It was a night of celebrating achievements and nostalgia fuelled by memories of LUMS, an evening of festivities and enjoyment as LUMS UAE alumni got together for their annual reunion at the Conrad Hotel on Friday, 27 October, 2017. LUMS Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi, along with several respected members of the faculty also attended the reunion.
The UAE Chapter Heads and the Alumni Relations team warmly welcomed the alumni. The witty Adeel Hashmi was the host for the evening. The reunion began with a recitation of a few verses of the Holy Quran by alumnus, Talha Farrukh, BSc 2005.
Adeel Hashmi then called on stage the UAE Alumni Chapter Heads, Shahzad Bashir, MBA 1998, Mudassir Sheikh, BSc 2007, and Omair Homaey, BSc 2008. Shahzad Bashir spoke about the UAE Chapter’s efforts and shared that the annual UAE reunion will now be held annually in October - November along with a few smaller get-togethers punctuated through the year. He then appreciated Mudassir Sheikh and Omair Homaey for organising the reunion.
As the night went on, alumna Mahwish Rehman, MBA 2002, was called on stage to talk about her book, ‘Women in Green and Beyond.’ She talked about how LUMS helped her grow tremendously as a person, as it pushed her to test her limits, made her come out of her comfort zone and constantly challenge herself. She said that her book celebrates Pakistan’s women’s cricket team and recognises the ever-growing self-belief and strength of character of Pakistani women. It highlights that Pakistani women can stand parallel to men in any field.
BSc 2007 graduate, Zain Hasan’s start-up ShopTrav was introduced through a video to give the audience a feel of the venture, which is a ‘buy and bring’ model where one can buy items via travellers headed their way.
This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Naqvi, who shared the latest developments and happenings at LUMS, including the on-going research and the new School of Education.
Former Vice Chancellor and current Professor at the LUMS Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB), Dr. Syed Zahoor Hassan, and Dean of Student Affairs, Yasser Hashmi, also spoke about LUMS and its on-going research.
The audience was then entertained with a musical performance by Abdullah Qureshi, who enriched the night with his melodious voice. The alumni enjoyed his performance, after which they were served a delicious dinner buffet.
The fun-filled evening concluded with alumni happy to have kept the annual tradition of meeting up and reconnecting with old friends and faculty.
