A step towards the corporate world

NSUers Meets Corporate Icons, better known as NMCI, held its 7th session on October 16 and 17, 2016. It was organised by the student run club-- NSU YES!. There attended major corporate icons in this two-day event.  The event offered the students of North South University (NSU) to interact with these icons and learn from their knowledge and experiences. This year, the theme behind the event was  ‘The Next Step’, which incorporates the idea that students need to know which step to take next-- whether it is a major to choose from, a master's degree or a professional degree.
The first session of first day, 'Entrepreneurship vs Corporate Jobs' featured  Affan Mahmud, CEO of Boomerang Digital, who told the audience, "To be an entrepreneur, you need to be patient, have courage, start young, and don't be afraid to make mistakes." Alongside him spoke Hashmi Rafsanjani, Country Marketing Consultant of Google BD, who shared his insights for climbing the corporate ladder. According to Rafsanjani, "You don't need to be the best in what you do - brand yourself as the only person who can do it the best."
In the second session of first day Rouham Manzoor, Managing Partner of MACES, shared his thoughts on the idea of studying abroad. He mentioned that a lot of factors come into play when seeking higher education, particularly one's own career goals, immigration goals and self-financing capability should be prioritised before reaching a final decision. The final session of day 1 centred on ‘Supply Chain vs. Marketing’ was conducted by Saad Bin Faruq, Supply Network Planner of Berger Paints BD, who provided prospective students a short glimpse of the true nature of supply chain management. “Efficiency of 4 dollars might not mean a lot to consumers but from the other end to Apple this 4-dollar efficiency can help them make profit upto 200 million dollar by selling 50 million phones”, he added.
Tasnuva Ayesha Haque, Brand Manager of Berger Paints BD, said, “Marketing is not just about the theoretical concepts one learns”  and went on to share her experience in the new era of marketing-- content marketing and digital marketing.
 On the first session of the second day, Jesmin Ehsan, Chief Finance Director (CFO) of LM Ericsson, talked about the significance of professional degrees in the job market and how obtaining a CIMA degree had pushed her career to greater heights. She mentioned getting a professional degree was imperative if someone wanted to climb the 'Finance Ladder', whether in Bangladesh or abroad.
The second session of second day focused on ‘Local Corporations vs. Multinational Corporations’. The Managing Director of Prime Bank, Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury shone some light into the pros and cons of working in a local company. The Chief Marketing Officer of Grammenphone Ltd, Telenor group, Yasir Azman drew on his experience to showcase the rewards and challenges one will face when working for a multinational corporation. Mr Azman added, "We'll never get something on day 1 but nevertheless, we need to hold on to our faith and confidence to get where we want to eventually."
In the final session of NMCI, Director of Pubali Bank Kabiruzzaman Yaqub shared invaluable information regarding the various sectors of managerial accounting. He said, “Someone needs to be measuring, recording and analysing your business, and that someone is a managerial accountant.”
 Masud Khan, the Chief Financial Officer of Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd, exclaimed "Do you understand that numbers make the world go round? Do you want to be in an industry that is constantly evolving and making money? Then finance is the right place for you!" He went on to talk about the sort of development one needs to have on the inside in order to achieve greater heights in an accounting career.
 NSU YES happens to be the very first business club of NSU and is directly involved in organising some of the biggest and wildly popular business competitions of the country, such as ‘Ad Maker Bangladesh’ and ‘Masters of Ideation’.  NSUers Meets Corporate Icons (NMCI) has been gaining popularity not only among students of NSU but also to the people of the corporate world.
The writer is currently in third year in the BBA programme of North South University, [email protected]