Hillary Musarurwa graduates with PhD no. 1

Growing up I always wanted to be a doctor or own a bank. After getting 3 points at “A” Level I couldn’t take up an offer at Wits University to study medicine because I couldn’t afford the fees. So I got a job in a bank and worked there for over 15 years.

I tried to do a degree through UNISA but ended up dropping out after failing to raise money to finish it, when things started getting tough in Zimbabwe. When I was retrenched in 2008, I started an NGO called PENYA that helped marginalised youth get entrepreneurial skills and access to loans. I was later accepted into an MPhil in Inclusive Innovations degree at Africa’s top business school (the UCT Graduate School of Business) using the Recognition of Prior Learning route based on my work experience and a few other short courses I had done.

Today I hold a PhD in Peace Studies, all without an undergraduate degree. I am using my skills to improve the financial wellbeing of university students in Scotland, and teaching business management courses. I am researching for a second PhD in Management on improving the financial wellbeing of university students. I have published and presented more than 15 research papers. So here I am fulfilling my childhood dream of becoming a doctor, somehow. The journey has not been smooth sailing and indeed it has been long. I have not arrived yet but I know God will take me there. No matter where you are at in life right now NEVER give up, it shall be okay one day.

NEXT STEP: Setting up a social enterprise and research institution that puts African scholars on the global map.