Middle East & North Africa

On December 8th, MBA Admissions and the MENA Research Center hosted a coffee chat in Dubai, where 20 prospective MBA applicants engaged in conversations with Vai Schierholtz (MBA 2019), from MBA Admissions, and Alpana Thapar (MBA 2012), Executive Director of the MENA Research Center, as well as with two HBS alumni who joined the discussions and shared their perspectives on the MBA experience. This informal coffee chat provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to ask questions and gain deeper insights into the HBS MBA journey. On December 9th, the team continued their efforts with an information session in Cairo, welcoming around 100 prospective MBA applicants. The event began with welcome remarks by Vai Schierholtz and Alpana Thapar, followed by an introduction to the Case Method by Prof. Andy Zelleke, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and Faculty Chair of the MENA Research Center. Hisham El Khazindar (MBA 2003), Co-Founder and Managing Director of Qalaa Holdings, shared his experiences during and after HBS and offered valuable insights on scholarships. The session also featured a panel discussion and Q&A with alumni and a current student, who shared their perspectives on the MBA journey. The evening concluded with a networking session, allowing attendees to connect and explore the transformative opportunities that an HBS MBA offers.

On November 21st, the MENA Research Center hosted an exclusive alumni event in Istanbul with Prof. Ashley Whillans, Volpert Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Alper Gökgöz (MBA 2010), CEO at ING Türkiye, graciously hosted the event at ING Bank’s headquarters. Professor Whillans shared insights from her research on “time poverty” and the challenges of burnout in the hybrid work era, highlighting how individual solutions often fall short in addressing systemic issues. Following her presentation, she led an engaging discussion on strategies to redesign work structures that enhance employee well-being, productivity, and organizational resilience. Around 20 alumni and friends of HBS attended.

The Creating Emerging Markets project provides a unique research and teaching resource on business leadership in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East over recent decades. At its core are over 180 interviews by Harvard faculty with high impact leaders in business and social enterprise. Read the interview with Naguib Sawiris, Chairman, Orascom TMT Investments.

FIELD Global Immersion gives students the opportunity to make an impact on business abroad. To put what they have learned in the classroom to the test in the field, more than 900 HBS first-year students embarked in May on the FIELD Global Capstone, a cornerstone of the MBA Program since 2012. This experiential learning opportunity dispatches students across the globe to collaborate with local business partners, tackling real-world challenges through intensive project work for up to 10 days. For their project, the six HBS students assigned to work with BMCE Bank (now Bank of Africa) were asked to create a digital product to attract 18 to 24-year-olds to the bank’s services. Since BMCE already had existing university partnerships, the FIELD team conducted more than 100 interviews with students in Casablanca, which informed the team’s extensive design thinking process. During their final presentation to their project partner, the HBS students proposed that rather than introduce a digital product, the bank should create a financial education hub where classes and access to financial advisors would be offered to the city’s young people. Click here for the full article.

To mark its 10 year anniversary milestone, the MENA Research Center unveils a video series aimed at shining a spotlight on the significant diversity of enterprises in our region and the important role played by family businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit shaping local economies. The Center has had the honor of turning some of the powerful stories into HBS case studies, and the videos feature a distinguished lineup of speakers, including faculty members, subject matter experts, and the case protagonists. In addition to those themes, the Research & More segment introduces perspectives from leaders representing key departments at HBS with which the MENA Research Center collaborates: Executive Education, External Relations, Global Initiative, Global Experience Office, and MBA Admissions. Watch the videos here.