Category: Education

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) An MoU was signed between the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, IBA Alumni Class of 1993 and Generating Employment Alternatives to Promote Self-Reliance (G.E.A.R) to financially support IBA students.

The Executive Director IBA, Dr. S Akbar Zaidi, CEO and Board of Trustees G.E.A.R., Mr. Ekhlaque Ahmed and representative of the IBA Class of 1993, Mr. Aliuddin Ahmed, signed the MoU at a ceremony held at the IBA.

The Class of 1993 has set up the Class of ‘93 – Kamran Ahmed Scholarship Fund, named after a deceased classmate. The funding will be released through G.E.A.R. As per the MOU, this scholarship fund will support two deserving students for their entire duration of studies through the provision of grant or interest-free loan.

Commenting on the initiative, the representatives from the Class of 1993 and G.E.A.R. said, “We are pleased to partner with the IBA in contributing towards making quality education affordable to deserving students We look forward to engaging with the recipients of the scholarship as they prepare themselves for their bright future and will be available to mentor and guide them throughout their journey.”

Dr. Zaidi appreciated the initiative and said, “We are grateful to the G.E.A.R Foundation and the Alumni Class of 1993 for extending its endearing support to the students belonging to the underprivileged regions who come to our institution after going through a rigorous evaluation process. This collaboration echoes the commitment of these individuals towards the society by enriching the lives of students who wish to excel in their education.”

Shadow Board to Give Youth Perspective to the Board and Management of Rinstra. An Innovation in Corporate Governance Structure introduced for the First time in Pakistan.

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir) RINSTRA Technologies has created Pakistan’s first Shadow Board consisting of youngsters between the age of 13-30 years. The board members represent the millennial in their teens and twenties. The Shadow Board will guide leadership team on strategic initiatives and to take up issues that impact and matter to the young in age and the young at heart.

RINSTRA Shadow Board will enable members to implement and embed their learning in a safe space and gain experience of what it’s like to be a board member. Shadow Board will help members in experiential learning. At the same time it will guide the Board and the Management of RINSTRA to have a more youth oriented perspective in policy design, content creation and viewership engagement.

Dr. Adil Akhtar, Co-founder and Chairman of RINSTRA said, “RINSTRA Shadow board will prepare a new breed of executive and professionals to be part of the Board of Directors for startups, listed and non-listed organizations and blue chip companies in Pakistan and beyondBeing a Rinstra Shadow Board Member will open opportunities to meet the biggest and the brightest stars of the show business and startup communities, they will also interact with the movers and shakers in Pakistan as well. Dr. Akhtar further said, “Harvard University introduced the concept of Shadow Board in mid-2019; emphasizing, companies struggle with disengaged younger stakeholders and a weak response to changing market conditions. The problem can be solved by creating a “shadow board” of young people to leverage the younger groups’ insights and to diversify the perspectives that executives are exposed to”.

On the launch of the Shadow Board, Amir Jahangir, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer for RINSTRA said, “the launch of Rinstra’s shadow board is a milestone for the Pakistan’s corporate sector as well as the startup communities, this gives a new approach on management, where you can make better and more relevant decisions that concerns your biggest target market. We are confident that this will be replicated by other corporate entities and will become part of the regulatory framework as a Good Corporate Governance approach for managing and running companies in Pakistan and beyond. The Young Shadow Board will be managed by Hamza Nasir, Manager Operations and the youngest member of the RINSTRA team.

The RINSTRA Shadow Board members were selected through an open call, where young students and professionals applied to be part of the Board. The First cohort of the Shadow Board members consists of the following:

Moosa Hashim, a philanthropist, whose work revolves around upliftment of the underprivileged sector of society. Moosa is currently the Chief Operating Officer of a non-profit organization, ‘Grand Citizens’. Moosa is featured on the Dean’s wall and was also nominated for the most prestigious honour of Nixor, ‘The Leadership Award’. He has received the Global Futures Fellowship from AGAHI for his dedication and hard work.

Ruf Chaudhary is a Barrister of the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn and is a Certified ADR ODR International Civil and Commercial Mediator. She is the honorary legal counsel for AGAHI Foundation and was previously associated with a corporate law firm in Karachi with matters pertaining to Banking, Finance, Technology and Company Law. She is a Lecturer of Law at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology and is an instructor for an online portal for London Examinations and has experience in teaching various modules of the University of London International Programme. She is also the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of her own startup Maziltov.

Mahad Ali Khan is a sports and fitness enthusiast. He is a club level tennis player. Mahad has keen interest in Artificial Intelligence and wants to pursue his career in machine learning and socio-economic and business impact of the Artificial Intelligence. He aims to pursue higher education from TU Delft University in the field of Artificial Intelligence. His favorite books include, “Turtle all the way down” and “Looking for Alaska”.

Huma Rasheed  is a research oriented management professional currently pursuing a PhD in communications from the University of Delaware, USA. She has six years of project management experience working in international organizations on projects funded by the Department for International Development, UK (DFID), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO(,United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Agency for International Development (USAID), European Union (EU), etc. Huma has also contributed towards flourishing a culture of impactful and ethical research in Pakistan’s higher education institutions and has led the training wing of a public sector university. She offers consultancy in communications and design under her own brand ‘Mark It’.

Ali Hasnain is an actor by profession, based in Lahore. He has been part of films like Zindagi Tamasha Directed by Sarmad Khoosat. He has also done other film works as well. He has done Theatre plays and has been part of many short films as well. He is a keen eye for creativity and excellence in visual communications.

Ayesha Talat is a media science student; she is passionate about photography and film making. She has been a social worker since 2014 and has worked with multiple non-profit organizations. She has also been a report writer for SAMAA TV and has also created content for Pakistan’s first Internet channel, DBTV.live. She has her own marketing and advertising startup known as Digital Daydreams which is working for brands to develop their social media presence and identities.

Basil Jilani is the youngest member of the shadow board doing his O’level .He has keen interest in technology and artificial intelligence. He has done Amazon AWS cloud practitioner and AWS solutions architect associate certificate, He has won awards for MUN-Model United OD-Outstanding Delegate, He runs his own website where he writes about multiple topics including tech, science and fiction.

Muqadas Shahzadi Bhutta is a young entrepreneur who started her first clothing line at the age of 17. She is currently doing her intermediate in computer sciences. She aspires to promote a deeper sense of social responsibility and independence, through her work. She is passionate about using innovative and creative ideas to resolve life challenges while inspiring others to play their role in the process, while embracing sustainability.

Sohail Ahmed is a performing artist from Karachi, Pakistan, He is currently creating content in the digital space by the name of Kauntent By Suhail Ahmed. Sohail believes in the future of web for the arts and entertainment.

RINSTRA is Pakistan’s first short-form digital media platform for on-demand streaming and for creation of user generated original content on iRinstra. RINSTRA content is innovative, entertaining, thought-provoking, informative and educational. RINSTRA provides entrepreneurship opportunities to emerging and established content creators in the field of film making, music videos, individual short videos, web-series, discussion shows and etc. in Pakistan and beyond.

Rinstra gives content creators access to a large Pakistani community around the globe. The state-of-the-art Rinstra platform offers content creators to discover, create, showcase and monetize for their content creation and creative pursued.

RINSTRA was conceived and incubated by DICE CAM (Creative Art & Media) Platform of DICE Foundation. The initiative was further developed by inviting the key professionals in the Pakistani media industry, specializing in media management, news and entertainment content creation and production designs etc. The RINSTRA platform will be opened for viewers later this year, while the platform for content creators has been opened through the interactive site www.irinstra.com

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Through the medium of a remote virtual event, Huawei Pakistan, working together with the Higher Education Commission, took part in the official closing ceremony for the Seeds for the Future program, 2020. The event was attended by Mr. Moin-ul-Haque, Pakistan Ambassador to China,Dr. Fateh Marri, Executive Director HEC,Mr. Ma Libing, Deputy CEO Huawei Pakistan and the 32 students who participated in the program.

This is the 6th year seeds for the future is happening in Pakistan,unlike previous years, when a whole batch of nominated students could travel to China for the study trip, this was the first time that the program was moved online due to the obvious restrictions of COVID-19. Out of a pool of 1173 applicants, 32 engineering students from 27 universities all across Pakistan were nominated by the Higher Education Commission.The aim of the program, which has been active in over 126 countries & regions since its inception in Thailand, has been to nurture upcoming STEM talent from around the world. As a global ICT market leader, Huawei has taken it upon itself to promote local ICT industries as part of development in their operational regions.

During the one week online learning program from 21st to 25th, Sep 2020,students from Kenya alongside students from Pakistan received technical training from Huawei and industry ICT experts, who shared their expertise on courses covering a wide range of topics like the Chinese language, strategic leadership, 5G, cloud computing, AIetc.

Students were required to finish a number of compulsory courses and get a minimum of 60 marks on the test at the end of the course. Out of the 32 students, 26 successfully passed the course and got the graduation certificate.The top two students, Muhammad Hamza from Barani Institute of Management & Sciences and Muhammad Shahzeb Khan from BUITEMS, Quetta secured a sponsored trip to China in 2021 with perfect scores. The top ten students also received other awards, like Huawei Free Buds, Huawei Pad or Huawei Nova 7i mobile phone.

Dr. Fateh Marri, Executive Director HEC, remarked that, “I congratulate the students who have secured distinctions in these courses, from over a thousand students, you are the few who have been selected to be a part of this program. I’m thankful to Huawei and their very strong collaboration with the Higher Education Commission and universities across Pakistan.” He elaborated further that HEC has been focusing to promote use of technology in teaching and research. Establishment of consortium of over 60 Universities from China and Pakistan for joint collaborations,establishment of over 20 ICT academies in universities and start of 100 smart class rooms being a few examples.

Continuing with this sentiment, Mr. Moin-ul-Haque, Pakistan Ambassador to China stated, “We are going through an era of digitalization with technologies like 5G, AI, Cloud Computing, and Big Data that are poised to bring profound transformation to our lives. I would like to thank Huawei for enabling the technology that brought all these students together on one platform to conduct these courses, despite difficult times.”

Student representative Ume-Hani Usman from NED University, Karachialso shared her experience about the program, “The program was highly beneficial for us, getting cutting-edge knowledge in the field of ICT. All the online courses were well-organized and designed in a way to deliver valuable knowledge of recent technologies along with personal development courses that widened our horizon of thinking and decision making in this era. “

Ma Libing, Deputy CEO Huawei Pakistan, also shared his remarks, stating, “We want to help the upcoming generations reach their fullest potential by becoming tomorrow’s technology leaders, innovators, and pioneers. This program is meant to further develop their inclusion in our global digital society.”

The Seeds for the Future program has been a successful addition to Huawei’s social-enterprise partnership goal in Pakistan since the first batch of Pakistani students traveled to China in 2015. So far 87 Pakistani students have been benefited from this program.

 

 

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Macquarie University, Sydney Australia and Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, Pakistan signed a Document of Understanding (DoU) to provide a framework of cooperation and facilitate collaboration amidst a special virtual signing ceremony.

Ms. Nicole Brigg, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), Macquarie University and Professor Dr. S. Akbar Zaidi, Executive Director, IBA have singed the DoU on behalf of their respective institutions. Professor Dr. Rahat Munir, Head, Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie Business School and Ms. Shehreena Amin, Manager External Linkages & International Resource Centre witnessed the signing ceremony.

Mr. David Harrison, Executive Director, International of Macquarie University welcomed the collaboration and stressed upon the importance Macquarie places in establishing deep and meaningful engagements with its growing network of institutional partners around the world. The signing ceremony was also attended by Mr. Tanveer Shaheed, Associate Director, Global Engagement and Business Development and Ms Rumla Tahir, Country Manager (South Asia & Middle East) of Macquarie University. Professor Munir hoped that the collaboration will go a long way in building research and teaching capability of faculty and students of both the institutions.

The major thrust of the DoU is to promote mutually beneficial cooperation and enhance relations between the two institutions by facilitating exchange of academic materials and information, conducting joint seminar and other academic meetings, organizing guest lectureships, study tour for students and staff, study abroad programs and exploring articulation arrangements.

Macquarie University is a research-intensive public University and home to some of the world’s most pre-eminent researchers. Established in 1964, Macquarie is ranked among the Top 1% global universities, placed at number #195 in the world in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021.

The IBA, Karachi is situated in Sindh, Pakistan. The IBA was established as a business school in 1955 with the technical support from the Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania and later from the University of Southern California. Over the years, the IBA has transformed into an inter-disciplinary institute offering undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate degree programs.

Macquarie is a University of service and engagement and as part of this strategic intent Pakistan has been identified as a key priority country. This DoU portrays the importance of building the bilateral relationship between these two countries with a focus on mutually beneficial outcomes in the higher education sector.

Madeeha Usman FCCA, an ACCA qualified professional accountant from Pakistan, who’s currently running a business ‘The Kalculators’ in Australia has won four awards at a recently held Ausmumpreneur awards.

The AusMumpreneur Awards are presented by ‘The Women’s Business School’ and were created to inspire, celebrate and provide a community for Australian entrepreneurs, like Madeeha.

After receiving this news, Madeeha said she was excited to win in all the four categories in the 2020 AusMumpreneur Awards in such a challenging time. She was declared winner in following four categories:

1. People Choice Customer Service Award
2. Rising Star Award
3. Business Excellence Award, WA and SA
4. Multicultural Business Award

Madeeha says: “Special thanks to AusMumpreneur for recognising and honouring women in business. Keeping our accounting firm offices open during the COVID outbreak was challenging as it posed such a high risk of bringing an infection at my home with my two little children. However, when you step into the world of business with big dreams, you have to take a leap of faith and continue to do what you are doing.”

Recognising the role ACCA played in her career, she adds: “Choosing ACCA was truly a life-changing decision for me. My ACCA credentials helped me greatly in reaching where I’m today – from landing my first job immediately in Australia after emigrating from Pakistan to founding my own business, my qualification has given me the international recognition and global support that’s simply amazing.”

Congratulating Madeeha, ACCA’s head of Pakistan, Sajjeed Aslam, said: “ACCA is extremely proud of its Pakistan students and members. Sharing their experiences, challenges and triumphs continues to inspire others towards even greater achievement. ACCA’s women in finance are true role models for the young girls in the country and their career stories prove that anyone with ability and ambition can succeed under all circumstances if they’re provided with quality education and necessary support by the professional community.”

The Women’s Business School co-founder Katy Garner adds: “The awards show the passion of women who want to fulfil their entrepreneurial dreams as well as be great mums. We are delighted that Madeeha Usman FCCA won this award, she has created an outstanding business and is an inspirational role model and ambassador for mums in business everywhere.”

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) The Centre for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) at the IBA Karachi conducted an interactive online workshop on internal newsroom dynamics in collaboration with Deutsche Welle (DW) on September 11, 2020. The title of the workshop was The Elephant in the Newsroom: a conversation about bullying and toxic newsroom cultures.

The session was moderated by senior journalist Shahzeb Jillani, who is working at DW’s Digital newsroom in Bonn. He has worked in many roles in Pakistani newsrooms, both print and television and as a multimedia journalist for radio and digital in Beirut, Washington, London. He was joined by clinical psychologist Mahnoor Shaikh, who has worked at the CEJ Wellbeing Centre with journalist clients, and is currently based in Canada.

Ten participants joined from across Pakistan via Zoom. Three of them were asked to start the discussion by sharing their experiences. Jillani and Shaikh then used their stories to talk about identifying problems and solutions. 

Shaikh defined bullying in the newsroom by asking the journalists to remember three words: unwarranted, undeserved and uninvited. Repetitive unwarranted criticism has the effect of damaging a newsroom worker’s self-esteem. This opens the door to physical and mental stress over time. If a newsroom staffer’s performance is not up to par, and is repeatedly attracting criticism, the answer is training to improve their skill-set, she added. She suggested media organizations consider providing a mechanism through their HR departments so employees can make safe disclosures when conflict arises.

Speaking during the session, Jillani said, “Do not wait till things get out of control. You (journalists) can raise or take up issues informally as well. Sometimes even the bullies do not recognize that their behaviour affects their team.”

Both, Jillani and Shaikh, said it was essential to find a way to speak up. Staying silent comes at too high a price.

This was the fourth workshop by CEJ-IBA’s Wellbeing Centre, which has entered its third year of providing free counselling to media workers with clinical psychologists. Over 100 journalists from across Pakistan have used the service and continue to do so.

 

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) The IBA Karachi reopened for the Fall 2020 academic session under strict compliance of the COVID-19 government guidelines. After being away from campus for more than six months, the staff and faculty members, finally welcomed the students to Main and City campus. The Executive Director, Dr. S. Akbar Zaidi and the Registrar, Dr. Mohammad Asad Ilyas, were present at each campus to warmly welcome the students. 

Special measures, developed especially for the ongoing pandemic, were enforced for staff, faculty, students, and visitors at both campuses. Classes were held as per government guidelines to maintain social distancing protocol with seminar rooms, lecture theatres and auditoriums being used for large class sizes, while class sizes were split for the regular classrooms. 

Both campuses had appropriate signage displayed all over to remind staff, students, and faculty to follow Covid-19 standard operating procedures. Students were strongly encouraged to adhere to the guidelines shared by the institute while frequenting crowded areas.

Speaking on the occasion, the Executive Director, Dr. S. Akbar Zaidi, remarked, “The IBA Karachi places a special emphasis on continuing with the cause of education together with staying healthy and safe. We value the health and safety of our students, staff and faculty members and have taken the necessary measures to ensure that our campuses are safe, and education is imparted as planned.”  

The Boys and Girls hostels have been open since September 1, accommodating hundreds of students from all across Pakistan.