IBA unveils its new Executive MBA Programme

The Institute of Business Administration Karachi (IBA) held a curtain-raiser event on Friday for its new Executive MBA Programme, developed in collaboration with the Stanford Life Design Lab.

This programme has been designed to equip senior managers for leadership roles. Executive Director IBA Karachi Dr Syed Akbar Zaidi said that the Executive MBA is their flagship programme making good on their promise of developing leadership for tomorrow.

He said that the programme had been designed to create leaders who can balance the needs and expectations of all stakeholders, including the industry, society, and the planet, by pursuing competitiveness, growth and sustainability simultaneously.

The restructuring of the Executive MBA Programme, he said, reflects the IBA’s shift from a business school to a broader institute of higher learning. He added that while the IBA’s flagship programmes remain the MBA and Executive MBA, the institute is expanding with diverse programmes such as the BS in Business Analytics.

The IBA’s Dean of the School of Business, Dr Abdullah Zafar Sheikh, spoke about the programme and shared that the IBA EMBA is wholly based on block teaching modules, which is a unique feature as it offers a great deal of flexibility and allows global faculty to travel from their home institutions to the IBA Karachi, to teach our students.

The programme director of MBA and Executive MBA programmes at the IBA’s School of Business, Dr Muhammad Shafique, said that their Executive MBA has been designed to transform senior executives into strategic leaders steering their enterprises towards competitiveness, growth and sustainability.

Assistant Professor SBS & Faculty Lead - Stanford and IBA Collaboration Dr. Azam Ali, and Co-Founder of Designing Your Life Stanford Life Design Lab IBA Junaid Aziz shared their insights on the restructured IBA Executive MBA programme and how it is going to impact the business leadership in the country.

IBA-EMBA alumni also attended the event and shared their experiences, reflecting on what they had learned and the future of the business landscape in the country. The IBA is now accepting applications for its Executive MBA program for Fall 2025, a Level-7 graduate programme designed to cultivate leadership capital for executives in both the private and public sectors.

Delivered through an Immersive Block Model (IBM) and structured over 22 months with alternate weekend sessions, the program offers a multidisciplinary curriculum enriched with corporate mentorship. A key highlight of the EMBA experience is its international immersion in Silicon Valley, providing participants with global exposure and innovative insights. In collaboration with the Stanford Life Design Lab, the IBA-EMBA program continues to empower professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to drive sustainable growth and international competitiveness.