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Maverick Mentorship Program – Spring 2025
No full textIBA CDC successfully held the Maverick Mentorship Program at IBA Karachi, offering track-specific guidance for students in IT, Social Sciences, and Business Studies. Students benefited from personalized CV reviews, career guidance, and industry insights—empowering them to move forward with clarity and confidence.https://ir.iba.edu.pk/career-development-center-gallery/1124/thumbnail.jp
MS Development Studies – Group Mentoring & Career Guidance
No full textIBA CDC was honored to host Ms. Naima Azam, a development professional with 15+ years of experience. She shared valuable insights on thriving in the social and development sector—emphasizing tailored resumes, resilience, volunteer work, and empathy-driven leadership.
The interactive session provided students with actionable career advice and left a lasting impact. We thank Ms. Azam for inspiring our future changemakers
Parvaaz Mentorship Program – Cohort III Kicks Off
No full textThe Parvaaz Mentorship Program – Cohort III officially launched on June 3rd, 2025, with a successful Meet and Greet Session at the IBA Main Campus. The event brought together mentors and mentees for their first in-person interaction—an opportunity to connect, align expectations, and lay the foundation for a year of growth, guidance, and professional development. We’re excited to witness the journeys that will unfold through this impactful mentorship experience.https://ir.iba.edu.pk/career-development-center-gallery/1128/thumbnail.jp
Parvaaz Mentorship Program – Cohort III Kicks Off
No full textThe Parvaaz Mentorship Program – Cohort III officially launched on June 3rd, 2025, with a successful Meet and Greet Session at the IBA Main Campus. The event brought together mentors and mentees for their first in-person interaction—an opportunity to connect, align expectations, and lay the foundation for a year of growth, guidance, and professional development. We’re excited to witness the journeys that will unfold through this impactful mentorship experience.https://ir.iba.edu.pk/career-development-center-gallery/1141/thumbnail.jp
PORTRAYALS OF TRAUMA POST CATASTROPHE A Comparative Study of The Setting Sun and A Promised Land
No full textThis thesis is a comparative analysis of Osamu Dazai’s The Setting Sun and Khadija Mastur’s A Promised Land. It examines how each novel portrays collective, cultural, and psychological traumas experienced by the society as a collective in post-war Japan and post-Partition South Asia. This thesis draws from trauma theories of Gilad Hirschberger’s “Collective Trauma”, Judith Herman’s “Psychological Trauma”, and Jeffrey C. Alexander’s “Cultural Trauma” to study how each novel makes sense of the disruptions caused by historical disaster. Its focus is on the crisis of meaning that emerges when established social orders collapse and how that influences identity. Close readings of both texts reveal that trauma experienced can manifest in melancholic introspection and the silent endurance of daily life. The research found that both novels resist neat trauma recovery arcs and portray trauma as a quiet and ongoing presence. For Dazai, trauma surfaces through existential despair and the erosion of inherited structures. For Mastur, it appears in muted endurance and the burden of unspoken loss. While the characters take different paths, they share a common struggle to remake meaning in the absence of coherent frameworks. This study concludes that literature creates a space where histories of pain that are often overlooked by official accounts, can be remembered. It becomes a medium through which trauma is made visible. This thesis argues that each novel’s literary representations fill in the gaps left by official histories which offer a look into the ways literature preserves memory, and bears witness to the ongoing negotiation of meaning after collective disaster by bringing Japanese and South Asian trauma narratives into dialogue
Contextualizing psychosocial interventions of schizophrenia to Pakistan
No full textSchizophrenia, a complex and chronic mental disorder, poses significant treatment challenges, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like Pakistan. While pharmacological interventions address core symptoms, they often fail to consider the socio-cultural dimensions crucial to patient engagement and recovery. This study explores the cultural adaptation of psychosocial interventions for schizophrenia in Pakistan, with a focus on how mental health professionals perceive their applicability and effectiveness. Employing a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four mental health practitioners, each with experience in treating schizophrenia. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes: the dominance of Western therapeutic frameworks, the lack of formal guidelines for cultural adaptation, resource limitations, and the influence of traditional healing practices. Participants emphasized tailoring language, concepts, and delivery methods to the Pakistani context while navigating socioeconomic and infrastructural constraints. The findings highlight the disconnect between Western-designed interventions and the lived realities of Pakistani patients, pointing to the need for contextually grounded strategies. Interventions such as CuLFI and STOPS+ are discussed as promising culturally adapted models. Additionally, the research underscores the potential benefits and ethical considerations of integrating traditional and spiritual healing with biomedical care. The study calls for the development of standardized guidelines for culturally adapted psychosocial treatments, increased collaboration across sectors, and expanded mental health infrastructure. By centering cultural relevance, this research aims to enhance the accessibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of schizophrenia treatment in Pakistan
Hyperreality in Pakistani dramas: Simulating gender roles, emotions, and audience perception
No full textIn an era of constant media proliferation and image bombardment, the line between what is real and what is fake has become increasingly blurred. It is becoming harder to distinguish which aspects of television dramas reflect reality and which are shaping it. This collapse of boundaries has led to what Jean Baudrillard calls hyperreal, a state where the fake does not just mimic reality, it replaces it.
This paper explores how the fictional realities shown in Pakistani dramas are often taken as real by audiences. These representations are internalized and shape how people view the world around them.
Throughout the paper, I use Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, simulacra, and hyperreality as the central analytical framework. Using this lens, I analyze dramas specifically Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Mere Pass Tum Ho, arguing that these shows present a curated, distorted version of reality. Beneath a façade of gender empowerment and emotional complexity, they often reinforce problematic narratives.
This study is based on content analysis of these dramas, along with a review of secondary literature. It encourages viewers to approach such media critically, not as mirrors of real life but as carefully constructed fiction that should not dictate how we see ourselves or others
Predicting Population Pressure on Food Systems of Pakistan: A Study Under Malthusian Theory
No full textPakistan’s population is ever-increasing and is expected to exceed 400 million by 2050. (Ali, 2024) This has several serious implications for the country\u27s socioeconomic structure and key resources, including food. We collaborated with Pakistan Agriculture Research for this project to assess the food resource situation for the forecasted population in 2050. The main purpose of this study is to forecast the growing population and food production along with whether or not will we able to sustain our population with the forecasted food produced. Incorporating a quantitative approach, the study attempts to forecast key variables such as population and food production, which includes all major, minor, and livestock products that are used in the daily meals of the people of Pakistan. Multiple machine learning, time series forecasting and demographic models were used to generate robust and interpretable forecasts during this study.
The data for this research was collected from a combination of national and international research sources. The major sources used were United Nations, World Health Organization, Food and Agricultural Organization, Pakistan Bureau Statistic, and Pakistan Agriculture Research. This study highlights that even though the food production will increase in upcoming years up till 2050, the population and the nutritional demand is forecasted to increase substantially, suggesting that there will be a shortfall in the supply of the nutritional resources in Pakistan compared to the nutritional demand in 2050. This observation gives rise to the multiple implications and new policies such as nutrition-focused agricultural policy which promotes food production not just for the sheer volume but also for it’s nutrient diversity, and the Minimum Sales Price Policy for the farmers to promote agriculture in the country
Repositioning Chocolatto: A Strategic Analysis of Brand Equity and Consumer Value Perception
No full textThis report will give an extensive account of the brand equity, market penetration, the pricing and marketing strategy of a prime center-filled biscuit (Chocolatto) of Ismail Industries Limited (Bisconni Division) in Karachi, urban FMCG product market. The study uses a mixed design that is comprised of both qualitative research methodology (focus groups, in-depth interviews) and quantitative research methodology (surveys, willingness-to-pay analysis, sentimental analysis) to assess the consumer perception, emotional attachment, brand recall and preferred competitive positioning of Chocolatto. The most important implications are that though the brand has high awareness and trial levels, the brand encounters the struggle of maintaining consumer loyalty, distinction among its competitors, firstly, center filled biscuits and secondly, sandwich biscuits and also retail presence and pricing. According to the research, there are deficiencies in the areas of product innovation functions related to the product and packaging communication, the emotional branding elements, opportunities that are in terms of premiumization and retail execution. These gaps are addressed by offering strategic recommendations such as improving products and packaging, establishing price structure, strategic retailing and emotionally appealing brand campaigns. Considering bisconni positions chocolatto as a mass premium brand it still lacks in reaching that mass market through it\u27s marketing efforts. The areas where marketing is done is not where the target consumer is which causes low engagement even though the efforts are high. The solutions and recommendations discussed in this report provide a guide to structuring the brand equity of Chocolatto and establishing its dominance in the premium biscuit competitive market
Enhancing Market Competitiveness and Operational Efficiency of Lucky Cement Limited
No full textThe objective of this experiential learning project (ELP) was to develop a detailed and strong financial model of Lucky Cement Limited, one of the major operators in cement industry in Pakistan. Our primary objective in the project consisted of the prediction of Lucky Cement financial statements in order to determine its operational efficiency and profitability in the long run. We conducted a rigorous study and analyzed the competition status of the company in the domestic markets and whether expansion of exports to the international markets was tenable or not. Some of the parameters that have been built in the financial model are the macroeconomic values like inflation, interest and exchange rates, GDP growth and spending on expenditure on PSDP. These are some of assumptions that it took to model future revenue streams of Lucky Cement. Our financial model followed a mixture of top-down and bottom-up approaches. We used various strategies, such as regression analysis and the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) valuation model, to assess the company’s profitability. This report has a thorough competitive analysis of Lucky Cement to support our findings. It also highlights macroeconomic risks such as high interest rates, currency depreciation, and rising input costs, which might impact Lucky Cement’s profitability in the future, along with effective mechanisms to address those risks efficiently. Our analysis shows a strong link between Lucky Cements’ sales growth and the overall economic growth of the country. Despite record-high profitability with significant year-on-year growth in profit-after-tax, up by 2.7x at 13.5 billion, concerns such as economic stability and fluctuating coal prices remain a threat to the company. Based on our findings, our key recommendations would be to further expand into export markets and reduce dependence on domestic markets. Renewable energy should be adopted to reduce cost exposure and improve operational efficiency. Keywords: Financial Analysis, Financial Modeling, Valuation, Cement, Economy, Profitability, Exports, Operational efficiency, Cos