Shady Grove MBA Student Driven by Parents’ Sacrifices

After reading Siddhartha in high school, Daniel Alegbeleye, Flex MBA ’25, thought maybe becoming a philosopher was his future, but the future had different plans for him.

Alegbeleye, who aspired for a law career throughout his upbringing, passed up on Division 1 football offers to instead play in Division 3 football, prioritize his education as a philosophy major and become the first in his family to attend college.

“I wanted to pursue my education. Playing football is just a part of what I do. It’s not me entirely,” he says.

Immigrating to the U.S. from Nigeria as a child, Alegbeleye recalls the sacrifices his parents made to provide a better opportunity for him and his sibling. His father, who had immigrated to the U.S. before him, experienced homelessness at times, while his mother stayed behind to raise two kids on her own.

“The thing that drives me is knowing the sacrifices that my parents made to enable us to have a future,” he says.

After receiving his undergraduate degree, Alegbeleye says “life happened” in 2014 when both of his parents lost their jobs, and his sister was preparing to leave for college. He postponed his law school plans and started working at Sherwin-Williams. Two years later, he applied and was accepted to law school but continued working while studying for his JD and moving quickly up the ladder at Sherwin-Williams.

Upon earning his law degree in 2021, Alegbeleye pondered pursuing an MBA believing that “there is no social justice or equal justice without economic justice.” That belief ultimately delivered him to the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

“I really enjoy business. I’m a business guy because I know the doors I was able to open for other people because of my own success as a manager, as a sales leader,” says Alegbeleye “It enabled others to feed their families and take care of their loved ones because I grew my market.”

Now working at National Nail as the market development manager for all of Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., Alegbeleye says the great thing about pursuing his MBA and working full time is he is able to apply what he learns in real time. Lessons in leadership, teamwork and managerial economics, in particular, have helped him align with his company’s values and impacted his career trajectory as he is now on track toward a regional role within the company.

In addition to taking away key lessons from class time, this Terp is taking advantage of many of the other opportunities Smith has to offer. He is a track representative for the Shady Grove MBA program, checking in with other students about their well-being and academic progress, as well as gathering their feedback.

He also participated in the Impact Consulting Fellowship (ICF) and serves on the appellate board. Alegbeleye says meeting with the Office of Career Services regularly has also been a valuable resource along with the supportive advisory team. The cohort of students, he says, has been like a second family. “That’s the coolest part, we all respect each other's backgrounds and we’re trying to make each other better.”

Even with his long days and late nights, Alegbeleye still has big goals for the new semester, including possibly participating in ICF again and Maryland Global Consulting.

“If my father didn’t give up during those tough times or my mom, I can’t give up on my dreams. I can’t give up on everything that they’ve worked hard to provide for me. I owe it to them and I owe it to the people who believe in me and I think that's what enables me to get up every single day to do one more thing or take on one more responsibility. Because I know that if my parents had the same opportunity that I had, they would have done the same thing.”