Imagine starting a university journey without a senior student to ask for advice, without past papers to guide you and without anyone who has walked the same academic path before you.

That was the reality for Lazarus Ramito Makwenda, one of the pioneer students at MUST.

As a student of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Lazarus was not only pursuing a new degree, but he was also helping to build a new academic journey at a young university. 

The experience came with uncertainty, financial challenges and many moments that required him to find his own way.

But instead of allowing the challenges to define him, Lazarus chose to keep learning, adapting and exploring opportunities beyond the classroom.

A 2019 graduate and part of MUST’s first graduating class, Lazarus has since built a career that has taken him from materials engineering and quality control to construction and project planning. 

Today, he works with Anhui Foreign Economic Cooperation Corporation (AFECC) Group as a Planning Engineer and Technical Manager, coordinating technical aspects of the Chingo-Makanjira Road Bridge Project under the World Bank’s Climate Resilience Program.

Looking back at his journey, one mindset has remained important to him: “I refused to let my degree put me in a box.”

For Lazarus, studying Metallurgy and Materials Engineering was not the end of the journey. It was a foundation from which he continued to explore, learn and take on new responsibilities.

His message to students is simple, stay curious, be willing to explore beyond your field and do not allow your degree to define the limits of your potential.