Students and alumni of Manchester Business School (MBS) have launched the Middle East Alumni Group and elected its new chairman and committee.

The group held its inaugural networking and social evening in Dubai recently which attracted over 90 alumni and students, and marked the appointment of Ajay Narain, general manager and country head of LeasePlan Emirates, as the new chairman.

MBS Middle East Centre at Dubai Knowledge Village supports more than 1,400 current part time MBA students in the region, who are all eligible for alumni group membership, along with over 1,400 MBS alumni living and working in the region.

Narain has been selected as the regional chairman of the Middle East Alumni Group and now heads a new committee of six members, who are tasked with launching and developing the new group in MBS’ largest and fastest growing Global MBA student/alumni community outside the UK.

Narain studied full time for his Manchester MBA, which he was awarded in 1999.

"Alumni groups are so important for networking and creating awareness of the benefits of the MBS MBA programme, and they help project the brand values of MBS,” he said. “Our combined vision is to create a representative Middle East MBS Alumni Group, moving beyond Dubai and into Abu Dhabi and the region.”

Manchester Business School has a global alumni network of around 50,000 students and former students, which is actively networking through a series of high level global webinars led by eminent members, local networking and social events, and through the Global Careers Service provided by MBS.

“Now we have taken the important first step of launching the Middle East Alumni Group, our intention is to help grow the group and embrace all the people linked to the school in the region, starting with the development of a strong network in the UAE,” Narain said.

“The group will work to bring in best practices from the MBS network, and collaborate and share experience and information through dedicated tools such as LinkedIn. Our objective is clear – to create a platform for networking, promoting the MBS brand and generating goodwill, socialising the group and welcoming new alumni, and helping create career and business opportunities,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service