The Middle East and Africa news

Every week, IE Communications Department releases one video about its professors which shows their different sides beside the academic one. This week’s video is about Supply Chain and Operations Professor, Mr. Cui Zhijian who is also very passionate in Chinese Opera.

For more information and videos about “the other sides” of IE Professors;

http://theotherside.blogs.ie.edu/

According to HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA), Islamic bond sales in Turkey may double to $3 billion this year. The reason behind this forecast is the fact that companies started to access to Shariah-compliant investors as a result of seeking new sources. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who is the Prime Minister of Turkey and heads the Islamic rooted Justice and Development Party is promoting Shariah-compliant finance in order to engage more with the Arab world. One of the managing directors of debt capital markets at HSBC stated that “Arguably we can double from last year. That’s a market we are very excited about.”

To read the full article of Bloomberg;

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-07/hsbc-sees-2013-sukuk-sales-doubling-to-3-billion-turkey-credit.html

This past weekend the IESE Spring Games, one of the most important sporting events for MBA student athletes, was held. IMBA graduate (2011) Rupert Fornell reports:

This was my third time participating in the IESE Spring Games, but the challenge was the same as ever: to be the Men’s Football Champions. This title has always eluded the IE alumni team, until this weekend. Being part of the IE alumni team has had its ups and downs, but our final results were more than worth the hard work.

We first played against Bocconi from Italy, winning 3-1, and followed that match with a victory over ESADE with a result of 4-0. The last classifying game was against IESE 1. We played Saturday, April 27 at 19:00. Since we knew we had already classified for the finals, our coach, Ignacio Comella, rested several players so that they would be ready to tackle the semifinals and finals. We lost the match, 1-0, placing us in second place in the group.

On Sunday we faced the biggest challenge yet: the semifinals against IESE 2, followed by the final against IESE 1, the only team we hadn’t yet beaten. Yet being the key word! We won IESE 2: 1-0, and IESE 1:3-0.

I can’t deny that our 3-0 victory was incredibly rewarding. Our success was due to Ignacio and our international team of 19 players from many countries such as Venezuela, Portugal, Egypt, Andorra, Mexico, Canada and Spain. The most important aspect of the experience was our effective teamwork and networking, as well as our determination.

As our competing teams said, we’ll see each other in Madrid at the October championships! I’m sure the good times and friendships will continue.

But for now, I can’t stop saying… WE’RE THE CHAMPIONS! And I know the whole IE community will share in our happiness and be proud of us!

Our CHAMPS: Jorge Farinha, Gonçalo Diniz, Luis Arreaza, Francisco Fuentes Mella, Rupert Fornell, Guillermo Antonio, Carlos Bello, Francisco Escanez, Ahmed Mohen, Moacir J. Baracho, Mike Kaz, Kiko Romano, José Fontes, Joao Pedro Matos, Christophe Le Mao, Ramón Pijoan, Lucas Monteys, Francisco Micheloto, Andrés Mendoza, David Fernandes.

Coach: Ignacio Comella

Interested in joining the IE Football Club? Click here for more information.

You don’t expect an accountancy professor to be much fun, do you? Well, the beauty of life consists of expecting the unexpected. It was an absolute pleasure to listen to Prof. Trombetta talking not only about the dark side of numbers and financial literacy, but also about one of his favorite bands, Pink Floyd.

http://theotherside.blogs.ie.edu/floydcounting/

A new era started in Kenya last weekend. Uhuru Kenyatta, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, won election Saturday as Kenya’s new President. He is the son of Kenya’s first president, the nation’s independence hero, and many Kenyans believe in him to embrace all ethnic groups and bring peace and democracy to the country. Moreover, Kenya has a crucial role in Africa and Kenyans also expect him to boost the economic growth and help poor people in the country.

For further reading;

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/04/201349752557578.html

IE University received the Special Jury Prize from the ‘Segovia Experience’ awards, organized by the Provincial Government of Segovia. IE University was recognized for being one of the best universities in Spain and for appearing in the top thirty in the world, according to several international education rankings.

The awards ceremony was held at the Teatro Juan Bravo of Segovia, and counted with the presence of social and political authorities from the region. The Special Award was received by the Rector, Salvador Carmona, who in his speech stressed the closeness of the institution, his commitment to Segovia and his aspiration to make this campus “a reference of quality higher education in Europe.” He also assured that his students, from 80 nationalities, deeply appreciate the city and reiterated his desire to “place Segovia in the sector of International Education.”

Carmona revealed that Segovia is a city opened to the world, multicultural, creative and innovative; he also added that “we are very proud to spread its name through the activities organized by our twenty-four international offices around the world.”

For more news about IE University;

http://news.university.ie.edu/

The Iran Dialogues – 1.

“Talking to Iran”

Ambassador Seyyed Hossein Mousavian, Princeton University

• Madrid, Wednesday 13 March 2013
• 17:00-18:30 at IE, C/ Maria de Molina11, Aula Magna

The challenge of the nuclear issue, and the question of the international sanctions against Iran, have “crowded out” all other issues in dialogue with (and on) Iran, especially those where it has been demonstrated that it is possible for Iran and the US to find some important common ground, such as in Afghanistan, Syria and other issues. If the nuclear issue has been turned into a zero-sum-game, other issues could present an opportunity to both widen the scope of discussions between Iran and the West, and to get closer to a solution of the nuclear problem. Furthermore, for both sides in this dialogue, internalising a closer understanding of culturally-specific concepts which condition the starting points for dialogue negotiations – on both sides – will be critical for establishing a framework which allows both sides to come out as “winners”.

“Talking to Iran” is the first in a series of discussions to be held in IE as part of the Iran Dialogues series. 

Dr. Hossein Mousavian is an associate research scholar at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. From 1997 to 2005, he was the head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s National Security Council; from 2003 to 2005, he served as spokesman for Iran in its nuclear negotiations with the European Union. He is author of “The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir” published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in June 2012.

IE is one of the leading European higher education institutions not only by its academic excellence, but also fostering innovation and entrepreneurship through integrating them into the curriculum. Obviously, the experience in higher education for 40 years has helped IE to build this success and recognition but more importantly, it has also created a huge network in different industries during this period. Our Alumni make up more than 40.000 people within this network. The event which will be held on 10th of March in Tel Aviv is a great opportunity to meet some of these alumni and learn their experience in IE. This event will be hosted Boris Nowalski, IE Managing Director of North America and participants will have a chance to speak with our alumni and ask any questions regarding to IE.

You can register for the event via this link and also check for upcoming IE events all over the world!

http://events.ie.edu/

Some people think Entrepreneurship is an asset that you either have or don´t when you are born. Peter Bryant, Professor in the Entrepreneurship Department at IE, argued the opposite. He believes that entrepreneurship can be learned even in high school and in this article he offers an example from Johannesburg. One of the high schools in Joburg provides education to students which is quite special in terms of inoculating the entrepreneur spirit and even encouraging them to start their own business! They are learning to adapt to different environments,taking risks and combining their analytic thinking skills with imagination and creativity.

To read the full article of Peter Bryant;

http://www.ideate.co.za/2013/02/22/thinking-like-an-entrepreneur/