. Around that time I also began to write my thesis on chemical enhanced oil recovery using alkaline-surfactant-polymer solutions. In short form, my work tried to figure out a more efficient 'formula' for getting hard-to-recover oil from oil fields. At the basic level, I was searching for chemical combination, which would yield a maximum 'sweeping' effect to recover oil.

One of the highlights of my studies at Skoltech was academic mobility. I got to travel to Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) as a visitng student and take classes on entrepreneurship and chemical engineering. That was intense and a lot of fun. This experience gave me a wider perspective of the world and the industry I wanted to join upon graduation.

Officially, I work for Yandex.Taxi* where I am a Senior International Launcher. I was part of the team that launched the service in Ghana in June 2019. The exciting thing is you can apply analytical and people skills to most problems regardless of the domain or the country you're working in. This has been a skill I learned at Skoltech and one that's useful for my work at Yandex.

My friend Artem Kozin and I also founded a startup called ProctorEdu** three years ago. So far we have raised about $ 350 000 USD. The company has been profitable since month 6 of the launch. I am responsible for making sure that our international expansion efforts are well executed. At the moment, we are a team of 7 with sales and operations in India, Canada, Serbia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Over the next few years, we hope to scale the business beyond our traditional education sector. The solution is an algorithm to that will allow test givers to track and monitor for cheating behavior and ID theft.

*Yandex.Taxi is one of Russia's most popular high-railing/taxi companies. Held under Yandex, a multinational company that offers internet and delivery services, Yandex.Taxi operates in more than 17 countries.

**ProctorEdu is a service that allows educators and employers to host online testing. Its platform uses face regonitition technology to monitor cheating and identity theft to ensure validity of the resuts.

I spend time with friends. Love walking in the parks. My favorite place in Moscow depends on the season. I love summer evenings in Kolomenskoe. Winter on the Red Square is magical. Fall is beautiful in all the parks. I go to the theatre once in a while, too.

My advice is simple. There is no shortcut, you have to do the hard work to achieve anything. The best thing to take away from Skoltech is how to work hard and smart, how to build teams that deliver and how to bounce from failure without taking it personally. Have a lot of fun, build up your skills and make lifelong friends.