Immigrants of Tech - Raj Shroff

Immigrants of Tech - Raj Shroff

Meet Raj: an AI strategist and educator whose journey—from Hong Kong to Toronto—has taken him from insurance to championing AI innovation, helping businesses leverage cutting-edge technology while empowering the next generation of AI leaders through workshops & training.

Let’s start with your story—how did you get here?

Sure! I actually grew up in Hong Kong, though my family is originally from India. They settled in Hong Kong early on, so I spent most of my life there. Interestingly, I attended a Canadian school in Hong Kong, studying the Ontario curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12. I even graduated with an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, so the natural next step seemed to be studying in Canada. But life had other plans—I ended up in the UK at the London School of Economics, where I earned a business degree.

After graduating, I considered staying in the UK, but the weather wasn’t great, taxes were high, and I wanted to save money. So, I returned to Hong Kong, where I had family and friends, and a right to live and work. This was during the global financial crisis, so finding a job felt more viable there.

My first role in Hong Kong was completely unrelated to what I do now—I worked in insurance. Not on the sales side, but in IT project management and digital transformation. I spent seven years in project management and financial analysis before realizing I needed a change. My parents were also pressuring me to pursue something that made them proud long-term.

So, I went to business school at the University of Hong Kong with the intention of pivoting into investments. But life had other plans again. During my MBA, I took an AI course taught by visiting lecturers who ran their own AI consulting firm in Hong Kong. That course sparked something in me, and they ended up hiring me straight out of business school. They called it an “unstructured internship,” where I could spend as much time as I wanted learning AI on the job since I didn’t have a technical background.

This was in 2019, and then the pandemic hit. They encouraged me to stick around and keep learning. I did just that, diving into machine learning fundamentals and how to build AI tools. By 2022, our CEO opened a branch in Canada, and he asked if I wanted to join. It took a while to sort out visas, but I eventually moved to Toronto as a permanent resident in late 2022.

Now, I work for Blu Artificial Intelligence, an AI consulting firm with offices in Hong Kong and Canada. My day job involves strategy consulting and executive education. Outside of that, I teach AI courses at universities globally, mentor AI startups, and help founders find product-market fit and pitch to corporate clients.

What a fascinating, non-linear journey! You mentioned you teach AI workshops—what does that involve?

Great question! We're primarily an AI strategy consulting firm, but we've found that there is a growing appetite for AI education at the C-Suite and senior management level.They’re usually asking, “How can we use AI tools to benefit our company or department?”

The workshops start by covering AI fundamentals but quickly evolve into practical discussions about solving specific business problems or pursuing opportunities using AI. We teach them how to leverage off-the-shelf tools or even build their own machine learning models. With the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, there’s been a surge in interest. People want to know how to integrate these tools into their workflows, whether on an individual or organizational level.

Companies also want to become 'AI-ready' in terms of talent, technology stack, and org. structures, and we offer targeted advice in this area as well.

If they find our workshops valuable, they often invite us back for a structured strategy consulting project, or even to build out an AI-enabled solution.

That sounds incredibly impactful. What excites you most about AI’s future?

For me, it’s all about reclaiming time. People often ask if generative AI is just hype or if it’s genuinely transformative. My answer is simple: the most valuable currency we have is time.

Most of us spend 40–60 hours a week working. If AI can shave even an hour off our daily workload, that’s five extra hours a week we can spend with family, loved ones, or on things we enjoy. On your deathbed, you’re not going to say, “I’m so glad I maximized shareholder value.” You’ll remember the time spent living a fulfilling life.

AI’s potential in healthcare, drug discovery, and personalized treatments is incredible, but on an individual level, I’m excited about how it can free us to focus on what truly matters—whether that’s creative pursuits, solving meaningful problems, or just enjoying life.

That’s such a refreshing perspective. Do you have advice for newcomers or younger generations hoping to break into AI?

Absolutely! My advice might seem counterintuitive: don’t overthink it—just start. You don’t need a specialized AI degree. Platforms like YouTube offer incredible resources to get you up to speed.

If you want to break into AI, focus on building something. Use tools like ChatGPT to identify gaps—what can’t you  do with existing services that you wish it could? Then build a solution for that problem. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just needs to show initiative.

If you’re not technical, start writing about your thoughts on AI’s impact on business or society. That’s how I got noticed. I blogged about AI for business, shared my ideas, and opened doors to conversations. My current company hired me partly because they saw I was already thinking critically about AI’s potential.

Degrees are valuable, but in a field as fast-moving as AI, real-world experience and curiosity are far more impactful. Stay engaged, follow the latest developments, and learn by doing.

Preach! I couldn’t agree more. You’ve been in Canada for over two years now—what’s been your most Canadian experience so far?

Funny enough, my most Canadian experience happened before I officially moved here. In January 2022, during the pandemic, I drove up to Canada to visit my boss in Montreal. I wasn’t paying much attention to the news and didn’t realize the city was in lockdown due to Omicron.

I ended up going on a road trip to Quebec City because they had some nice deals on luxury hotels because of the pandemic. Thing is, between Montreal and Quebec City, people talk to you in French. At least it gave me a chance to practice all the French I'd learned as I prepared to move to Canada.

So here I was, in a small town (name unknown), at the height of winter in January, in a coat meant for November, at the only fast food place that happened to be open, ordering a burger in French and making small talk.

That was a fun introduction to Canada. One day, I'll do that road trip again, but in the summer this time.

Niv Lobo Gajiwala of Artemis Canada
Niv Lobo Gajiwala

December 5, 2024