“The Coronavirus has emerged as an opportunity to stall this free fall in the short term and has forced us to do some introspection”, expressed Dr. Shahid Qureshi, Associate Professor and Program Director, AMAN Centre for Entrepreneurial Development, IBA, during an exclusive Q&A session on COVID-19 on the market and start-up eco-system with our editor in Chief.
1. What impacts does this recent outbreak is having on the market? Do you think we will be able to recover from this?
Post industrial revolution, the whole world acted like a monster to consume resources in a non-sustainable way. To start with, first the nations and then the corporations colluded to control the natural resources, and created entry barriers to manipulate the markets. The whole world was divided in to developed and non-developed nations. The developing nations were called factor driven economies by economists and were providers of cheap raw material to the developed nations. Post 1990s, the world moved towards consumerism and we witnessed the shift of many wants in to needs. The rich and poor divide deepened further. All of this hastened the environmental degradation of the mother planet. Humanity witnessed an unprecedented damage to clean air, water resources, and organically rich soil etc. The whole world was in a state of free fall.
In the short term, there is a severe impact on the markets as the manufacturing and distribution across the globe has come to a grinding halt. As the Corona peak wave has passed in China and Europe, we are witnessing the revival of the market activities in those countries. It is hoped that it will take another six months to come to a new normal.
The human beings of this planet have to find a new normal post Corona to make this world a livable place for the future generations.
2. What plans do you have as one of the prestigious institutions to assist with this?
An entrepreneurial mindset having a very high sensitivity towards environmental, social and ethical concerns is required to find the new normal. Edward D. Hess (Professor at Darden) had been pointing out for the past few years that humility is the new smart. The whole world has to think like one family. Henry Mintzberg at McGill had been reminding about the imbalance that is causing the degradation of our environment, the demise of our democracies, and the denigration of ourselves. Great thinkers like Ed Freeman have been emphasizing since the mid-1980s through his stakeholder theory that a firm should create value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
All of the Universities have to play a major role in developing this mindset in the society. IBA being one of the oldest business school has been proactive to in responding to this call in this emergent crisis. During the lock down the IBA Center for Entrepreneurial Development initiated a nationwide online course called “The Entrepreneurial mindset” based on the above-mentioned propositions for the common people of Pakistan. Around 4,000 people registered in for this course.
IBA, in unison with other universities around the globe, need to promote the entrepreneurial mindset along with its application to achieve the SDGs declared by the United Nations.
3. Has conducting classes remotely been proven to be the right way to educate the masses or we will have to switch back to conventional methods of teaching?
Online education was a bit challenging due to technology issues and the learning curve time for both faculty and students. However, after a couple of months many faculty have found this to be interesting and effective mode of instruction and knowledge dissemination. A mixed method of teaching i.e. the use of both online and face to face will emerge as both the faculty and students get used to it. Many online programs similar to the ones in US and Europe are expected to emerge. COVID-19 has brought a new opportunity for the universities to reach far-flung areas of the country and even attract the global audience.
4. Do you think our current education system is addressing reskilling and up-skilling challenges?
Our education system needs a major revamp. In 2016, Gerald F. Davis, the author of the Vanishing American Corporation posited that the days of careers are gone as the large corporations are vanishing. Career have moved to jobs and the jobs have further moved to tasks i.e. the gig economy. Only a fraction of the graduating students will have access to a career.
On the other hand, the universities, faculty, and curriculum are preparing graduates for careers in large corporations. There is a huge mismatch with contemporary needs. The online courses from Coursera, Edex, Udemy, Teachable and lectures on YouTube etc. are creating a disruptive innovation and opening new learning opportunities. Many employers like Google, Microsoft are asking for skills rather than degrees. It is an uphill task for our current education system to first unlearn and then learn the new normal.
5. What will the business and education system look like post COVID-19? Are drastic changes to be expected?
There is an expected slowdown in the travel and tourism industry, automobile industry (need to focus on renewable energy) and the construction industry (to find innovative and cost effective solutions). This slowdown will have its ripple effects on other sectors as well. Online shopping and online education, work from home will become more popular. The business will have to focus more on innovation, creativity, lean systems and compatibility with the SDGs.
The education system will be under pressure to cut down the costs and offer degrees and courses, which have the potential to enhance the employability and enable them to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. Short-term courses and degrees and online courses will be a potential threat to the costly degree programs across the world.
Talking education from roots, does STEAM is a good start for analytical and reasoning skills? Later, during primary level education, assembling and un-assembling of systems and placing kids in operational study can be part of curriculum. From 6th grade, entrepreneur and citizenship must be taught to kids. Very fine answers and well articulated material to read tonight. Wonderful Dr. Shahid Qureshi and Marahim.
conditions CoviD_19 in This environment right
Now that conditions of Pakistan’s and all around
the world for Covid _19 So Bad conditions. But IBA institute institute are going really Great work with Online classe this is remarkable say words for IBA..