JEFFREY FASEGHA (BCom 2020 UC) had known that being named a Rhodes Scholar was a possibility ever since UC Registrar Ryan Woolfrey emailed him to advise he had been selected to apply for the scholarship to the University of Oxford. But hearing that it was a reality left the 23-year-old speechless.
A Rhodes representative opened the fateful phone call in November by asking how he was doing. “Pretty good, I think, hopefully?” Fasegha recalls saying. Then, as the news was given: “I was like, ‘whoa,’ and over my silence he asked, ‘Are you still there?’ And I replied, ‘Yes, I’m blown away, this is awesome!’ ”
Fasegha graduated from UC last June with a bachelor of commerce in finance and minors in psychology and economics. He will begin studies at Oxford this October. He’s one of two University of Toronto recipients this year—among 100 worldwide—of perhaps the world’s most prestigious postgraduate scholarship.
In view of the selection criteria, Fasegha embodies the qualities of an ideal candidate. Beyond academic excellence, which Fasegha—on the Dean’s List from 2018 to 2020 and a University of Toronto Alumni Association Scholar—has clearly achieved, the Rhodes Trust looks for such traits as: “truth, courage, devotion to duty,” and “energy to use your talents to the full.” But it’s the following that seems written with Fasegha in mind: “Moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in your fellow human beings.”
He is the founder of the Black Career Conference (BCC) and co-founder of Black Rotman Commerce (BRC), former U of T chapter head of the Association of Canadian Intercollegiate Investment Clubs, and a former teaching assistant at Rotman, to name just a few of his campus affiliations. Fasegha was also a student ambassador for Capitalize for Kids, a fundraising organization in Canada’s investment community that works to expand the availability of children’s mental health services.
Fasegha says Woolfrey, in addition to advising him about the Rhodes, helped him choose the right courses during his intensely busy third year. He also mentions former UC principal Donald Ainslie’s encouragement and support throughout the Rhodes process.
Although Fasegha enthusiastically immersed himself at university, “If you asked me when I was 12, where do you see yourself in 10 years, I’d have been playing for the Calgary Flames with Jarome Iginla,” he says.
Fasegha’s family, originally from Nigeria, moved to Calgary when he was a small child for a job his father, Vincent, an engineer, was taking in the city’s energy industry. His mother, Kathryn, is a filmmaker whose movie, 2 Weeks in Lagos, showed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, and his older sister, Jo-Ann, owns a Calgary event planning firm.
Shortly after they arrived in Canada, Fasegha’s dad took him to a Flames game where he first saw Iginla play. The Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, whose father is from Nigeria, is acclaimed for his community work.
As a teen, Fasegha waited two hours after a Flames practice to speak with Iginla, who spent time talking individually with 30 or so fans. “That was really inspiring for me as a leader,” he says.
Fasegha began playing at “six or seven” and became serious about the sport. “I was never the most gifted player,” he says. “I took a diligent approach to improving my game, a similar approach I take with almost everything.”
He graduated from high school at age 16 and played junior hockey with the goal of being recruited to play NCAA hockey for an Ivy League university. But in 2014, Fasegha was recruited by Brett Riley, then the head hockey coach at the Albany Academy in New York. Fasegha eventually captained the team and was inspired by Riley’s leadership both on and off the ice.
He was drafted second overall in the North American Hockey League and played for teams in Alaska and North Dakota. Unfortunately, a devastating shoulder injury eventually led Fasegha to retire in 2017.
U of T helped stretch me academically. But probably most important was being able to meet some great people and do good work for the community.
Studying business was a natural next step. As a child, Fasegha delivered flyers, did other “entrepreneurial stuff,” and began investing in stocks with his dad.
“U of T helped stretch me academically,” Fasegha says. “But probably most important was being able to meet some great people and do good work for the community.”
With the University of Toronto Black Students’ Association, he went on visits to predominantly Black high schools, where he says students didn’t seem to view U of T as an option. Back on campus, Fasegha noticed he was often the only Black student in his business classes. He says both experiences led to the idea of creating the BCC and BRC.
“With Black Rotman Commerce, we worked [on] equitable recruiting—how do we have messaging that feels inclusive to Black students and how do we create community for them on campus?” Fasegha explains. He remains an advisor for both organizations.
Fasegha’s focus on community extends to what he wants to do as an entrepreneur. “An interest of mine is building innovative ecosystems, like what’s happened in Silicon Valley. But how do we build innovative ecosystems around the world to benefit people’s lives? My particular interest is in Africa.”
He closely follows Nigeria’s entrepreneurial sectors, having interned for finance and energy companies there. He also conducted an independent study at U of T on social enterprises in Nigeria’s energy industry. His interest may have taken root on a trip to his country of birth at age 10, when power would cut out randomly. In recent years, Fasegha has had a chance to observe renewable energy startups as they set up solar mini-grids in Nigeria’s rural communities.
“My study was about the impact of having electricity—think about people who are able to read past 5 pm or access the Internet reliably,” he says.
In 2018, Fasegha travelled to South Africa for a Rotman summer abroad course that focused on work done at the base of the economic pyramid, with students working in small teams to consult with micro-entrepreneurs.
Ann Armstrong, PhD (MBA 1982 U of T), course instructor, academic director, and lecturer at Rotman, says Fasegha stood out. “Jeff has intense focus coupled with extreme sensitivity to many cultural nuances, both in South Africa and in the course in general,” says Armstrong, who also supervised Fasegha’s independent study.
Fasegha was the only first-year student in the third-year course, yet Armstrong says he took the lead to resolve an issue on his team. Additionally, she says that when his roommate in South Africa was celebrating Ramadan, Fasegha joined him in fasting for a day.
Currently, he’s working remotely for the management consulting firm Bain & Company. Additionally, he and two business partners are testing their mobile platform, Fyyne, a startup to help hair artists run their businesses more efficiently, as well as provide a community of Black hair resources for consumers.
Fasegha founded Fyyne, originally called the Black Hair Network, as a result of his “pain point” of not
being able to find a reliable barber in Calgary and rural communities during his hockey years. Even in Toronto, he would stop people on the street to ask where they had their hair cut, as he found online searches and reviews were often unreliable. Readers can join the wait list for early access to Fyyne at www.fyyne.com.
“There are systemic barriers that limit racialized hair artists from running their businesses successfully,” says Fasegha. “We’re building a world where anybody can make a living with their skills because of our software.” Fasegha will continue to co-run Fyyne while at Oxford, which he hopes to attend in person, despite the pandemic. He plans to do a master’s degree in African studies and public policy with a focus on the innovation economy.
“I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of incredible people, [who are] super passionate about what they do,” says Fasegha. “And also furthering my research into how we can use business as a driving force for good.”