Issue 1, Fall 2010
 
As many of you know, this past year has witnessed the launch of the newly structured School of Business at AUC’s state-of-the-art New Cairo campus. While AUC was settling in its new home, the School of Business was already busy working on a multitude of new initiatives. We selected three main pillars to focus and guide our efforts. These pillars represent the skills with which we wish to empower our students: entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership. The adoption of such a distinctive, three-tier thematic approach builds on many years of development, a focus on continuous improvement and dedication by different constituents of the school. The three pillars are timely qualities that complement each other and that we believe are necessary for business and socioeconomic development at the individual, organizational and national levels. One of the highlights of the year is the effort put by the school to establish an interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. The program involves working with relevant stakeholders within AUC and the larger community. It represents a commitment to our mission "to educate principled innovative entrepreneurs who make a difference" by developing human-resource capacities to build value and create prosperity in Egypt, the Arab and African regions, and around the world. Because we believe that moving forward is a vital need for development, the school will not only focus on the region, but will be looking east and south as well.
The first year for me as dean of the school has been both challenging and inspiring. Although we are aware that different challenges will arise, we are clear about our vision and determined about our mission. I am proud of what we have achieved this year — which builds on years of development, progress and continuous improvement — empowered by AUC’s visionary leadership, led by a team of distinguished faculty, administered by a group of experienced staff members, and supported by dedicated constituencies including alumni, students, advisory board members and friends who believe in the educational mission shouldered by AUC's School of Business.
Finally I would like to share with you that I will be officially launching my blog, Deankamel, on October 1, 2010. The blog intends to engage faculty, students, alumni and friends of the School of Business in different discussion topics about our School.
Sherif Kamel
September 2010
>>>Take a look at what we’ve been doing at AUC's School of Business…
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>>Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (EIP)
In his "New Beginning" speech on June 4, 2009 in Cairo, U.S. President Barack Obama announced: "I will host a summit on entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world." The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, held in Washington, D.C. on April 26 - 27, 2010, was attended by Sherif Kamel, dean of AUC’s School of Business, and 14 other Egyptians, along with leaders from across the globe, where a new initiative was launched, the Global Entrepreneurship Program. (GEP). The goal is to leverage entrepreneurship as a tool for international economic development and cooperation. AUC is one of the lead partners in Egypt's GEP, which is the first of two pilot programs to be launched.[Read more] |
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>>MBA with Construction Focus
As you ride to AUC New Cairo, you will note that Road 90 is dotted with as many cranes and construction sites as you might see in Dubai. Recognizing the need for construction engineers and managers to hone their business skills, the School of Business, in collaboration with the School of Sciences and Engineering, has developed an MBA with a specialization in the construction industry. [Read more] |
>>New Bachelor's Degree: Management of Information and Communication Technology
The School of Business and the School of Sciences and Engineering have also developed a new joint major for undergraduates: management of information and communication technology (MICT). This programs aims at producing university graduates with both the technical skills and management ability to operate complex infrastructure found in the rapidly evolving ICT sector. [Read more] |
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>> The Launch
The American University in Cairo held a ceremony in February 2010 to officially launch the newly structured School of Business. The event was attended by alumni and friends, and featured luminaries from the world stage including Egypt's Minister of State for Administrative Development Ahmed Darwish.
"When I was invited to participate in the board of the new business school at AUC, I wasn't really sure what added value the formation of the school could bring. The departments’ reputation was fine, and new programs such as the executive MBA could still be implemented with some coordination. I have to say that one year into the process, the school is being shaped and coming along in steady steps. It is likely to mature in a fast pace to match global changes. AUC will harvest benefits soon. Dean Kamel is orchestrating efforts professionally as expected." Minister Darwish |
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>> Strategic Advisory Board
As part of the School launch, the Dean’s Strategic Advisory Board was unveiled in February 2010, consisting of 37 internationally recognized and prominent members of the business community and academia, who have committed to provide guidance and advice to help in the development of the School of Business. The board is divided into three committees: Strategic Positioning Committee, Program Committee and Corporate Engagement Committee.
One of the radical changes in the Business School that we have all witnessed this year is that sense of creativity, innovation and imagination; as Albert Einstein once said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution”. Dr Adel Danish, Chairman and CEO, Xceed and Chair of the Dean’s Strategic Advisory Board
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 >> Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D)
Adding to the strong lineup of centers at the school, the A2K4D Center was founded in the fall of 2009. The center celebrated the publication of its first book, Access to Knowledge in Egypt: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development, during the school's launch in February 2010.
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>> Real Estate Academy
The Real Estate Academy was launched this year as part of the school's International Executive Education Institute (IEEI) with the goal of facilitating the engagement of real estate professionals in Egypt with international real estate networks. In addition to delivering world-class multilevel training, the academy's programs partnered with leading international institutions.
Since the establishment of the Real Estate Academy, a number of significant events have been held. These include the Real Estate CEO Roundtable Series in November 2009, February 2010 and July 2010; the Real Estate Forum in partnership with the National University of Singapore and Mountain View, attended by Egypt’s Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohie El Din-Minister and a number of international experts; as well as the advanced management program, The Real Estate Life Cycle, held in Singapore on May 16 – 20, 2010.
"Since its inception, the School of Business has earned a reputation for being an innovative institution that seeks to position itself at the cutting edge. For example, it was the first institution in Egypt to recognize the need to develop a structured program for real estate practitioners and has partnered with the National University of Singapore's real estate faculty to establish the first Real Estate Academy." Ambassador Hung Seng Tan,
Ambassador of Singapore in Egypt.
The International Real Estate Forum, November 10, 2009 |
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>> Eduniversal Award - Second Place
Eduniversal, a European federation on education based in Paris, awarded AUC’s School of Business the highest distinction in Egypt in 2009 (up from third place in 2008) and the second highest in Africa, after surveying more than 1,000 business schools globally on schools’ international influence.
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Galal Amin, professor of economics, received the Sultan Bin Al Owais Cultural Foundation Award, which recognizes distinguished works and rich contributions to the Arab culture. Amin’s award was for the humanitarian and futuristic studies section in recognition of his contributions to economics, politics, community and culture. |
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Ahmed Tolba '97,'01, Assistant Professor of Marketing received AUC's Excellent Teacher of the Year Award in 2010. |
| Faculty Appreciation Awards |
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Adel Beshai '63, professor of economics, received a faculty appreciation award honoring his valuable contributions to the graduate programs at the Department of Economics. |
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Medhat Hassanein, professor of banking and finance and Egypt's former minister of finance, received a faculty appreciation award in recognition of his valuable contributions to the graduate programs at the Department of Management. |
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Tarek Amer '80, chair and general manager of the National Bank of Egypt. Amer received his bachelor’s degree in economics from AUC. |
Hassan Abdalla ’82, ’94, vice chairman and managing director of the Arab African International Bank. Abdalla received his bachelor’s degree in business administration and his MBA from AUC. He is also a member of the School of Business’s strategic advisory board. |
Ayman Abdel Latif ’82, ’86, general manager of Microsoft Egypt. Abdel Latif received his bachelor’s degree in business administration and MBA from AUC. |
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School of Business alumna Youmna Amr Safwat '10 joined the award-winning Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) apprenticeship program in its fifth year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from June 19 to July 2, 2010. The award-winning annual training and industry-exposure program paves the way for 10 young people from the region to participate in the highly successful business administration and marketing internship. The winners received hands-on experience by working on projects, visiting and auditing key DSS events, and working closely with the DSS team, gaining valuable training and real-life exposure to best practices in business administration, marketing and events management. During the competition, students were judged on the quality of their essays, and one winner was selected from each market to represent his/her country in the program. Yomna Safwat joins AUC alumna Hadia Saraya, who won the award in 2008. |
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The American University in Beirut (AUB) hosted a Student Case Competition in Lebanon from May 1 to 3, 2010, designed to allow students of leading universities in the region to interact and apply skills they have learned in a practical and professional setting. AUC’s School of Business delegation won first, second and third place. Rosette Wahba, majoring in business administration and finance, ranked first; Farida Kamel, who is double majoring in economics and business administration – finance, ranked second; and Salma Shabrawy, accounting major, came in third. |
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At the Arab African International Bank national competition, the AUC team won third place and received LE 15,000, in addition to a summer internship at the bank. Business administration seniors Ahmed Imam and Eman Abdel Kader developed an innovative financial product, Pocket Account, which is a service that allows subscribers to manage all banking transactions through software installed on mobile phones. Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Hany Helal, attended the closing ceremony on December 22, 2009, together with representatives from the participating universities. |
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Third Festival of Thinkers Conference, Abu Dhabi
In another first for the school, two of our top business students, Rosette Wahba '10 and Mohamed Bahaa '10, were awarded an all-expense paid trip to the United Arab Emirates’s government-sponsored Festival of Thinkers conference. This biennial event is considered a platform to foster and celebrate thinking among youth of the region, allowing them to share ideas and thoughts with a total of 15 Nobel Prize winners, plus 1,000 leaders from the world stage including His Majesty King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf; Cherie Blair, wife of the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair; Mike Moore, former prime minister of New Zealand; Lady Barbara Judge, chair of the UK Atomic Energy Authority; and Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart of Cuba. |
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>> Daniel L. Shapiro, business professor at Harvard University, visited the School of Business and met with Stephen Everhart, associate dean of the school, during his visit to Egypt in October 2009. |
>>The Honorable Gerry Weiner PC, Canada’s former minister of immigration and citizenship and director of investor relations at Pace Global Advantage, held a seminar in October 2009 titled “Canada and the Economic Global Crisis: A Landscape for Opportunity,” along with David Turnbull, director of financial planning and investment at Pace Global Advantage, and founder and chief executive officer of Arch Capital, Inc. |
>> AUC’s International Executive Education Institute organized the Eighth Global Mobility Roundtable Conference in Cairo from November 1 to 3, 2009.
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>> On November 9, 2009, Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund, was invited by the Department of Economics to give a lecture at AUC on "The Economic Outlook of the Middle East Region.” |
>> The university’s 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership Center organized two panel discussions in November 2009 to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week. |
>> BNP Paribas held a daylong recruiting event for students at the School of Business and conducted a seminar on their annual investment challenge in November 2009. This visit to AUC was their first outside continental Europe, and the School of Business was the only university in the Middle East that was invited to participate. |
>> Oliver Blanchard, economic counselor and director of the International Monetary Fund’s research department, spent two days at AUC in December 2009 leading a number of faculty seminars, in addition to a public conference on the global financial crisis. |
>> In December 2009, Elizabeth Fletcher, leading expert at the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, led a two-day conference on assessment and assurance of learning for faculty at the School of Business. |
>> Sherif El Kholy, managing partner of Actis Capital, held a seminar on “Venture Capital Opportunities in Egypt and the Region” in December 2009.
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>> Professor Dipak C. Jain, former dean and professor of marketing and entrepreneurial studies at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, held a lecture on “The Future of Marketing” in February 2010. Jain is a member of the School of Business’s strategic advisory board. The lecture was held in collaboration with the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. |
>> Professor George Yip, dean of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands, held a lecture on “Internationalization of Business Schools” in February 2010. Yip is a member of the School of Business’s strategic advisory board. |
>> Professor Günter Busch, School of Environmental Science and Process Engineering, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus in Germany, held a seminar on renewable energy in March 2010 titled “Producing Biogas from Waste.” |
>> In March 2010, Professor Hassan Aly, chief research economist at the African Development Bank, was invited by the Department of Economics to give a lecture at AUC on "Africa's Recovery from the Global Recession: Opportunities and Challenges.” |
>> Rafik Loutfy, director of the Xerox Center for Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the Walter Booth Chair of Engineering Entrepreneurship and Innovation at McMaster University in Canada, delivered a lecture on March 24, 2010 titled “Making the Leap from the Lab to the Market Place.” |
>>Nina Fedoroff, Hillary Clinton’s science and technical adviser, held a session at the School of Business with Dean Sherif Kamel and Stephen Everhart, associate dean, during her visit to AUC in April 2010.
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>> Professor R. Edward Freeman, professor of business administration, Darden Business School, University of Virginia, held a lecture on “Putting Business and Ethics Together: How Corporate Governance Can Improve Your Bottom Line” in May 2010. The lecture was held in collaboration with the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. |
>> Professor Gabriel Hawawini, The Henry Grunfeld Chaired Professor of Investment Banking, professor of finance and former dean at INSEAD, France, is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of human letters from AUC. He delivered a lecture on "The Greek Crisis and the Future of the Euro" in June 2010. The lecture was held in collaboration with the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. |
>> Professor Stephen Thomas, CASS Business School, City University London, held a lecture on “The Financial Services Industry Post-Crisis: The UK Perspective,” in June 2010. The lecture was held in collaboration with the Egyptian Institute of Directors. |
>> On June 9, 2010, the School of Business hosted the third annual Islamic Finance News Roadshow. The daylong educational event, which spans 17 countries, provided an opportunity for banking professionals, government bodies, insurance companies, lawyers, consultants and others to understand the role they play in the global growth of the industry.
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Osama Saleh, chairman of the Egyptian General
Authority for Investment (GAFI), Egypt
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Panelists at IFN event, June 9, 2010 |
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>>The Department of Economics organized the fifteenth annual conference of the African Econometric Society held at AUC from July 7 to 9, 2010.
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Paul Collier,
CBE
Director of the Center for African Studies,
Oxford University, UK
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John Moore,
President of the Econometric Society
Edinburgh University and London School of Economics, UK |
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School of Business Upcoming Events |
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>> October 20, 2010
Dean's Corner
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The American University in Cairo
School of Business
AUC Avenue - P.O. Box 74 - New Cairo 11835 - Egypt
This issue of School of Business eNews was published in September 2010
For more information, please contact the School of Business eNews editor, sbeditor@aucegypt.edu
© 2010 School of Business |
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