Thursday, February 09, 2017
The Department of Communication and Languages, Institute of Business Management (IoBM) in collaboration with Entrepreneurship and Management Excellence Center (EMEC), IoBM organized an interactive guest speaker session on Thursday, February 9, 2017 on the topic “How to Lead a Successful Career.” Invited as guest speaker was Mr. Raza Pirbhai, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), KFC Pakistan.
It was largely attended by IoBM students, faculty and HoDs. On his arrival at IoBM, Mr. Raza Pirbhai was welcomed by Mr. Talib Karim, Rector, IoBM in the latter’s office where they discussed matters of mutual interest.
Later the distinguished guest proceeded to the IoBM auditorium for his speech and interactive session with students. Ms. Fareeda Ibad, Associate Professor and Senior Fellow, Communication Department, IoBM, during her opening remarks, introduced the guest speaker and informed that the event was being held in partnership with Talk World, a platform for professionals to spread their knowledge in the form of talks and interactive sessions.
While speaking to the audience, Mr. Raza Pirbhai briefly narrated his professional journey from his humble beginnings over two decades ago to becoming the CEO of KFC Pakistan in 2014. Mr. Raza Pirbhai advised students that they should analyze their personality traits and match them with their professional attributes to create a powerful blend of core competencies and proficiencies ensuring career success and growth. He emphasized that students must develop the hunger for career and professional development by availing any job opportunity they receive. He illuminated that students waste their time when they wait for the right job having the appropriate salary package and do not accept the first job offer they receive. Moreover, Mr. Raza Pirbhai explained that business students are facing robust competition in the market but they also have more opportunities at their disposal as compared to two decades ago when he began his career.
He also instructed students to seek advice and guidance from career counselors and from their faculty to map out a strategy for their career. Mr. Raza Pirbhai, while elucidating upon the world becoming disruptive and competitive, highlighted that having the ability to speak and write in the English language is the most important competency in the corporate world. However, he touched upon a pertinent fact that where universities focus on hiring highly qualified faculty, they must also develop a competitive academic curriculum to produce MBA graduates who do not face the problem of employability and can become the leaders of tomorrow.
