Daily Times

Sukkur IBA University organised the 3rd International Conference on Business, Economics & Management. The theme of the two-day conference was “Strategies for Sustainability and Well-Being at Workplace: Asian Perspective”.

Prof Dr Niaz Ahmed Bhutto welcomed all the guests and participants and thanked them for travelling all the way to Sukkur from various parts of the world. A total of 160 research papers were submitted, of which 90 papers and 33 cases were presented throughout the conference by national and international participants.

Sukkur IBA University Vice Chancellor Prof. Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui, in his welcome address said that human beings had always had uncertainty in their lives, but the uncertainty in today’s disruptive era was unimaginable. He added that Sukkur IBA University was making all possible measures to cope up with the challenges of the rapidly changing technologies, so that students were abreast with them.

The first day included various keynote speakers, a panel discussion, and various parallel sessions. Dr Severine Minot of Habib University gave her keynote speech on the title “Gender Balance in the Workplace: Harnessing Emotional Intelligence Across Gender Boundaries”. She highlighted the importance of eliminating gender biases and creating a gender balance in the workplace for better results.

LUMS Professor Dr Syed Zahoor Hassan talked on the “Importance of Case Method in Business Education” in the light of sustainability, while Dr Abdul Halim Abdul Majid of the University Utara Malaysia shared his views on the theme of the conference. The chief guest, Dr Kaiser Bengali, highlighted the importance of creating a workplace safety culture.

The panel discussion centered on the idea that “our own happiness is short-lived if we achieve well-being of our generation at environmental expense of future generation”. The session was moderated by Prof Dr Sarwar Azhar. The panelists included entrepreneur Hassan Daudpota, entrepreneur Mudassar Zaidi and IoBM Rector Dr Irfan Hyder. They discussed the environmental implications of businesses running amok without considering what their business practices were doing to the Earth.

The second day of the conference started with a keynote speech by Dr Usman Raja of Brock University, Canada. Dr Arif Iqbal Rana from LUMS was also among the keynote speakers. Dr Jawad Syed from LUMS shed light on “Diversity for Sustainability”, while, PIDE Vice Chancellor Dr Asad Zaman talked about “Inclusive Growth”.

The panel discussion on day two was moderated by Dr Sheeraz Rajput on the topic of “Inclusive Economic Growth”. The panelists included Dr Asad Zaman, Dr Kaiser Bengali and Dr Zafar Hayat.

The parallel sessions on both days covered a range of topics, including impact of taxes, CPEC, transformational leadership, capital inflows, role of online shopping, women empowerment, aggressive behaviour in university students, informal financing, role of monetary policy, macroeconomic variables and stock prices, industrial policy, relation between stress and performance and much more.

During the closing ceremony, co-chair of the conference Dr Waheed Umrani thanked all the participants and organisers for making iCBEM 2019 a success.

In his closing remarks, Sukkur IBA University Registrar Engr Zahid Hussain Khand talked about Sukkur IBA University’s efforts at creating an environment of sustainability, which includes running the campus on solar energy, funding faculty and staff’s higher education.