IBA, IoBM graduates prefer own business over corporate jobs

Nearly 1,300 students graduate from Karachi’s two business institutes.

KARACHI:

Gone are the days when nearly all the graduates of business schools were determined to join large corporations and make a living out of a nine-to-five job.

Out of the nearly 1,300 graduates of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and the Institute of Business Management (IoBM), almost a quarter of them showed interest in setting up their own business. The two institutes held their convocations at their respective campuses on Saturday.

Will this new breed of young entrepreneurs, with their focus on opportunity recognition and new venture creation, mark a paradigm shift in the country’s economy? The dean of IBA was surely excited about these changing trends.

“Our young graduates have the potential to become job-creators instead of becoming a part of the workforce that is pigeonholed into a specific career path,” Dr Ishrat Husain told The Express Tribune. “They should struggle to become employers for the society rather than becoming employees for the society.”



The young graduates, who were trained in a special entrepreneurship course by the institute for a period of six months, have acquired enough skills and motivation to start their own businesses, boasted Dr Husain. “This change in behaviour comes as a pleasant surprise. Seeing almost one hundred of these young men and women taking a highly risky decision to set up their own small enterprise is extremely gratifying,” he added. “I can frankly tell you that no other programme at the IBA has given me so much joy and satisfaction as the entrepreneurship development programme.”

The premier business schools are definitely making conscious efforts to boost entrepreneurship, but only time will tell how many students will make the choice instead of seeking the comfort of nine-to-five jobs that compensate them adequately at higher than entry-level salaries.

The scenario at the IoBM was not any different. For Shahjehan Karim, the institution’s president, their goal is to encourage graduates with a vision to become entrepreneurs and have a positive impact on Pakistan’s economy by setting up their own businesses. “For this purpose, we have set up an equity find of Rs10 million,” he added.

Noorul Huda Arif Nagaria, who secured a gold medal in her BBA (Hons), told The Express Tribune that her institution is one of the biggest platforms through which they can mature their business plans and step up for hands-on operations. “There is no doubt that students at a number of top business schools are very good in terms of theoretical knowledge of the disciplines but IoBM is grooming us to become entrepreneurs,” she claimed.

On the contrary, Ayesha Mahmood Khan, who was declared the overall best IBA student of graduate programme and awarded three gold medals, admitted that she was thrilled at landing an assistant brand manager job at a multinational company. “There is satisfaction for me in choosing a career that fosters competition with other multinationals.”

Graduation ceremonies

At the 16th convocation of the IoBM, around 874 graduates, clad in blue and beige robes with embroidered Ajrak borders, received their degrees in business management and a variety of allied disciplines. Of them all, around eight were awarded gold medals while another 15 received certificates of merit for their academic excellence.

As the graduate’s names were called from the podium, each of them went up to the stage to receive their degrees and awards from chancellor Illahi Bukhsh Soomro, IoBM president Shahjehan S Karim, National Bank of Pakistan chairperson Muneer Kamal, and Sindh education minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, who was the chief guest.

Meanwhile, a total of 419 students were awarded degrees at IBA’s 59th convocation, held at the lush lawns of its main campus. Here too, education minister Khuhro was the chief guest. “Academic institutions do not survive on past achievements and glories alone,” Khuhro said. “They thrive on their vision of the future. It is gratifying to note that IBA has vigorously embarked upon a new era of growth and expansion in tune with the changing needs of the times.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2013.