Meet Ivey’s MBA Class of 2020

Shirin Ahmed

Ivey Business School at Western University

ā€œGlobe trotter; foodie; passionate about applying design and technology to create sustainable global change.ā€

Hometown: New York, USA & Islamabad, Pakistan

Fun Fact About Yourself: My sister and I have the exact same name! Once, my flight was canceled because the airline thought it was a duplicate booking.

Undergraduate School and Major: Yale University, Political Science and International Studies

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: International Rescue Committee, Senior Strategy Advisor

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While working for Yaleā€™s Global Health Research Institute, I initiated an entrepreneurial venture called PremieBreathe, a low-cost medical device that aimed to significantly reduce newborn mortality in Ethiopia. With no resources, I took the initiative to recruit engineering students to build a team to devise prototypes of the idea. Simultaneously, I developed partnerships with hospitals in Ethiopia that could advise on product fit within the local context. Despite limited resources, my team and I found creative ways to raise funds to further product development. In 2016, we received our first big break with a $250,000 Saving Lives at Birth grant from USAID to finalize product manufacturing and initiate clinical trials in Ethiopia. This funding was critical to the project, providing credibility and external validation that our idea had the potential to significantly change the standard of care and save newborn lives in resource-limited settings.

Describe your biggest accomplishment at Ivey so far: While a liberal arts degree from Yale and my work have given me robust experience in qualitative research, I have always found myself uncomfortable with the quantitative side of academia. Starting out at Ivey, the first six weeks of Finance were quite a struggle as we made our way through concepts on debt, the dividend discount model, and (my now-favorite) WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital). However, these concepts intrigued me and I didnā€™t want my past discomfort with numbers to get in the way of my future learning. I spent extra time to work through the coursework and sought help from my professor and classmates. Today, not only do I personally enjoy our discussions on company valuations and mergers, but I can confidently explain many of these concepts to my peers. Only three months into the program, Ivey has already pushed me out of my comfort zone to learn concepts that were completely novel to me and contribute meaningfully in class.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates youā€™ve met so far and why? Having grown up in Pakistan, lived in the United States, and worked professionally across Africa, I was looking forward to being part of a global network. Ivey brings together people who have lived and worked around the world and across many industries. The small class size allows us to build meaningful connections with each other while the group projects and case discussions bring out the varied perspectives of each individual to enrich our learnings. There are often times when we disagree with each other. However, those ā€œdevilā€™s advocatesā€ and ā€œpush-backsā€ add to the richness of the discussion. At the end of the day, despite our differences, our eagerness to learn and our values bring us together and ensure that we support and build on each otherā€™s ideas.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? Having lived in the US for the past 15 years, I was looking to move to Canada to be closer to family and my partner. I wanted to find a school that would provide me with a strong network in the country. Just a few months in, I find myself deeply appreciating this community, both within my current classmates and the alumni. Whether it is offering advice on how to navigate the busy schedule at Ivey or doing mock interviews, it is truly humbling to see alumni taking time out of their busy schedules to support our class. I look forward to building strong professional and personal connections that will make for a smoother transition to Canada.

What club or activity have you enjoyed the most at Ivey so far? Most recently, Ivey hosted a Cross-Enterprise Leadership exercise, where we explored the use of design thinking approaches and the role of artificial intelligence in business. Having spent the last 3 years at the International Rescue Committee applying design thinking principles to address challenges in the humanitarian sector, I was really excited to challenge myself and apply these approaches to a wide variety of industries and topics. In just a few hours of brainstorming, it was fascinating to see my classmates come up with ideas that ranged from using AI to address the waiting times in hospitals to improving classroom learning to find a ā€œcompatible partner.ā€ We spent another half day prototyping, bringing together both the analytical and creative perspectives and giving life to these ideas.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? While the last six years of my work in the social impact space has been truly meaningful, I often struggled to figure out how we might create a business model that would ensure that our solutions could be sustainable in the long run. The broad spectrum of academic and professional training provided through Iveyā€™s MBA is an opportunity for me to learn from those outside of the non-profit sector and ultimately apply this business mindset to create sustainable change in the social innovation space.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I considered a couple of US-based programs in New York. Once I had decided to move to Canada, I only applied to schools in Canada. This was to ensure that I could build local connections and start building my professional network in Canada.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? As I researched schools, a couple of factors were key to my decision. First, having spent the last 6 years in the workforce, I wanted to be part of an educational system that prioritized applied learning and practice. Iveyā€™s case-based system aligned perfectly and has enabled me to learn key business theories and their real-world applications. Secondly, I was looking for a school that went beyond academics. In less than three months, we have already engaged in a host of activities including networking simulations, team-based workshops, and club events ā€“ all of which ensure that our technical business education is adequately complemented with tools to help develop our leadership, management, and communication skills.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? I spent a summer during college in Uganda, interning with a local community-based organization four hours away from the capital, Kampala. As young and naive students of international development, all of us were eager to improve the conditions of the community in the mere 3 months that we planned to spend there. However, our paternalistic bubbles were soon broken as we realized we had neither the resources nor the understanding of the challenges in the community. I ended up spending the rest of the summer learning from village leaders and community members. Working with them, we initiated small-scale initiatives to help address healthcare challenges in the community. Those three months challenged my traditional thinking on international development, as I realized that an understanding of challenges and the solutions all lie within the local community. If we want to further sustainable improvements, it is our responsibility to listen to those around us and co-create solutions with them. Since then, I have devoted my life to social impact but in a way that allows me to learn from others, appreciate the diversity in ideas, and work directly with those affected by adversity.

Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I hope to leverage my experiences in social impact and my business education to launch a social enterprise that can improve access to health products and services globally. I am particularly interested in applying tools from design and technology to improve access to mental health services in resource-constrained environments where both the burden and stigma associated with mental health is significant.

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