Recently, I was invited to attend the most prestigious Grand Finale of National Financial Olympiad event 2019 organized by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and the Unilever Pakistan.
I attended this memorable yet inspiring event, held on December 20, 2019, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), in collaboration with Unilever Pakistan. The event was held in a local hotel in Karachi. The event was graced by the presence of Mr. Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan as the guest of Honour.
The President of ICAP Mr. Khalilullah Shaikh welcomes everyone and he congratulated ICAP in his speech for conducting NFO for the 5th consecutive year. He in his speech says that the competition is not about winning or losing, it is about celebrating the talent of the industry. He congratulated the finalists who reached the finale after going through the rough rounds .He also thanked their collaborator Unilever for bringing up this grand event.
The event was attended by top management of renowned National and Multinational organizations. The event started with the recitation of verses of Holy Quraan followed by the opening speech of Mr Khalid Rehman, FCA Chairman PAIB Committee ICAP, then CFO Unilever Mr Aly Yousuf welcomes the audience in his speech. He says that NFO 2019 has been a huge success as the participating teams have shown exemplary performance and now they have 6 teams who stood the best . He wished all the teams all the best for the finale.
The competition started off with a quick introduction of all the teams followed by a debate round which was judged by a panel including three distinguished judges Mr Naeem Aktar Shaikh Former President ICAP, Mr Arshad Saeed Hussain Managing director, Oxford University Press and Mr Hassan Azhar, Group CEO, HRSG. The topics debated by the team were ‘ Excessive use of technology has a positive impact on our society.’ ‘For 21st century leadership positions qualification criteria can be compromised against behavioral competencies’ and the last topic was ‘Higher interest rates policy is stablizing Pakistan’s economy in the long run’.
The second and final round of the competition was the Buzzer Round, where the vigilence and agility of technical knowledge of all Finalist teams were tested. Judges evaluated the debate round and result was announced, EY Ford Rhodes were the winners while Midas Safety and Heal Aid were 1st and 2nd Runners up teams respectively. The first runners up team received HP Pavilion Laptop and shields for all their team members while second runners up team members got ipads and shields. All finalists received certificates. The Best Individual Performance award was given to Saad Ahmed Qureshi from Engro Fertilizers.
The Jury members as technical partners were A.f Ferguson& Co and Deloitee Yousuf Adil, learning partner Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL) . The entire testing material was developed and designed by the technical partners AF. Ferguson & Co and Deloitee Yousuf Adil. NFO 2019 was wonderfully organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Unilever Pakistan. Kudos for unleashing the capabilities and talents hidden in our business sector as it is not about winning or losing but it is all about celebrating the talent. Platforms like NFO provide the young business leaders a platform, and they are playing a great role in unleashing the potential qualities and talents of young Industrial leaders and they are striving for excellence.
