Not just the bottom line: Don’t be restricted to the corporate sector, IoBM graduates urged

Startup pays for most MBA’s is Rs30,000.

KARACHI:

With the exception of a few graduates, the entire MBA class in the latest batch of the Institute of Business Management (IoBM) has landed jobs that pay over Rs30,000 a month, announced Rector Talib Syed Karim while talking to The Express Tribune on the sidelines of the institute’s 14th convocation here on Saturday.

“As far as I know, only a few of our recent MBAs have been hired for a monthly salary of less than Rs30,000,” Karim said, adding that the highest number of management graduates went into sales and marketing jobs.

The manufacturing sector, banks and fast-moving consumer goods companies have traditionally been the major employers of IoBM graduates. Its new MBA in health and hospital management has also received an overwhelming response.

A total of 983 candidates received their BBA, BS, BCS, MBA and M Phil degrees.

Former federal minister Javed Jabbar enlivened the audience with his keynote address, which was filled with witticisms.

He advised graduating students against restricting themselves to the corporate sector. “Please remember that the public sector desperately needs your services. Join PIA, join Pakistan Steel. That’s where you need to apply your skills.”

Jabbar asked them to draw up a plan for the next 50 years of their lives, saying real life began at 70. Citing the example of Chinese statesman Deng Xiaoping, he said he lifted 400 million people out of poverty when he was at a ripe old age.

“We come to this world like prisoners. The gradual process of liberation begins the moment we’re born.”

Guest of honour educationist Dr Shams Kassim Lakha urged them not to become a part of the “greedy creed” by striving solely to increase the bottom line of their companies.

Saying that only two million out of 180 million Pakistanis paid income tax, Lakha said IoBM graduates should resolve to pay their share of taxes honestly throughout their lives.

He said most Pakistanis were sceptical of businesspeople, and the same perception prevailed globally about the business leaders of Pakistan.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Masood Akram Ghumman, who did an MBA in supply chain management and logistics, said he found graduate studies at IoBM a lot different than his undergrad studies. The IoBM faculty used the case-study method and real-life examples in the Pakistani context. “While one of my professors was a PhD in business ethics, another was the CEO of Philips Pakistan,” Ghumman said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2011.