Online session on Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses and the Role of Leadership

May 4, 2020: Assistant Professor at the IBA Karachi, Dr. Nasir Afghan arranged a Zoom session titled, "Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses and the Role of Leadership" for IBA's MBA students. The panelists included: Business Development Manager at Techlogix FZ Dubai, Mr. Rai Hadayat Ali and Managing Partner at A.I. MIR, Mir I Azhar.

The panelists discussed and highlighted that although it is impossible to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, there are certain elements leaders may follow as a guiding compass. Empathy, courage, and optimism would be decisive traits of leadership to navigate through this difficult time effectively. In the sphere of digital commerce, telemedicine, and automation, the COVID-19 pandemic could prove to be a decisive turning point. They also highlighted that leaders need to envision quickly how the crisis will continue to affect the competitive environment and what the society's needs will be in the coming months and years. They also added that digitaltransformation has accelerated and is a top priority now; and this would eventually pave way for higher value creation and unorthodox career options.