Community
Living the Dream
Bauer MBA Alumnus Excels On and Off the Court
Whether on the basketball court or in the boardroom, Bauer MBA alumnus Omar Eldiraoui (MBA ‘22) knows that life is all about reaching goals.
As a child, Omar Eldiraoui immigrated to America from his birthplace of Lebanon in 2005, with the hope of achieving the American dream but without a solid grasp of the English language. He quickly realized that his love for basketball could help him bridge the gap.
“I was a kid, and I wanted to be social,” he said. “It was difficult at first, but what made it easy was playing sports and being around other kids. That’s how I learned English.”
Bauer MBA alumnus and immigrant Omar Eldiraoui (MBA ‘22) learned English as a child by playing basketball, and now, he’s sharing his experiences on and off the court with Houston-area youth as a coach for TXD Basketball Academy.
Being a team player and communicating with everyone, that’s key to success.
Omar Eldiraoui (MBA ’22)
Treasury Solutions Associate, Texas Capital Bank
After expanding his language (and basketball) skills, Eldiraoui focused on his education. At 14, he learned that his future after high school may not come easily.
“My parents broke the news to me that I would need to pay my own way through college,” he said. “That only made me want to work harder so that I could play collegiate sports.”
He secured a full-ride athletic scholarship to Brevard College, a private school in North Carolina. There, he served as captain of the men’s basketball team and vice president of the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee. He earned a BA in business with a minor in mathematics in 2017.
Eldiraoui continued to pursue basketball, representing the Palestinian national team on an international level. As a FIBA International Basketball Federation pro athlete, he traveled across the Middle East, Europe and Asia, including stops in Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China, Turkey, Greece and Kazakhstan, to play.
“I think it may be every kid’s dream when they play sports, to eventually play professionally,” Eldiraoui said. “And ultimately playing for my national team was one of my goals, too.”
Just two years into his professional career, Eldiraoui’s father passed away with stage 4 cancer. At that time, he made the difficult decision to move to Houston to be closer to his family. In 2020, he enrolled in the Bauer MBA program and after graduating in 2022, became the first member of his family to earn a master’s degree.
After completing his graduate program, Eldiraoui’s goals shifted again, as he secured a corporate career, now working as a treasury solutions associate for Texas Capital Bank. But basketball still plays an important role in his life — he’s sharing his experience on and off the court as the CEO/ sports director at TXD Basketball Academy, overseeing the development of more than 50 athletes, securing strategic partnerships with gym vendors, managing business development, implementing a strategic digital marketing effort, and conducting group coaching sessions for grade school athletes.
“The greatest thing I have learned from basketball and my MBA is communication,” he said. “When done correctly, it is a momentum shift and allows teams to work efficiently and effectively.”
