Mr. Huseynov, please tell us about yourself.
I am Nijat Huseynov, 32 years old, from Azerbaijan. I got a Ph.D. degree in Management and Business Administration in Hungary with a Hungarian Government Scholarship. On the other hand, I hold an MSc degree in Financial Management and BSc degree in Finance, Credit. Since the last decade, I have been working in several industries as finance, accounting, and controlling expert in Azerbaijan, Hungary, and Germany.
What is the secret of your success?
I have been always eager to search for new ideas and experiences. That brought me to today.
I never neglected the daily simple repetitive activities to succeed. Learning experiences, and improving personal skills, and knowledge helped me to realize my dream career and live an amazing life journey.
What was your motivation to do a Ph.D. abroad?
To answer this question, I would like to go back to the early years of my studies. My idea was always to be the best among my peers at school. At the end of primary school, I passed the admission exams successfully for the special talented group at my school (Baku, 282). The teachers in the special talented group were the best in their fields. They taught their best knowledge and experiences. That is why in 2007, I got the full government scholarship for the university admission exams scoring 631.25 out of 700 maximum points, which was among the top 1% in the country. That was still not enough for me. After 3 semesters, I passed the internal examinations successfully for the Special Talented Group where the tuition was in English at Azerbaijan State Economic University. After graduating with a 90% GPA, went to the one-year compulsory military service. That gap year did not demotivate me to study. In two years I got my Master’s degree successfully. In my graduate and postgraduate years, I was working for the industry full-time as well. I had already gained skills to work and study at the same time. In 2015 I decided to apply for Ph.D. in Hungary, where I passed the admission successfully and got a government scholarship. My main motivation was to get the highest degree in my field. In the end, I reached my goal and get a Ph.D. degree with a 97.5% GPA. Another motivation was to learn about other cultures and experiences in the world.
What is your key contribution to your field in the research?
In my research, I made a deep dive into the resource-dependent economies, mainly OPEC members and non-members to learn about common challenges, mistakes, and experiences. My research is among the researchers due to the scope, uniqueness, results, and varieties of the methodologies. I am so happy that every day young scholars read my research results and cite them.
How did you become the most attractive, successful financial expert in the global labor market?
Since the beginning of my early employment years, I focused on my personal development by improving my soft, and hard skills. Every year I was awarded for my great commitment, work with promotion, and competitive job offers. Working for several industries including sports management, construction, food, retail, consulting, beverage, and real estate had a positive impact on my accumulation of knowledge about real business and industry in the world. Most importantly, I always give back the service to my employers more than expected. That is the key secret.
How did you manage the keep balance between academia and industry successfully?
The key secrets are the right time management, prioritization of daily tasks, and deep concentration.
What were your contributions to the organizations in the industry where you worked?
In the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, I created a financial database where the data analytics fostered the decision-making process, and established productive communication channels with the Union of European Football Associations. In Azersun Holding, I ensured efficient financial reporting for the top management in the central unit. In Pasha construction, I successfully delivered several projects, shortened the days of collecting the aged receivables, and made the manufacturing process smoother via efficient financial and accounting support to the top management. In Diageo and HelloFresh, I led the quarterly rolling forecast, and annual planning established a valuable stakeholder management environment and delivered accurate, material financial opportunities via understanding business realities promptly. In Genpact (GE account), I developed an accounting knowledge bank and made several reviews of the internal policies. In CBRE (Cisco account), I ensured an efficient monthly rolling forecast and simplified the month-end close process.
How did you manage cultural, business, and academic differences in Hungary and Germany?
Being a global financial expert and researcher requires one to understand the varieties of the working style and cooperation cultures in the local communities. I am lucky that I had a chance to live, experience social and cultural life in Europe, and implement the learned positive aspects into my day-to-day activities. However, in common, regardless of the location, global companies ensured a multicultural environment for me. I learned a lot from my foreign colleagues and shared my practice with the with great pleasure.
What are your recommendations to the young generation?
We are living in a fast-changing world, that requires agility, an informal self-development process, eagerness to the new ideas and solutions, understanding the technological tools to implement, to have efficient communication skills, leadership skills, teamwork skills, social responsibility to society, and humanity. And most importantly, being happy, having a positive mindset, learning from past experiences, focusing on today and tomorrow, and eliminating or changing the direction whenever needed is a crucial elements in life to be a success too.