Class Notes 2010

Compiled by Ahmed S. Butt

Contributions by Farooq Soomro, Fizza Ijaz, Saud Mukhtar and ‘Facebook’

Abubakar Siddique aka ‘bobby’ has gotten married and consequently has curtailed his social life.

Adeel Allawallah is joining Unilever Dubai coming October as Assistant Manager Marketing after he got fed up with his Korean boss at Phillip Morris.

Adnan Nisar is still at PTC and is fast rising up the ‘familia’ ladder as he reports to be upgraded from being married to fatherhood. He named his son Azaan.

Ahsan Ahmad Maykan, the cool dude of MNC is still clinging to Telenor. He has shifted himself from segments to pricing department.

Ali Abbas aka Pujji is playing 'Daddy Responsible' with his almost 1 year old lovely daughter, Zuha. The little one is often found attending MBA gatherings in Daddy's arms. Ali is working with Habib Bank AG Zurich and settled happily in Sharjah with wife and daughter.

Harsh weather, unfriendly environment and unprofessional colleagues have not yet got the better of Ali Maaz who is bringing first day zeal and vigor, to the work every day. Due to his ceaseless energy, he and his boss are getting higher and higher in the corporate hierarchy even if the pay stays the same. His son Rayyan, aptly nicknamed sher khan has become a darling mashallah. Ali Maaz was recognized yet again for making most useful Class Participation in a conference at Alghanim, a feat he humbly attributes to the listening patience of Kuwaiti gang.

Aly Abdul Rehman is working at Publicis, a French multinational advertising and communications company. Aly’s most frequent French sentences are “Est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un ici qui parle anglais? Où sont les toilettes?”

Aly Yousaf got married earlier this year. He has been promoted to the position of Group Management Accountant at Unilever and was rewarded a brand new Honda city and still learning driving on it.

Amina Ijaz is at coke. She travels around the world when she’s working and when she’s not working.

Ammar Butt is still working in his family business. He persists on maintaining his singlehood status. He was last seen attending the Finals at Wimbledon and watching Rafael Nadal in action.

Anwar Kabir is still working at Lowe & Rauf as Business Director for the company’s largest Account in Lahore; Nestle Pakistan. This last year was special for him in a way that he finally got married in November 2009. His family shifted to their newly constructed house in State Life Society in early 2010 and he spent quite a bit of his time this year settling down at the new place. Kabir got elected as Founder Board Member of newly formed SDSB LUMINITES Alumni Association and worked as Director Outreach during the board’s tenure. During this time, he got an opportunity to reach out to Business School Alumni across all batches and was successful in engaging quite a few of them in alma mater and alumni related activities. As Director Outreach, he supervised Association’s Mega Launch Event which was attended by a large number of alumni. His active involvement with Rotary Club still continues.

Arshad Moazzam left Mobilink in November last year and joined Etisalat UAE. He is living in Dubai with his wife and daughter who will be 3 coming October.

Asad Mahmood has finally gotten himself rid from the Abu Dhabi Group. He’s now working as Business Manager for Mantaq Systems

God’s mercy will no longer shower over Kuwait as it did earlier. Asad Shafiq has decided to move on and will be pursuing his doctorate at Richard Ivey, School of Business, which is quite famous with the MBA lot for publishing short length cases. In three years of his stay, Asad transformed the businesses he worked with, “warna yahan kya rakha tha, kaheen thaa maweshi charanay pe jaghra”. On the personal front, Asad was blessed with a baby boy named Ibrahim, much to the annoyance of his daughter Umaima, who now has to share the parents love with him.

Ashhad Saeed is now never to be found alone since his 'coupled' status and his better half is now an equal part of the mba07 group in Dubai. They are more than often found hanging out with the rest of the gang over weekends. Ashhad is working with Etisalat in Abu Dhabi and enjoying not only his work but also the public service employment from every aspect. His employee loyalty continues that has led him to reject all calls that come from a non-etisalat number.

Azamat Akbarov is at General Motors Powertrain Uzbekistan working as Senior Financial Analyst. His role revolves around financial control and budgeting.

Babur Rais is at BMA capital and is continues to stay single in the near distant future.

Bilal Javed Bhatti is a proud father of a baby girl Hajra. This still did not make a responsible driver out of him and he still leads the most fouled driver race among Kuwaiti gang. He is working for Alghanim Electronics now and is seen squeezing suppliers by all means for fulfilling corporate appetite for profits. Rest of the day, he is found happily babysitting his daughter.

Bilal Malik has successfully completed his post graduation in Public Policy and Management from Monash University Australia. His profile got the maximum hits from MBA 2007 people in 2009-10 due to inclusion of supermodels in Bilal’s friend list.

Dilafruz is still very loyal to the furniture industry & not thinking of moving away very soon. Last year company finally realized her true potential & made her the Brand Manager for Cilek (furniture brand for kids). Since then the brand is enjoying triple digit growth over last year and she hopes to keep this momentum going forward as well. On her personal front, MBA boy Kamran is going to reception this year, and his sister is in 4th grade. Both of them hate Kuwait’s weather, but love the sea and no matter how hard Dilafruz tries to teach them Uzbek & Russian, they both speak only English.

Fasahat Feroze is happy with his life and has recently visited USA, along with her lady-in-red. He is still at Telenor.

This year has been quite an eventful one for Fizza Ijaz. She has been with Unilever, Dubai for over an year now and is doing very well, enjoying herself thoroughly applying all the marketing ‘dabbas’ learnt during the two years of MBA. In addition to her portfolio role on Home & Personal Care for North Africa Middle East, she has taken up a brand project with the Dove team and will be landing her first launch end of this year which she is very excited about. More importantly, she got engaged earlier this year to our very own Mulli (no prizes for guessing), Hamza. The couple will tie the knot early next year Inshallah. We wish them both a very happy life together.

Haleema Muniba quit her job to work as full-time mother for her daughter ‘Soha’.

After playing the "tarang" tune with "Saima jee" for the last two years at Engro foods, Hamza Ahmad now signs off his emails as the business development manager for their global business unit. Following critical assessment of a business opportunity, he is now evaluating whether helikes Toronto or Vancouver more as the base for his operations and seems pretty happy considering J-lo for his new campaign. Hamza also got engaged recently (you can spot the victim in one of the classnotes here).

Husnain Alam after escaping two companies without knowing the results of his sales effort hasfinally received a fat pay check of Commission from IBM.

Imran Hafeez is misleading, sorry leading students through his inspirational speeches. He is known as ‘Hatim Tai’ when goes out to dine with hisstudents but vanguards his budget like a snake while eating out with friends. On request of some close friends he has dedicated his weekends to his friends. The lucky draw of which weekend happens once every year.

Jasim Ahmad facebook profile reports that he is currently in an open relationship; his employer is Adamjee Insurance and CFA level 2 certified.

Kanza Fida became a proud mother of a baby boy. She works for Warid in the Strategy department.

Kashan Yaqoob is still at Engro and has moved from supply chain to marketing division.

Kashif Munir is happily married and reports to have gained a few pounds consequently. He has joined AC Nielsen as Manager Consumer Research.

Khurram Mir is reported to have moved to UAE with his newly wedded wife sometime back and has been running his own business. He is often found in famous Pakistani restaurants in Dubai.

Khurram Saleem Malik is enjoying the status quo with his wife and son Ibrahim.

Khwaja Faisal’s bachelorhood shall be no more as he is cherishing his last few days as a nikkahofied bachelor. Rukhsati will be in November and hopefully all of you will be getting the invite in your inbox. He is working for Alghanim’s FMCG division and brings first day zeal and vigor, to the work, albeit for different reasons (not all of which are professional). He is also found boarding wrong planes and cars often.

Luqman Awan is working with 3M and was declared Best Sales Man of 3M Pakistan for the year 2009. On his personal note, his son Suleiman is growing fast (20 months already) and is responsible for creating a lot of excitement in Luqman’s life. He is thankful to his wife Sheema for allowing him to participate in Alumni Association activities. He reports that our class endowment fund has crossed the PKR 1.4 million. He has offered unconditional hospitality to his batch mates visiting Lahore.

Mehdi Raza is still at UCH power and believes power sector to be the only viable job sector in the future. He has gotten married.

Cisco loyal Mehtab Lasharie has moved from sales to operations management and is enjoying a much welcomed improvement in work-life balance.

Muhammad Anis Sajid is reported to be engaged. He resides in Lahore near LUMS campus. Shell continues to be his employer choice.

Muhammad Farhan Tayyab is at P&G playing “surf wars” with other competitors for Arial.

Mian Murad is as colorful and lively as ever. He has always been a source of unanticipated entertainment. For some reason people were amused to find that Mian performed an Umrah on an official trip to Saudi. He is an avid reader and one has to make way through spiral of the books to reach his throne where he is found lying majority of the time.

Muhammad Ali Imam after hopping from Engro and ICI has now joined Mobilink and is heading the Organizational Development department.

Muhammad Ali Jawed (AJ) part time job outside his professional role at Petrofac’s, is to photograph his very cute son who is now 9 months old. The baby has been titled "the friendliest baby in UAE" (mashallah). Despite their busy work, social and baby schedule, Ali and Fatima make it a point to join the mba07 Dubai gatherings on most occasions.

We have good news from Muhammad Ayaz Karim's den - he tied the knot in July 2010. He is steadily working with Habib Bank AG Zurich since 2007 and enjoying his time in Dubai. He still never misses the first show first day of all bollywood movies released and plays the ultimate host to all visitors. Since he has become a veteran in Dubai now - we also like to call him our 'navigator' since he is the one emergency number we call if we are lost on the roads of UAE.

Muhammad Bin Shahbaz works at Nestle Pakistan and has recently joined parenthood.

Muhammad Faisal Amin has joined the ever increasing group of new parents with his daughter named Rania. A lot of us know him as man of few words but his passionate political dialogue surprises most of the people around. He is working as Planning Manager at Alghanim Engineering Division and is highly rated by his superiors. His General Manager once said that he would be willing to recruit a dozen like him, even during the recession.

Muhammad Farooq Soomro has decided to move back to Karachi as he could not count the stars in dusty Kuwaiti Sky using his telescope. He is happily married and trying to find nirvana in selling Byco oil to consumers. He has joined the ever increasing group of Facebook inspired photographers who own a camera and that’s why post them to Facebook. He hallucinates and writes as ‘The Karachi Banjara’ on blogosphere.

Muhammad Shahid Bashir entrepreneurial soul was recently rewarded ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Muhammad Usman Ahmed is a proud father of a baby boy named Zakariya. He is spending his days blissfully with his family in Toronto while hunting mad cows around. He has moved to Canada to purse his doctorate in Management Sciences. He has plenty of leisure time at his hands which he uses to lure people to Canada for a doctorate or write cheeky emails on the class email group. He plans to opt for a teaching career after his Phd much to the delight of corporate sector.

Muhammad Usman Khan reports “By the grace of Almighty we have been blessed with a baby girl.” The baby girl is enjoying free supplies of Nestle nesvita milk.

Muhammad Umar Tanwir aka Haji Tanwir is at Mobily Saudia Arabia and longs for his lawlessness life in Pakistan.

Natalia Nicklaevna is working with Petrofac and leading a peaceful life in Sharjah.

Nizam Ahmed successfully resold his valuable CPs for a six figure salary. He is working for Dhaka Stock Exchange. He hasn’t managed to increase the population that much; with just one kid.

Omar Ahmed the wiz kid of Pakistan Tobacco has bid farewell to controlling costs and is now spending money of USAID on a high profile project at Eli Walker.

Omair Yunus and Kamilia Iftikhar are happily married to each other. Since then they have been travelling to many destinations in a short while it is difficult to find which one was their honeymoon. Omair is working for Electronics and was last found launching an electric cigarette in the ‘Health and Wellness’ category. Kamilia is working for Home furnishing division now. Her business had a record selling month which may or may not be attributed to her joining the business.

Rabia Raza Tirmezey is going strong and steady in the Treasury department of Mashreq Bank, working on structured commodities and rates. Recently Rabia has marked another achievement up her sleeve by clearing CFA level 2. Other than her frequent trips back home, Rabia likes to spend her weekends watching movies, looking for new places to dine out and organizing batch get-togethers and not-at-all surprise birthdays.

Rai Usman tied the knot in February this year and has been living with his family in Dubai. He is still working for Barclays Bank as ‘Portfolio Manager’ for their credit cards division.

Raza-ul-Haque is working as Senior Zone Manager at Chevron where he has been given additional got additional portfolio of retail along with industrial sales. With Khwaja tying the knot this year, he is facing serious pressure from his mom to call quits to his bachelorhood.

Saima Ansari has been promoted as Brand Manager Surf at Unilever.

Sajjad Ali Khan is working for Wateen Telecom.

Salman Ahmed Khan was last seen at Umair Shabbir Butt’s wedding. He hasn’t changed a bit in size. He has successfully worked for 3 major bank employers during one employment; first with ABN AMRO, second with RBS and third with Faisal Bank.

Sarmad Balouch likes to stay in the saner part of the emirates i.e. Abu Dhabi where he devotedly works for First Gulf Bank. We give him credit for always making appearance at batch level get-togethers in Dubai.

Saud Mukhtar after putting on weight from his current job has co-opened a Khoka. He has successfully roped in Husnain, Mehdi, Umair Mukhtar after showing them greener pastures of Food revolution.

Saqib Mubarak has moved from Alghanim to Babtain Group as Marketing Manager and is found polishing his Arabic skills which were found disastrous in Kuwaiti gang’s eventful Turkey trip. Saqib has managed to get married this year despite all the torrential rain, floods, target killings and bomb blasts. The first half of the year has been most happening for Saqib as he starts a new era, with a new job, new house and a new laptop.

Shafiq Sobhan reports “I am still alive and kicking, enjoying life in Down Under and currently visiting family and friends in Bangladesh.”

Shahrukh and Maryam have moved back to Dubai from Abu Dhabi with Shahrukh working in corporate banking at the National Bank of Oman and Maryam in product management at Thuraya Telecom Co. The two were recently found trotting the globe across France and different parts of Canada. Their home is one of the most popular spots for post dinner 'chai and gupshup' sessions over weekends.

Faysal Bank continues to be employer of Shahzad Ahmad’s choice (“Majbori”) in these years of recession. After office hours are spent with wife and son Ali, he has recently joined gym to limit my ever growing waist. He has passed level 3 of CFA exam; the first person in our batch to achieve this milestone.

Shehreyar Mehmood has been with Oracle for the past 2 odd years. He has just moved to Melbourne for a new role. He is trying to cope up with the "AUSI" lifestyle and at the moment is pondering on which AFL team to pick. He is taking singing lessons to improve his vocal skills and has also taken up photography as a hobby.

Shelina Ramzan Ali Khoja has apparently settled in a marketing role at Engineering Division. Her commitment to work is unmatched as she has been seen working or rather holding up for his boss during Eid holidays and weekends. Her presentations are as colorful as ever and her driving as wild as it could get. Her car pool buddies have become immune to shocks, jolts, surprises, tremors and sudden changes in speed.

Siddique Ahmad is the latest addition to the Kuwait gang. He now works for Wataniya Telecom. He joined the ranks of fatherhood with the birth of his son he named Zuhayr.

Sohaib Hashmi is working with Habib Bank AG Zurich. Since life in Dubai isn't always as exciting - he made an adventurous trip to Switzerland all on his own! People looking for tourism info on the Swiss Land - please contact Sohaib! His message to the batch this year is 'Life's good and must visit Switzerland once in a life time!"

Suresh Shrestra after working for the Department of Transport Management is now placed in Water and Energy Commission secretariat in Kathmandu.

Syed Aamir Asif still continues to work for Mashreq Bank and is having a nice time in Dubai.

Syed Ali Haider is working in Corporate Banking, Barclays UAE since October 2008. He spends most of his time with family (wife and daughter ‘Khadija’ who turns three this Sept) and remains in contact with friends, mostly over phone.

Syed Ammar Yasin after shuttling between Lahoreand Islamabad has finally accepted ‘Isloo’ to be his home place atleast for now. He works for Telenor Pakistan and played an instrumental role in launch of EasyPaisa; Pakistan’s first Branchless Banking.

Taimur Karim cleared his CSP exam and will be joining Pakistan’s bureaucracy. His training will be starting coming January in Lahore. He also won an award in KESC for its turnaround.

Umair Shabbir Butt finally left Wateen and joined Mobilink in the Marketing division. He is one of newly married people in our batch who spend his free time cross checking his electricity meter readings.

Wasif Sikander Butt got married.

Yashrah Masood won the performance award this year at Servis at the annual business conference. She has now moved on to Mantaq Systems as supply chain consultant to Servis and other vendors. Yashrah says “we had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun but the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time” and now she so wants to go back to school and study Economics.

Yasir Suleman Memon got promoted as manager in the Modern Trade division at Unilever. He was found vacationing in Thailand at the time this class note was written.

Zenubia Qureshi has recently moved from Bahrain to Dubai. She has just finished setting up her new home beautifully and plans to relax and enjoy some homely time now.

And lastly, your class note coordinator Ahmed Shiraz Butt reports “I have slowly become accustomed to life here in Federal capital Islamabad. If Daewoo had offered travel reward points system, I would have won a trip to Korea by now; considering the number of miles I travelled last year. Telenor continues to be my choice of employment.”