The Cass MBA Perspective: Corporate Governance

A big welcome to this special corporate governance edition of the Cass MBA Perspective eNewsletter – all the way from Dubai. In this issue, we tackle many of the current disputes surrounding corporate governance, with features and articles from students, lecturers and alumni.

There’s a great feature by Santiago, one of our London students who took part in the UAE International Study Tour. This tour offers MBA students an opportunity to visit Dubai and Abu Dhabi, giving them the opportunity to enjoy all it has to offer, while finding out more about how business operates differently compared to the UK.

The tour has a financial focus and includes meetings at the Dubai International Financial Centre. At these meetings, several influential speakers cover the historical and cultural context of Dubai, along with an economic and political overview of the region. On this year’s tour, Nick Nadal, Head of Hawkamah (Institute for Corporate Governance in Dubai) gave an excellent overview of corporate governance in Dubai.

Corporate governance, in short, is the system that oversees and directs any large company. In this edition, Tim Travers (Cass EMBA Dubai alumus) examines the Shariah governance systems of Islamic financial institutions in different countries – and how they work in practice.

The Cass network helped Tim get his Business Mastery Project recognised by one of the leading Islamic Financial Institutions regulators, the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). His highly relevant and informative research led to an invitation to sit on the subcommittee of the AAOIFI, responsible for corporate governance.

The Cass Executive MBA in Dubai prepares students for business in the Middle East and its neighbouring regions – allowing students to tailor their studies to match their career goals. They can choose from specialist streams, including Leadership and Change Management, Islamic Finance, Mainstream Finance, Entrepreneurship and Energy. The qualification offers excellent grounding for business in Dubai and the wider region.

I hope you enjoy this edition of the Cass MBA perspective newsletter. Don’t forget to comment and share your views on articles you find interesting.

Ehsan Razavizadeh 

Regional Director, MENA & Head of Dubai Centre

News

Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Maktoum, third cohort of Executive MBA students graduate from Cass Business School Dubai  

 

Dubai, UAE; May 1, 2012: The third cohort of students from the Cass Business School Dubai Executive MBA (EMBA) programme have graduated in a ceremony held at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and President of DIFC, and attended by H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

The Cass EMBA is a flexible part-time course aimed at managers in the Gulf region who wish to accelerate their career development while remaining in full-time employment. The course has the same content as Cass’s London-based Executive MBA, which in 2011 was ranked third in the UK and seventh in Europe by the Financial Times, with classes delivered by Cass academics who visit Dubai over a long weekend once a month.

This year’s cohort of students hail from a variety of industries, including energy, engineering, commerce, manufacturing, finance, legal and government. A total of 23 different countries are represented in this year’s graduating class, including students from as far away as Argentina, Australia, China and the USA.

His Excellency Abdulla Mohammed Saleh, Governor of DIFC, said: “I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the Executive MBA programme students graduating from Cass Business School today. DIFC is proud to support educational programmes with Cass’s quality that build up human capital for the financial services sector in the region, and help us deliver on our mandate to place Dubai and the UAE in the top league of international financial centres. These programmes provide professionals with the opportunity to access the very best of global management thinking, research and practice, equipping them with the analytical tools and knowledge to face the rapidly evolving business world. We wish the new graduates the best of luck and look forward to their contribution towards the growth of the regional financial services industry.”

“It is with enormous pride that we celebrate the graduation of the third cohort of EMBA students from our DIFC campus,” said Professor Paul Curran, Vice Chancellor of City University London, of which Cass Business School is a part. “Since opening in 2007, the Cass Dubai Centre has established itself as a dynamic hub for business education in the Middle East, offering regionally relevant electives delivered by world-class academics. The class of 2012 join hundreds of fellow alumni who have earned the prestigious Cass EMBA degree and are now forging careers at the very top of the global business community.”

“Consistently ranked among the best in the world, the Cass EMBA programme is designed to unlock the potential of outstanding individuals and create an accelerated career path,” said Ehsan Razavizadeh, Regional Director, MENA of Cass Business School, part of City University London, and Head of Cass Dubai Centre. “I extend my congratulations to all our students on successfully completing the rigorous 24-month course, and I look forward to hearing about their progress at one of our frequent alumni events across the world.”

As the first EMBA programme in the world to offer specialisations in Islamic Finance and Oil and Energy Economics, the Cass EMBA is regionally-relevant, offering electives in Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Change Management, Advanced Corporate Strategy, Islamic Economics, Islamic Law of Business Transactions, as well as Mergers and Acquisitions, Advanced Corporate Finance and Private Equity. The Cass EMBA continues to increase in popularity, with student admissions to the programme in Dubai growing by 80 per cent since 2007.

News

Cass’s Dubai Centre targets potential entrepreneurs

Dubai, UAE; April 17, 2012: Cass Business School’s Dubai Centre today announced the introduction of an Entrepreneurship stream to its Executive MBA programme. The stream comprises three modules: New Venture Creation, Private Equity, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which Cass EMBA students can choose to pursue during the 24-month course.

Cass’s Entrepreneurship stream aims to provide students with knowledge and understanding of how new products, services and technologies are brought to the market. The module also covers the process for creating new ventures, including feasibility testing, marketing financial forecasting and securing finance.

“With the focus in the region so firmly on entrepreneurship, we are delighted to introduce the new stream to our EMBA programme,” said Ehsan Razavizadeh, Regional Director, MENA of Cass Business School, part of City University London, and Head of Cass Dubai Centre. “Here in the region, almost nine out of ten businesses are small and medium size enterprises, yet many often reach a plateau. Our new entrepreneurship stream has been designed specifically to overcome this and to help the next generation of the region’s business leaders turn their great ideas into successful ventures.”

The Entrepreneurship stream, available to students from April 2012, will be taught by Cass Professors of Entrepreneurship Vangelis Souitaris and Julie Logan and Cass Senior Fellow Guy Fraser Sampson. Students will travel to London for the New Venture Creation module, taught by Professor Logan.

“I’m very excited to be here in the UAE which has a true entrepreneurial spirit at its core,” said Professor Souitaris. “The timing of this new module could not have been better. As pro-business reforms take effect across the Middle East, I foresee a sharp rise in start-ups in the region. This, in turn, will lead to increasing demand for entrepreneur-focused business programmes at a level and scale never seen before in the Middle East.”

“There are wonderful opportunities for young business leaders in the UAE and in the wider Middle East region,” said Fraser Sampson. “Entrepreneurship remains a buzz word across the Middle East region and we at Cass Business School are confident that the newly launched module will help enormously to groom business leaders of tomorrow.”

Prof Logan continues: “This EMBA stream provides would-be entrepreneurs the grounding they need to flourish. With the New Venture Creation module taught in London, candidates will have opportunities to exchange ideas and network with a diverse cohort of similarly entrepreneurially-minded individuals.”

Dr. Ahmed Mokhtar, an EMBA student, who is graduating in April 2012 said: "The pitfall with most EMBA courses is that the modules are designed keeping in mind the business needs of large organisations. This does not help if you work in a small company or have an intention to start your own business venture. I’m glad that Cass Business School EMBA programme has introduced a module on ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship,’ which will undoubtedly prove to be a great advantage.”

During the two year Cass EMBA programme, students pursue between three and six electives, as per their areas of interest. Students can choose a General Management stream, a specialist Islamic Finance stream, Mainstream Finance, Energy or the new Entrepreneurship stream.

News

Singapore elective gets underway

Cass students have flown in to Singapore for an intensive weekend elective that gets underway today. MSc and EMBA students have travelled to Asia's wealth management capital for a four day elective on monetary policy.

The elective, which was launched last year, is run jointly by Cass and Singapore Management University's (SMU) highly-rated Lee Kong Chian School of Business. This year will also see students from Cambridge University's Judge Business School join the elective for the first time.

MSc Programme Director Susan Roth, said: "Singapore is a key pin in our international strategy. We are delighted to be working with SMU and Judge to create new learning and networking opportunities for our students in such an important financial region. Given that many of the students on this elective are in full-time employment, they often find the trip is as important for their companies as it is for them."

Almost 50 students from Cass, SMU and Judge will take part in a series of lectures delivered by Cass Professor of Asset Management, Andrew Clare, and SMU Economics Professor, Kim Song Tam.

Among the topics they will cover include an overview of the Asian markets, the role money plays in a modern economy, the operation of monetary policy and the current challenges monetary policy faces across the globe.

The lectures will be blended with a series of seminars from top executives at two of Asia's leading financial institutions, OCBC and UOB, together with visits to their offices on Shenton Way, Singapore's equivalent of Wall Street.

Students will also get the chance to put theory into practice with a computer simulation where they play the role of an Asian monetary authority, making a series of interest rate decisions for their virtual economy.

Dominic Loureda, from the Cass MSc in Finance and Investment, said: "This elective is an important networking opportunity given Singapore's huge financial importance. There's a possibility that we could be making money in this region or even working here which is why it's good to get to meet new contacts and exchange information and ideas."

The monetary policy elective is open to students on Cass's part-time MSc in Finance and Investment and Executive MBA courses.

Who says it’s a man’s world?

After graduating in Computer Engineering from Kuwait University, Aysha Al-Shriem, a Qatari national, realised her future lay in Human Resources. Five years on, she is now Head of HR at Standard Chartered Bank in Qatar. Here, she reflects on her own career path, and what it means to be a working mother and a woman in business in the Middle East.

From an early age, I was always encouraged to enjoy learning. In fact, many of my family had studied abroad in places such as Lebanon, America, the UK and Egypt. So it seemed perfectly natural for me to move to Kuwait to study. I had originally planned to pursue a career in IT. But although I enjoyed the course, it became apparent, as I got to know myself better, that I wanted to spend more time with people and less time with machines.

In 2006, I joined the HR department of Qatargas – the world’s largest liquefied natural gas company – where I stayed for three years. As well as learning a great deal about HR and ‘Qatarisation’ (a Government-backed programme to equip Qatari nationals with the right professional skills and experience), I also took on quite a lot of responsibility for the IT in the department. In 2009, I joined the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, and after five months was promoted to HR Manager.

From there I moved to Standard Chartered Bank. That was five months ago, so I’m still finding my feet but greatly enjoying it. I relish being able to engage emotionally with the people around me, which is really what HR is all about. It’s a multi-cultural environment in our office, and if I look around me I can see men and women from Qatar, Europe, Asia and the US.

I have two young children, so like any working mother anywhere, juggling family and my job can be quite challenging – especially as I’m now also studying for an EMBA. This means flying to Cass Business School in Dubai once a month for four days. My Grandmother was right when she said, “You can't have it all at the same time”, but thanks to a supportive husband and family we just about manage.

For women working in Qatar, it typically takes 10-15 years to become a manager – regardless of your skills or experience. That’s because the number of years of experience matters in the business culture of Qatar. But things have changed dramatically in recent decades – particularly the last ten years. His Highness the Amir, and Her Highness Sheikha Moza have done much to champion education and opportunities for all in Qatar. In fact, I’d say Qatar is showing the rest of the Gulf the way forward in this respect.

Of course, there’s always more to be done to change the attitudes of Qatari society towards women in the workplace. You can still feel a cultural awkwardness sometimes, but it’s important you don’t let it affect your ability to do your job.

I was asked recently how I’ve managed to reach my current position after just five years. All I can say is that if you believe in something enough, you’ll find a way. In fact, my advice to all working women ­– whether in Qatar, the other Gulf states, or elsewhere in the world – is just ‘go for it’. Set your sights on something you really enjoy and believe in, and if you’re daring and courageous it’s amazing what you can achieve. And perhaps more importantly, what you can discover about yourself along the way.

Aysha is a first-year student on the Executive MBA programme in Dubai