The students of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA)-University of Dhaka-- the business school that offers quality business education in Bangladesh--have always endeavoured to reach the peak of their latent talent, be it regarding academics or co-curricular activities. Since its launching of BBA programme in IBA in 1993, the students of the institute have felt the need to channel their passion and enthusiasm for extra curricular activities besides pursuing business studies. With that aim in mind, the students of this institution came forward with a club to assist themselves in achieving what they have always craved for. Thus came into being IBA Debating club (IBADC), that was later renamed as IBA Communication Club (IBACC) in 2002.
The club is led by the students of the four batches of BBA programme, under the coordination of a faculty member- moderator. The club offers its students a platform where they can showcase the true potential of their leadership and make their voices heard. In the words of the current teacher-moderator of IBACC, Dr. Md Rezaul Kabir, assistant professor of IBA-DU, ‘Our institute takes pride in all aspects of its communication club as it lives up to its name of being one of the most prestigious student organisations.’
In 2004, IBADC organised its first ever major event at national level- Greenmint-Prothom Alo Inter-Business School Debate Competition. IBACC, thereafter being renamed, has organised and hosted debate tournaments and various flagship business and marketing competitions. Mentionable among them are IBA National English Debate Championship, Brandwitz (an inter business-school marketing and branding competition) and HSBC-IBA Business Case Competition. Among the publications by IBACC, there are ‘Polemics’ which is the official souvenir of National Debate Competition and ‘Brandedge’ that comes out as the official souvenir of Brandwitz.
IBACC brought into picture a new business competition at the start of this month. Targeting the business competition enthusiasts to broaden their horizons even further, IBACC launched a brand new competition ‘Finwitz’ on November 13, 2017. Professor Dr. AKM Saiful Majid, director of IBA-DU, Dr. Md. Rezaul Kabir, assistant professor and moderator of IBACC and Rashed Hasan, senior vice-president of LR Global Bangladesh, along with other officials and organisers were present there. Throughout the launching period, IBACC conducted 16 roadshows, organised seminars and published posts.
According to Meftahul Arnob, the current president of IBACC, ‘Our club is always committed to providing newer platforms to students so that the students get the best opportunity to showcase their potential in various fields. We were looking for a radical business competition format, which has not been attempted or organised in Bangladesh before. This is why we focused on investment management and came up with this idea that essentially inspired the current committee to launch a brand new competition called Finwitz.’ The competition itself has been designed to span over four challenging rounds that gives the competitors a platform to hone their number crunching and decision-making skills.
The achievements’ book of IBACC has its golden pages filled with numerous international and national achievements in debate championships and business competitions. Some in the debate category are OIC Intervarsity Debate Championship 2010, 15th All Asian Debate Championship; in the international business competition category are HSBC Young Entrepreneurs Award, Global Social Venture Competition, PolyU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Global Student Challenge, Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition and The CIMA Global Business Challenge. Among the new national competitions, there are CreADive, AD Maker, Sellsation, Marketing Samurai, Corporiddlerz, Socio Camp and YouthFest.
The writer is a student at Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. She can be reached at [email protected]
