Illini Muslims in Business

Problem Statement/Inspiration

On the campus of UIUC, there is a significant disconnect for the high-achieving Muslim student community. Despite UIUC's historic legacy of founding the nation's first-ever Muslim Students' Association (MSA), there is currently no dedicated RSO for Muslim students in, or even just interested in, the field of business. This absence creates significant, unaddressed challenges.

As a Muslim business student myself, my inspiration for this project is deeply personal. I have experienced this disconnect firsthand. When I see other successful RSOs like NAAMA and MTC bringing students together through their shared professional identity, I wonder why this same community structure doesn't exist for us.

This year, I was inspired by the realization that there is a 'hidden community' of Muslim students scattered throughout the Gies College of Business and in business-related fields across campus. I've found a unique, powerful connection with other Muslims who understand the specific intersection of our faith and our professional ambitions. This project is about bringing that hidden community out, formalizing it, and building the supportive infrastructure that we are all currently missing.

Our Solution

Our solution is Illini Muslim in Business (IMB), a student-led organization dedicated to bridging the gap between faith, community, and career at UIUC. IMB is built on three core pillars designed to solve the problems we identified:

Community: We are building a strong sense of belonging by hosting social, collaborative, and professional networking events where Muslim students can connect, share experiences, and find support.

Development: We will equip members with essential, tangible career skills through a series of workshops (e.g., resume building, technical interviews), speaker events with industry leaders, and case competition prep.

Mentorship: We are creating the structured pipeline that is missing by connecting students one-on-one with Muslim professionals and UIUC alumni for personalized career guidance and support in navigating recruitment.

As this is a very new and fresh idea, there are many different events I would like to experiment with to implement and put this organization in practice, like case competitions, Ted talks, and overall lectures with professionals. I also plan to make this a very social organization, as we will host many social events for Muslims to enjoy and connect with each other, since that is what creates teamwork within business.

How we built it (Our Foundation)

Since our platform isn’t code, there wasn’t much that we used to build it, rather we used a strategic foundation.

• Survey & Outreach: We used Google Forms to create and distribute our initial interest survey , which validated our idea with over 35 signups in the first 18 hours. • On-Campus Stakeholders: As this is for the future, I hope our foundation is going to be built with key campus partnerships, including the UIUC MSA, the Gies College of Business, and the UIUC Alumni Association • National Network Support: To build our mentorship and career pipeline, we hope to partner with other powerful national organizations like the Arab American Business & Professional Association (ABPA) and Muppies (Muslim Urban Professionals). • Organizational Framework: We are establishing an official RSO status, recruiting an executive board, and formalizing our operational structure.

The tools I used to build the presentation was PowerPoint, and listed the sources for the pictures and data at the end.

Challenges we ran into

There were many challenges that I ran into:

• Creating a Whole Organization from Scratch: This was our biggest hurdle. It required navigating the complex university process for RSO registration, recruiting a committed founding executive board, and building a member base from zero, all at the same time and without a pre-existing framework to follow. • Demonstrating Traction: An idea is just an idea. To get faculty and partner buy-in, we had to prove the need was real. We overcame this by launching the interest form, which gave us the hard data (85% interest). • Building as a Team of One: The entire project, from initial concept and survey design to stakeholder outreach and this pitch, was executed by a solo founder. This presented a significant bandwidth challenge, requiring one person to manage all strategy, marketing, and operational planning.

What's next for IMB:

Our clear, immediate plan is to establish the organization's formal foundation. We will be focusing on the following:

• Establish Executive Board: Actively recruiting a passionate and committed founding executive board to build out and lead the organization's core functions.

• Finalize RSO Registration: Completing the official RSO registration process with the university to gain recognized student organization status, secure campus resources, and begin formal operations.

Built With

• powerpoint