SZABIST University Islamabad

Online Tax Returns Filing Workshop
2020-12-22
On 22nd December 2020, a workshop was conducted for BBA, MBA, and MS (MS) students to provide practical exposure on how to file income tax returns for themselves, family members, and their peers. The workshop was organized by Dr. Shumaila Zeb (Assistant Professor, Management Sciences) conducted by Mr. Saqib Naseer, Tax Team Lead in A. F. Ferguson & Co. – PwC, and Mr. Khalid Abdul Ghafoor (Lecturer, Management Sciences).
The workshop was conducted in a simple language and with real forms and real-time online demonstration on the Federal board of revenue Website using IRIS. The main objectives of the workshop were to help the students to file income tax returns, an important form to choose from, and what should be done after filing a return of income?
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Students of BBA in the course of "Dynamics of Banking”
2020-12-21
Students of BBA in the course of “Dynamics of Banking” visited the Branch and participated in the following activities to learn Branch operations practices.
1- Bank role in lending and borrowing as a Financial institution.
2- SBP role after COVID-19 for Banking operations to facilitate customers as well as employees.
3- Cheques, types, Endorsement, and types.
4- Account opening and types, documents required for account opening.
5- Deposit Investment returns for the short term and long term.
6- SME Commercial role for economic development and productivity.
7- Customer services.
8- Islamic and conventional Banking.
9- Green Banking
10- Career growth in the banking industry.
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Workshop on Creating a Brochure
2020-12-18
The workshop was designed for students in order to explore a whole new way to design brochures. This workshop was organized on 18th December 2020. Mr. Ali Shehbaz was the trainer who guided students through an in-depth journey of the user interface and all of the features and functionality and also provided useful tips that would get amateur students ready to play with their Canva design skills.
Organizer: Ms. Saima Saleem
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Illusion, Excitement, and Question: Writing Cases for Impactful Teaching & Learning
2020-12-16
A WEBINAR on the above topic was organized for students of the MBA program as part of their Experiential learning activities on 16th Dec 2020. The Resource person was Mr. Muhammad Kashif. Mr. Muhammad Kashif is working as Assistant Professor, Business School at GIFT University, Pakistan. With 15 years of full-time teaching and research experience within Pakistan and abroad, he has published 55 manuscripts, including articles and cases in internationally acclaimed journals. His notable case study contribution is his publication of a case study in the Strategic Management Text Book published by Wiley and a case study published by Emerald. He served as guest editor for British Food Journal in the past and is currently Editor, South Asian Journal of Marketing. Moreover, for Emerald Publishing, he works as a brand ambassador for Pakistan where the core role is to increase awareness among researchers concerning research methods and publications in international journals. In his role as a trainer, he delivered various seminars and workshops all across Pakistan and in Indonesian, Morocco, and Sri Lankan universities. The session was moderated by Dr.Shazia Akhtar, Program manager of MBA, and was attended by more than 100 participants including both the faculty of Management Sciences and the MBA students.
This online lecture and a Q&A session covered the following issues:

What is the rationality of writing cases in a business school context?
What are the components and processes involved in writing the case study and teaching note?
How cases are evaluated by case study journals

The session was the first part of this series of Talks and was very interactive and thoroughly enjoyed by the participants. Based on the feedback received by the participants, more sessions on the case study method will be arranged soon.
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Sales and Marketing endeavors during COVID-19 pandemic in the FMCG sector
2020-12-15
In order to enhance experiential learning for MBA students, Mr. Ali Javed Cheema- Regional Key Accounts Manager at Nestle Pakistan Limited was invited as a Guest Speaker. Mr. Ali provided practitioner insights and orchestrated a holistic picture of the industry.
He elucidated how FMCG firms revamped their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the marketing sphere has been evolved in the Pakistani market.
Dr. Muddasar Ghani Khwaja moderated the session. Students proactively engaged in the session and enquired about the future of marketing endeavors.
Dr. Shazia Akhtar- Program Manager for MBA emphasized the need for industry-academic linkage and appreciates Mr. Ali for providing his critical industrial insights.
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HRM – Traditional or Strategic View
2020-12-12
Emphasis on giving maximum practical exposure for MBA students while they learn through their ongoing semester, a specific webinar was arranged on 12th December 2020 through google meet. The topic of the webinar was “HRM – Traditional or Strategic View” featuring a focused discussion on the role of HR as a strategic component within any organization. Guest Speaker Ms. Mehwish Naseem Khan joined the webinar from the UK. Mehwish is a chartered MCIPD, MSc. & MBA from London school of economics, UK and Bharia University Pakistan respectively. She is CEO of HR upscale Ltd.
An active member of the chartered institute of personal development and a voluntary enterprise adviser, CIPD. She has experience of 12 years including international experience in strategic HR Roles, managerial positions, and generalist roles across multiple countries such as UAE and Pakistan. Moreover global supporting role for KSA, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, and Latin America.
She has practical exposure in managing recruitment, organization, and planning, leadership programs implementation, employee retention, succession planning, staff development, conflict resolution. Before founding HR Upscale limited she served Weatherford Drilling International.
The topic gained a lot of attention from different semesters of the MBA program at SZABIST Islamabad and the webinar got maximum participation of around 70 students. It was an interactive session which was moderated by Dr. Shazia Akhter – Associate professor and program manager for the MBA program at SZABIST Islamabad and the webinar was organized by Shoaib Farooqui – Visiting Faculty for the MBA program at SZABIST Islamabad.
The students asked a lot of interesting questions covering a broader spectrum of managing HR during COVID 19 times, retention of employees, organizational culture,
and motivating employees. Mehwish shared her experiences while she answered questions from the audience. The key takeaway from the webinar is that the role of HR in the post-COVID 19 scenarios gained a lot of importance as people like to discuss their issues and at the same time organizational leadership sits with HR in interacting with people.
Mehwish emphasized continuous learning for everyone in this very dynamic world.
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Webinar "Consumer Behavior & Perception"
2020-12-12
Webinar on Impact of Experiential Marketing on “Consumer Behavior & Perception” was held on 12-Dec-2020. Students of BBA (Marketing Specialization) attended the session. Guest Speaker for the session was Mr. Imran Raees (CEO / Owner Rewayat Restaurant Chain).
Mr. Imran Raees is a Successful Entrepreneur & SZABIST Alumni having over 12+ years of experience in business management and leadership.
The session started with the introduction leading to modern Marketing and Branding strategies adopted by Rewayat Restaurant Chain. He highlighted the impact of Digital and Social Media Advertising on Consumer Perception / Behavior. Later, he also discussed the challenges Food Sector currently facing during the Covid’19 pandemic and also shown few visual promotional Advertisements of Rewayat as well. Rewayat Restaurant Chain comprises of 05x branches (G11, Centaurus Mall, Giga Mall, Hunza, Cloud Kitchen at Satellite Town, Rwp).
In the end, students asked several questions relating to the Pros & Cons of new venture startups, business developments, marketing/branding tactics, and Customer Relationship Management.
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International Webinar on “Global Supply Chain Management in the New Normal"
2020-12-04
An International Webinar was held with more than 100 participants from various countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Dubai, Oman, Pakistan, etc.
The guest speaker Dr. Muddassir Ahmed (Digitalization Evangelist | Speaker | Trainer | Blogger | Vlogger | Host The Supply Chain Show and founder of SCMDOJO.com) and Prof. Dr. Shujaat Mubarik (Dean, College of Business Management, Institute of Business Management, Karachi, Pakistan) graced the occasion. Dr. Muhammad Saeed Shahbaz (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management Sciences, SZABIST, Islamabad) moderated the event.
The challenges of high cost, disruption in supplies, changing customer demands for quality, speed, and service, and safety concerns were the major challenges identified. Organizations need to be more agile, resilient, and innovative to respond to the changes. Meanwhile, it was emphasized that there is a severe need for supply chain analytics, blockchain, and big data supply chain.
The development of requisite skills set at the Academia and Industry-Academia linkage is considered important to develop agile, emotionally intelligent, and responsive talent to strengthen the organizations.
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Guest Speaker Session
2020-11-05 08:00 - 17:00 UTC
A Seminar was held on 5th November 2020 along with WEBINAR. The guest speaker Mr. Adeel Hasan graced the students with an interesting lecture. He is the CEO of a company named FOWREEY, Which is Pakistan’s first web and App-based platform which delivers food, grocery items, bakery items, etc right to your doorstep.
The lecture which Mr. Adeel gave was nothing short of an interactive session. By giving examples from his own 16 years of experience in different industries in multiple executive management roles, he told the students to follow their passion while opening an entrepreneurial venture. Sir. Shahid Jahangir Raja as well as Dr. Iffat Rasool also added their past experiences. Mr. Adeel urged the students to learn from their experiences and to be job providers instead of job seekers. He also urged the female students to start entrepreneurial startups as help & support is easily available around them.
In the end, Program Manager Dr. Shumaila Zeb joined the session and also motivated the students with her words of encouragement. The event was wrapped up with Dr. Shumaila presenting the Shield to the guest speaker.

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Proposal defense of MBA
2020-11-02 08:00 - 17:00
Proposal defense of MBA thesis research and business research projects was held on Monday, November 2nd, 2020.
Dr. Shazia Akhtar, Dr. Muhammad Shafiq, Dr. Hassan Raza, Dr. Fatima Ashraf, Ms. Sundas Azeem, and Mr. Shahwar Hussain discussed the student’s research ideas in the fields of Human Resource Management, Marketing, Finance, and Supply Chain, while advising them on the feasibility of their work, practical implications of the research process pertaining to the chosen areas, and potential areas for improvement.
Overall, the activity proved immensely beneficial for students, helping them identify problem areas in their work for further improvement.

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PhD VIVA VOCE
2020-10-21 08:00 - 17:00
PhD VIVA VOCE
PhD Viva Voce of Mr. Danish Muhammad Habib (Management Sciences) took place on Wednesday, October 14, 2020. The area of his specialization was in Marketing.
The Head of Campus SZABIST Islamabad graced the defense session, followed by the defense panelist members and faculty of SZABIST Islamabad.

We would like to congratulate Mr. Danish Muhammad Habib for successfully completing his PhD from SZABIST Islamabad.

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TV show on “Huawei ICT Competition 2020”
2020-10-21 08:00 - 17:00
TV show on “Huawei ICT Competition 2020”

With massive inclinations, it is to apprise that a special program on the upcoming “Huawei ICT Competition 2020” has been conducted at Media Department with the collaboration of HEC Web TV Channel on 15th October, 2020. This program was broadcast LIVE from different platforms: SZABIST TV Studio, SZABIST Official Facebook Page, and HEC Web TV Channel. This program is hosted by Shumaila.

Honorable guests from Huawei Pakistan have contributed to the program physically for discussion;

Syed Bilal Qasim – Manager Talent Ecosystem
Mr. Shehzad Akbar – Manager Channel Enterprise Service

This competition is the 6th edition of a global program aiming to provide opportunities to the students of Information and Communication Technology and give them a platform to compete at the National and International levels.
Program deliberation supports the students about the competition awards and registration guidelines procedures, eligibility criteria, benefits, and other essential information to participate. The interactive session platform has contended the viewers to participate and share their queries in the LIVE program.
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Workshop on ‘Title Selection and Gap Identification in Research’
2020-10-21 08:00 - 17:00
Workshop on ‘Title Selection and Gap Identification in Research’
A workshop was conducted on October 14, 2020, by Ms. Sundus Azeem for the students of MBA 1st semester to give them a broader and luminous view of research. It started with domain identification to model and finding the research gap, discussed the difference between academic research and business research which is the most faced problem for research students to identify the difference and need of it. She gave an in-depth view of reliable sources for gap identification and also discussed different published papers to make every student understand easily. The session continued with title selection through certain examples through which students are now able to write a title that makes sense, should be concise, and sufficiently explanatory.
In the last moments, students discussed their queries, both who are already in process of research and those who are just starting from scratch.

An elaborated and perspicuous workshop was delivered by Ms. Sundus which indeed was helpful for all the students.
This research workshop is the first part of the series of research workshops arranged by the Program Manager Dr. Shazia Akhtar to improve and strengthen the quality of MBA research and bring it at par with the international standards.
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MBA Orientation Fall 2020
2020-10-12 08:00 - 17:00
MBA Orientation Fall 2020

On 5th & 6th October 2020 SZABIST Islamabad’s New Student Orientation introduced new students of MBA program to the wide array of academic, intellectual, leadership, cultural, and social experiences available at SZABIST.
Orientation programs facilitate the successful transition of new students to SZABIST Islamabad. It helps prepare students for their academic experience, promotes student involvement and engagement, and provide information about student services and academic resources.
All the SOPs issued by the government of Pakistan to reduce the risk of COVID-19 were followed. We ensured strict compliance with the SOPs by providing hand sanitizers, facemasks, and sanitizing all the classrooms/halls. Moreover, an appropriate social distancing between students was maintained.

Orientation Day 02
2020-10-06 08:00 - 17:00
Orientation Day 02

SZABIST followed all the SOPs issued by the government of Pakistan to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and use all the necessary precautions to make sure the safety of students, faculty, and staff. We ensured strict compliance with the SOPs by providing hand sanitizers, facemasks, and sanitizing all the classrooms/halls. Moreover, an appropriate social distancing between students was maintained.
Day 02, on 6th October 2020 SZABIST Islamabad’s New Student Orientation introduced new students of different programs to the wide array of academic, intellectual, leadership, cultural, and social experiences available at SZABIST.

Orientation programs facilitate the successful transition of new students to SZABIST Islamabad. It helps prepare students for their academic experience, promotes student involvement and engagement, and provide information about student services and academic resources.
The learning outcomes of the freshmen orientation involved understanding the academic expectations and the process of enrollment, utilization of academic support and student services, learning about campus and community involvement through clubs, organizations and developing relationships with students, advisors, faculty, and staff.

Orientation Day 01
2020-10-05 08:00 - 17:00
Orientation Day 01

SZABIST followed all the SOPs issued by the government of Pakistan to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and use all the necessary precautions to make sure the safety of students, faculty, and staff. We ensured strict compliance with the SOPs by providing hand sanitizers, facemasks, and sanitizing all the classrooms/halls. Moreover, an appropriate social distancing between students was maintained.

On 5th October 2020 SZABIST Islamabad’s New Student Orientation introduced new students of different programs to the wide array of academic, intellectual, leadership, cultural, and social experiences available at SZABIST.
Orientation programs facilitate the successful transition of new students to SZABIST Islamabad. It helps prepare students for their academic experience, promotes student involvement and engagement, and provide information about student services and academic resources.
The learning outcomes of the freshmen orientation involved understanding the academic expectations and the process of enrollment, utilization of academic support and student services, learning about campus and community involvement through clubs, organizations and developing relationships with students, advisors, faculty, and staff.

Challenges and Opportunities for Research in Covid-19
2020-09-28 08:00 - 17:00
A successful international webinar with the Title: ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Research in Covid-19’ was conducted on September 23, 2020, by the Management Sciences department of SZABIST Islamabad.

There was keen interest among the international participants for the webinar; faculty members and PhD scholars participated from countries like Saudi Arabia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh, and many other places, along with the ever-enthusiastic faculty members of SZABIST, Islamabad.
DEAN Faculty of Management Sciences, Dr. Aamir Ferouz Shamshi, welcomed the panelists and participants. He presented the impacts of COVID-19 on economy, society, and psychology.
Dr. Muhammad Imran Qureshi, from Universiti Technikal Malaysia, Melaka, and the founding director of ConnectingAsia, started with the research trends in the COVID-19 environment. He stressed upon the importance and role of the digital transformation in COVID-19. He discussed the importance of the seventeen points of the sustainable development goals for contemporary research. Academic challenges, unlocking new opportunities, and skillsets were other critical areas of his presentation. The last important element of his presentation was a collaboration among researchers and institutes, which generated much interest in faculty members and the management.

Dr. Sobia Irum, University of Bahrain, presented the four important themes of management and business research in COVID-19; Business, Technology, Supply chain management, and Service industry. There were further directions on the nineteen subthemes of these areas, which was a treat for all researchers. In the end challenges and opportunities were discussed by her, highlighting the importance of collaboration.
The question and answer session was also quite vibrant, and participants were quite enthusiastic with multiple research questions. The questions were about conducting multilateralism and multidisciplinary research in the COVID-19 environment. Furthermore, the discussion about bridging the research approaches among developed and developing countries was also enlightening.
HoD Management Sciences, Dr. Muhammad Asif concluded the session with the thanks to all panelists and participants.
The recording of the webinar can be found at the following link;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-UJVhT4PeTkSuahmqO8Xuum25jE8Nts7/view

Technology Transfer Support Fund (TTSF)
2020-09-28 08:00 - 17:00
Program: Technology Transfer Support Fund (TTSF)
Guest: Director General Research and Development Higher Education Commission of Pakistan “Dr. Zain ul Abdin

With immense pleasure, it is to share that once again an exclusive LIVE program has been arranged by Media Department and HEC collaboration on 16th September 2020. Where Director General Research and Development Higher Education Commission of Pakistan “Dr. Zain ul Abdin” was invited for a discussion on a newly launched project by HEC “Technology Transfer Support Fund (TTSF)”. This project is anticipated to support promising partnerships between academia and industry to facilitate the transfers of developed technological institutions based upon a competitive, peer-reviewed evaluation of proposals.

Subjected discussion helps to support higher education institutions across Pakistan to undertake research and development activities focused on technology transfer and the TTSF project can generate positive cash flow.
Many viewers have participated and shared their queries in the LIVE interactive session. Also, this program has been broadcast LIVE from various platforms: SZABIST TV Studio, ZAB FM 106.6, SZABIST Official Facebook Page, and HEC Web TV Channel.

Convocation 2020
2020-08-25
Message for Social Media
Graduation ceremony is one special day in students’ lives. They look forward to it for years to celebrate their achievement, efforts, and excitement on feeling extra special.
This year, Covid-19 has transformed things by posing different challenges. Notwithstanding the uncalled for restrictions, which have plagued the world alike, we have organized an E-Convocation to celebrate this momentous occasion for the Class of 2019.
We enthusiastically look forward to celebrating this virtual ceremony on 25 August 2020 together with online presence a host of people including the graduating students along with their parents and friends; university management, staff, and faculty; our keynote speakers; the proud valedictorian; and the wider audience.
Be part of this memorable day and multiply the joy and sense of accomplishment of our graduating students. Join us on our social media platforms to share the celebrations.
WATCH LIVE NOW
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON FACEBOOK.

MoU Signing Ceremony between ENABLERS & SZABIST
2020-08-19 00:00
BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR SZABIST ISLAMABAD STUDENTS
SZABIST ISLAMABAD continues to explore opportunities for students. We are delighted to announce that ENABLERS & SZABIST Islamabad has signed MoU to develop e-commerce expertise exclusive for SZABIST students.
University students are more zestful, dreaming to achieve big goals in their life. Fresh graduates lack experience because of which finding a good job is quite difficult at the initial stage.
As part of this collaboration, SZABIST & Enablers’ team will design dedicated training programs aimed to develop e-commerce skills. With this initiative, trainees will be able to generate passive income alongside studies and can offer their services to domestic and international clients.
Students will get the most up-to-date and advance in-campus training sessions under the supervision of Enablers’ Amazon experts and successful Amazon sellers without causing any hindrance in their studies. Enablers will train bachelors and postgraduates about building their own Amazon FBA business and how to be a virtual assistant so that they can provide freelancing services.
As part of this collaboration, students will get an opportunity to start freelancing jobs along with studies, stand on their own feet, and help them in their future endeavors.
Thanks to Dr. Shazia Akhtar (Program Manager – Executive Programs) who has played a pivotal role to finalize this venture between ENABLERS & SZABIST Islamabad.
Stay Tuned for the next updates, we will share the next plan soon. Are you excited about this opportunity? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
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Admissions Test Fall 2020
2020-08-18 08:00 - 2020-08-19 19:00
A successful admissions test Fall 2020 was conducted at the SZABIST Islamabad campus. We followed all the required SOPs to make sure about the safety and health of all the candidates. We really appreciate the efforts of our staff for conducting a successful admissions tests on campus in this challenging situation.
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Workshop on SMART PLS
2020-07-21 08:00 - 17:00
The course of Advance Research Methods entails keeping abreast with latest techniques, tools and methodologies in research. SZABIST-ISLAMABAD aways strives to keep students updated on contemporary techniques in advancement in tools and software for analysis of research. In continuation to have hands-on knowledge with workshops on APA and SPSS a workshop was arranged by the instructor of the course Dr.Faryal Razzaq to learn mediation and moderation through Structural Equation Modelling techniques using SMART PLS for MBA1- Day and MBA1- Eve. Dr. Muhammad Shafiq very kindly consented to conduct the workshop which was facilitated in full support by the respected HoD Dr. M Asif Khan.
Dr. Shafiq very professionally builds the required knowledge to use the Smart PLS software and explained and entertained students’ queries on how to report results of mediation and moderation. The workshop was concluded by the vote of thanks by the course instructor on behalf of the class.

Faculty Training Program
2020-07-21
The workshop was conducted by Dr. Faryal Razzaq Assistant Professor, Management Sciences department, SZABIST Pakistan, She holds a PhD in EQ and developed the first EQ model in Pakistani workplace, she is a certified Mindfulness coach, Cognitive Emotive Behavioral therapist and a social psychologist. She is also the CEO of The FEEEL (PVT) Ltd first company that provides digital emotional hygiene solutions.
The workshop titled, “Role of Emotional intelligence in teaching and research” provided awareness, and brainstormed ways emotional knowledge could be integrated into teaching methodologies and provided cutting edge research on the subject. It was aimed at providing practical tools to self-awareness, developing a growth mindset to grow professionally and develop a research profile.

Online Assessment at SZABIST
2020-06-15 - 2020-06-27
SZABIST is conducting a successful online Assessment to facilitate its students in this challenging situation. All precautionary measures have been taken as per SOP.
SZABIST pays its gratitude to all faculty and staff members for supporting and conducting successful online exams in this critical situation

Webinar: New economic challenges of covid 19
2020-06-11 13:30 - 14:30
The session will be conducted on below mentioned virtual channels.
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/szabistofficial/
– YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/szabistmedia

International Symposium on Financial Sustainability
2020-05-22
In the purview of COVID-19 causing serious economic and financial distress, the scope of this forum is important for new financial settings of the World.
The symposium consists of Foreign Panelists, Corporate Sector Experts, Knowledge Partners, and Scholars.

NEW GLOBAL FINANCIAL ORDER "International Symposium on Financial Sustainability
2020-05-22
Platform for Shaping New World Financial Order Policy Recommendations Based on Financial Experts, Academicians & Industry Practitioners Perspectives. Theme of International Symposium In purview of changing financial landscape of the World, SZABIST (Islamabad) organized strategically important Global Financial Platform in collaboration with global financial experts, Pakistan corporate sector practitioners, academicians and financial scholars. This forum virtually invited financial discourse to determine New Global Financial Order in line with COVID-19 outbreak and its devastating impact on economic and financial system of the World. Looking into current systemic risk, it is need of time to unleash traditional financial order by reshaping the Financial and Monetary Systems to provide financial resilience, fiscal space and regulatory flexibility to Financial World. Consistent with theme of this Global Forum, the agenda of International Financial Symposiums seminally captured following strands of discussions;
– New Financial Governance
– Fintech and Financial Democracy
– Financial Markets Sustainability
– New Age of Research and Curriculum Development
– Policy Recommendations
Key Insights
The moderator (Dr. Muhammad Naveed, Associate Professor, SZABIST, Islamabad. Pakistan)
introduced the distinguished panelists and oriented the participants with broader agenda of
International Financial Sustainability Symposium. He briefed the World economic situation and
the aim of this forum to explore the prospects of new financial and monetary settings in line with
changing landscape of the World. The Guest of Honor (Prof. Dr. Aamir Shamsi, Dean Faculty of
Management Sciences, SZABIST, Pakistan) opened the formal procession of Global Forum with
his Welcoming Note by expressing the significance of this forum. He added that global eye is
searching for the view that how to unleash existing financial system that can instantly support
Individuals, SMEs, Startups and Corporations to address the economic collapse and financial
fallout with sustainable system. Dr. Shamsi extended special thanks to global financial experts –
Dr. Suresh Ramakrishan (Financial Governance Expert – Deputy Dean “Research, Innovation,
Development & Alumni” University Technology Malaysia), Dr. Ahmad Raza Bilal (Global
Financial Expert and Head of Business Program, Sohar University, OMAN), Corporate Sector
Practitioners, SZABIST Faculty and Scholars for inviting this important platform.
Financial Governance The very first thought invited insights on financial governance. A strong firm and macro prudential governance structure can enhance endurance of financial system during difficult
times. Moreover, present financial crises differs from global financial crises in a way that GFC was primarily derived by financial misconducts by financial institutions and comprise on prime security; whereas, in present situation economies are facing financial difficulties on account of health emergency.
How Financial Governance can ensure the efficacy of existing financial system to safely meet the needs of public, SMEs, Startups and Corporations during this Pandemic?
How can we apply the lessons learned from GFC? In line with significance of financial governance, the panelists strongly banked their expert voice on following aspects;
– Financial Governance has become critical issue since Asian Financial Crisis and Global
Financial Crisis. The economies those have learned good lessons are in better position to deal
with current economic and financial turmoil caused by COVID-19.
– Resilience of firms is important driver in long run sustainability.
– There is need to establish Financial Governance Triangle Model bridging Banks Governance,
Corporate Governance and Govt. Governance to address this systemic financial crisis.
– Financial Market Impairment and revisit of IASs and IFRS pertinent to disclosure of Time
Sensitive Projects including Insurance, Leasing, Financial Risky Assets.
– Unleash traditional ways of funds raising with new financial dial ups, including
diversification, Crowd Funding, Solidarity Lending Groups, Credit Unions, Village Banking,
Venture Capital Modelling…etc. Fintech and Financial Flexibility The growing concern for emerging and
developing markets is the future of financial technology (Fintech). Many Fintech Companies which have grown rapidly over the past decade by lending to SMEs and households could collapse
under the stress of severe credit losses. What is Future of Financial Technology (Fintech) and how Fintech can enable quick policy and financial system response, financial and regulatory flexibility and rapidly transform the Financial World Order with digital and contactless offerings? Consistent with underlying importance of changing landscape, experts shared
their seminal thoughtfulness as new pecking order;
– Economic and Financial Inclusion is the priority of New Financial Order.
– Intervention of Digital Banking, Financial Technology and alternate source of financing are
path breaking ways during this pandemic.
– Customization of traditional banking system with advanced financial innovation.
– New age of Financial World has taken the form of Society for Worldwide Interbank
Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT); Amazon Fintech, PayPal, Chatbot, Mobile Apps,
Financial Clicks are new drives of financial system providing more flexibility and addressing
the regulatory pressure.
– Banking Sector in developing countries should establish RMA (Relationship Management
Application) contract with International Banks to discourage intermediate banking and also
to avoid waste of transactional cost and time value of money, and transaction taking place at
equal foreign exchange rate.
– There is need to timely address the cashflow issues otherwise it would create further
hindrance in repayments and eventualities.
Fiscal Space and Financial Sustainability
In present scenario, creation of fiscal space is highly important and according to IMF financial
stimulus packages have been offered by a large number of counties depending upon their
economic strength. Most advanced economies are addressing this economic distress with
substantial fiscal support, many emerging-market and developing economies lack the fiscal space
to adequately respond.
To create fiscal space for emerging and developing economies, the experts signified the
importance of following measures;
– FATF sanctions causing serious liquidity, export and financial crunch among grey listing economies. For economies dealing with FATF sanctions in first instance and COVID-19 pandemic on the other hand, it has created further financial distress. Considering this scenario, it warrants the need that FATF should revisit its conditions and underlying sanctions which would provide more financial resilience and liquidity to have better adaptation of financial digitalization and fostering the documented economy. They further stressed the need to provide subsidized technology to developing economies by
international regulatory and financial authorities. It would assist to create the fiscal space.
The acceleration of digitization will also help to improve smart lending that would boost
economy. Banks need to redevise the credit policies in harmony with COVID 19 crises and
together with all these efforts cyber security system should be strengthen to safeguard
financial system. Moreover, participants stressed need of financial inclusion through
subsidized loaning process initiated by central banks. Following is the articulation of key
measures;
– Acceleration of digitalization by banking industry with smart lending capabilities will help
banks to provide digitally originated financial access to individuals, SMEs and Corporations.
In return it would help the economy as well with better fiscal space.
– Development of Smart landing capabilities would also help to avoid bankruptcies.
– Development of COVID-19 Credit Policy.
– Improving Technology without security is more disastrous. Significance of Cyber Security
arrangement is equally important; particularly working from home has become major
challenge for Banking Sector.
– Banking new orientation should considerably focus on Smart lending windows, Micro
financing Windows and Startups. Financial Inclusion should come in picture with financial
products and services which are affordable. Wave of Bankruptcies and Scope of Bankruptcy Law Bankruptcy wave has erupted in present financial scenario. The bankruptcy laws of most of developing countries offer only liquidation option, failing to provide recapitalization relief. The Financial Bankruptcies have become critical issue in purview of systemic crisis which warrants the need to revisit the scope of Bankruptcy Law to protect financially distressed firms with recapitalization plans and intervention by Central Bank. The expert panelists and academic voice stressed that;
– Central banks in Developing and Emerging Economies revisit Bankruptcy Law by providing
scope of Re-capitalization / Rehabilitationeorganization to financially distressed firms.
– Government intervention through Central Banks to reduce this wave of bankruptcy.
– Provision of Debtors’ Oriented Regime (Chapter 11- Re-organization) should be considered
during this COVID-19 crunch time.
– There is need of support derived by government, central banks and law making authorities to
introduce mechanism of supporting the sinking firms.
New Age of Research and Curriculum Development
The Global Forum also signified the thought to unleash research drives and academic curriculum
which would relatively capture the scope of new Financial World Order in line with COVID-19.
Following are seminally proposed areas;
– Scenario Based Events Studies
– Sectoral’s Effect on Economic and Financial Growth
– Portfolio Management before during and post COVID-19
– Fintech and Financial Inclusiveness
– Performance of Capital Markets under different Settings
– Firms’ Resilience during Financial Distress
– Systemic Financial Risk Management
– Digital Financial System
– Development of Digital Business Strategy in different Sectors of Economy
– Digital Business Leadership in Financial and Non-Financial Sector
– Digital Marketing and Service Industry
– Financial Ecosystem and Block chain
Summary of Policy Recommendations
Finance experts offered recommendations to improve resilience of financial system through
operational resilience, digitization, supply of credit, health and safety measures, equal access of
citizen to digital financial services and centralized institutional network bringing swift payments
with minimum charges. Moreover, recommendations also included bilateral trade based on a
common currency rather than concentrating on any single currency.
Following is summary of key recommendations and takaway of this Global Financial Forum;
“Financial Governance Triangle Model” bridging Banks – Corporate – Govt. Governance
Financial Markets Impairment
Economic and Financial Inclusion as top priority of New Financial Order.
Smart Digital Banking, Financial Technology and proper Cyber Security Arrangement.
Supply of credit to economies to provide resilience to entire financial system.
Operational Readiness and Contingency Planning
Arrangement of Global Financial Network providing platform to equalize financial services.
Revisit Bankruptcy Law
Finance Curriculum Advancement and New Age of Research
Session Closing
The International Symposium ended at final words of thanks by Dr. Aamir Shamsi and Dr. Muhammad
Naveed revealing the fact that COVID-19 is big avenue for learning lessons and also to foster service of
humanity in the first defense.
NEXT STEPS
SZABIST Platform will continue to convene strategically important Thought Forums and Symposiums to discuss practitioners and knowledge experts’ perspectives on emerging financial, economic, social and digital risks strands evolving public policy during and after COVID-19.
If your institution is interested participating in these dialogues, please contact Dr. Muhammad Naveed
(dr.naveed@szabist-isb.edu.pk)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SZABIST (Islamabad, Pakistan) would like to thank the institutions participating in the
“International Financial Sustainability Symposiums” for their commitment and contributions to
this multistakeholders dialogue, as well as members of the Platform for shaping the “New World
Financial Order” who have participated in these potential discussions.
– Dr. Suresh Ramakrishan (Financial Governance Expert – Deputy Dean “Research,
Innovation, Development & Alumni” University Technology Malaysia)
– Dr. Ahmad Raza Bilal (Global Financial Expert and Head of Business Program, Sohar
University, OMAN)
– Mr. Saqib Mahmood (Head of Corporate Affairs, SC Technologies Global, Pakistan)
From the SZABIST
– Mr. Khusro Pervaiz Khan (Head of Campus, SZABIST, Islamabad. Pakistan)
– Prof. Dr. Aamir Shamsi (Dean, Management Sciences, SZABIST, Pakistan)
– Prof. Dr. Muhammad Asif Khan (HOD, Faculty of Management Sciences, SZABIST,
Islamabad. Pakistan)
– Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Naveed (Global Financial Expert/Moderator, Faculty of
Management Sciences, SZABIST, Islamabad, Pakistan)
– Finance Faculty (SZABIST Islamabad, K

Oral Communication & Presentation Skills
2020-05-21
The Executive Development Centre (EDC) organized Online Corporate Finesse Workshop on “Oral Communication & Presentation Skills” on Thursday, May 21, 2020 for the graduating class of Ms. Farah Younas of BSSE.
The guest speaker Mr. Asif Rasool gave tips that how students can improve their confidence in front of the audience. He also advised students that recognize the approaches required in communicating at work/university by using new technology.

Mental Wellbeing in Crisis Management
2020-05-20
Mental Wellbeing in Crisis Management:
The Executive Development Centre (EDC), organized Online Corporate Finesse Workshop on “Mental Wellbeing in Crisis Management” on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 for class BBA-1 of Dr. Khansa Zaman.
The guest speaker Ms. Aliya Abdul Hayee talked about the importance of looking after mental wellbeing during a crisis. She also advised how they respond to any situation in their life, increasing confidence, and a sense of control in times of stress.

Scope and Opportunities in Media
2020-05-20
Scope and opportunities in Media:

The Executive Development Centre (EDC) organized the Online Corporate Finesse Workshop on “Scope and Opportunities in Media” on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 for the graduating class of Mr. Muhammad Abdullah Tariq of BSMS.
The guest speaker Dr. Wajid Zulqarnain shared his views that opportunities for the media are not LIMITED only extensive research is required. Just make the gap as an opportunity. Media can be high paying but also bring in a great deal of job satisfaction and expression of creativity
