Harvard Business Review

My role involves providing insights to shape the HBR content and to enrich understanding of impact of ideas from HBR and the wider world of management and leadership.

Advisory Council Member

Digital Data Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard

Senior Lead, Strategic Growth and Alliances, Global Engagement

Lead global expansion strategy for the institute by developing and growing a diverse footprint of engagements with researchers and innovators across academic institutions, corporates, start ups and non-profits

Key Responsibilities and Accomplishments:

Corporate Membership Program

• Responsible for streamlining and aligning institute functions and processes for the ramp up of a global corporate membership program
• Guiding content and community team, comms team, and design thinking team on CX strategy
• Designing institute strategy, budget and resourcing roadmap


Research with Industry Partners

• Advising 14 interdisciplinary Harvard research labs on their industry impact strategy 
• Managing donors and advisory council member relationships for institute growth
• Appointed as the department lead for compliance strategy for industry engagements

Global Projects 

• Launched industry research projects across the US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Turkey, UAE, India and currently expanding across Europe
• Delivered digital transformation workshops for CxOs of global household brands on-campus in Boston and internationally at corporate sites in Japan
• Organized institute events in Japan and the UAE for Prof Karim Lakhani and Prof Feng Zhu respectively

Cross-functional Teams

• Co-founded the first-ever four-part internal staff L&D series called "GenAI Espresso Chats" to up-skill entire Institute team on GenAI best practices

Global Engagements Lead

Driving global strategic partnerships between our cutting-edge research teams, and innovators, entrepreneurs, and corporate adventurers, to invent the future by solving ambitious problems.

Global Engagement Manager

Mercedes-Benz Cars Middle East

Double promoted and competitively selected to join the CEO & President’s Digital Strategy Team, to transform and future-proof the global franchisee business. Exposure to 80+ markets across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

• Leading cross-functional projects and establishing partnerships across sales, marketing, customer journey and eCommerce. Exposure to Salesforce operations.
•Defining the eCommerce CX & analytics vision & roadmap for active steering of Digital KPIs, for online business growth & success. Tools include Google Analytics and Power BI.
• Appointed to the Digital Board, alongside C-suite ExCom leaders, to represent and advance the development of transformation projects. 
• Exclusively invited to contribute to the largest internal women's network, Empower Women, to contribute to the growth and success of women across all Mercedes-Benz group companies. Successfully led a book club discussion on Indra Nooyi's masterpiece: "My Life in Full" as part of International Women's Week 2022. Proud to be a speaker in the company of leading female CEOs.

Digital Strategy - Senior Executive

Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles MENA

The Career Development Program is a two-year full-time graduate program focusing on cultivating future leaders through cross-departmental experience, mentoring and training, and hands-on projects. 

I am proud to be one of four candidates selected among thousands of applicants for this flagship  program.

The Regional Center Africa manages the sales and service for FUSO and Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles across 41 markets in East, Central and West Africa. 

Rotation 1: Sales & Network Development

• Supported the CEO's office by providing necessary market and business intelligence. 

The Regional Centre Middle East and North Africa manages the sales and service for FUSO and Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles across 19 markets from Morocco to Pakistan.

Rotation 2: Network Development (Regional Franchisees' Management)

• Provided business crisis support: developed a regional risk assessment for the ExCom, assessed regional liquidity support programs, coordinated & reported Covid-19 business updates for HQ.

Rotation 3: Finance 

• Rotational assignments across IT, Accounting, Procurement, Revenue Controlling & Treasury.

Management Trainee (Full time)

Brunswick Group

Brunswick is a leading international strategic advisory that helps businesses and other organisations address critical communications challenges, predominantly from a financial standpoint. It works with clients to proactively shape their reputation and helps them communicate effectively  with key stakeholders. All our work is underpinned by three core areas: digital and design, insight, and campaign planning.

•Spearheaded analysis of different industries and sectors in the Gulf, to inform new business proposals and pitches.
•Developed executive profiles of board members and key senior leadership of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and McKinsey & Company.
•Handled real-time media monitoring, media coverage, and media round-up reports for regional and global clients, which include milestone announcements such as intention to float and mergers and acquisitions in the payment processing, private equity, aviation, and real estate sectors. Supplemented clients’ strategies by producing briefing notes on significant regional events such as the Bahrain workshop and the World Economic Forum on Middle East and North Africa.
•Led financial statement analysis of publically listed cement companies in the UAE to inform C-suite level strategy decisions.
•Developed working knowledge of industry databases and softwares such as Vuelio, Gorkana, Khoros (formerly Spredfast), The Bloomberg Terminal, and Refinitiv Thomson One.

PR Consulting and Research Intern

Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD is the largest banking group in the Middle East, focused on retail and corporate banking. The Group is an active participant and supporter of the UAE’s main development and community initiatives, in close alignment with the UAE government’s strategies, including financial literacy and advocacy for inclusion of People with Disabilities under its #TogetherLimitless platform.

•Initiated multi-channel (text, online account, ATM, app, and email) communication campaigns to identify customers with disabilities, amongst a pool of 1 million+ customers.
•Established the first ever staff engagement activity, targeting 10,000+ employees, locally and internationally, to raise awareness about disability friendly branches’ accessibility and inclusion efforts. Considered to be the most successful initiative till date.
•Conceptualised expectations of 3 cross-functional teams (retail distribution, branding, branch merchandising), for the inception of the first ever marketing campaign featuring 37+ disability friendly branches.
•Prepared quarterly disability friendly branch report and corporate social responsibility dashboard, to update staff, senior management and the CEO about latest developments.
•Aligned disability friendly branches' marketing collaterals and social media campaigns with United Nations' awareness days.
•Planned two customer 'happiness days', to understand and evaluate the impact of the financial inclusion efforts undertaken by the bank.

Corporate Social Responsibility Intern

Startup Grind

Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. Powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, the chapter hosts monthly events in more than 167 cities featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons learned on the road to building great companies. 

• Generated reports on logistics management of events for the Managing Director.
• Performed quantitative and qualitative analysis for Management.

Dubai Chapter Event Co-Lead and Host

Angels of Impact

Angels of Impact believes that it can address 3 UN Sustainable Development Goals (no poverty, gender equality and responsible production and consumption) all at once, by focussing on women social enterprises which produce responsibly and help take women out of poverty. It is a platform for angel investors ( small to large amounts) and corporates who can help fund these social enterprises, buy these responsibly produced good and help with capacity building/opening doors for them to grow and succeed. Angel of Impact's massive transformative purpose is "women working in unity creating inclusive prosperity for all".

• Conducted extensive research  to partner with a renowned global non-profit VC firm single–handedly. This entailed analysis of 11 previously funded projects, investment criteria, partnership benefits, organisational values and potential opportunities post partnership-all within 3 weeks.
• Drafted communications material to approach senior management and investors at the VC firm.

Business Development Intern

Harvard University

A Research Institute engaging in interdisciplinary and innovative programming pertaining to South Asia, to disseminate knowledge, build capacity and to inform policy. 

I spent my time working on 'The 1947 Partition of British India' project, spearheaded by Dr. Tarun Khanna and Dr. Jennifer Leaning, in collaboration with Harvard Business School, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard Kennedy School and T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

•Recruited and interviewed 28 participants to understand implications of the displacement of people during the Partition of British India, to inform policy related to mass migration and refugee crisis.
•Coordinated with 10 Student Ambassadors, who collected Partition stories, and the SAI India Country Director, to ensure project deadlines were being adhered to, and assisted with the project ambassador training program.

Research Intern and Student Ambassador at Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute

Tigress Financial Partners

A Private Investment Bank and Broker-Dealer on Wall Street providing Asset Management, Investment Banking and Research services.  

• Collated and analysed market data pertaining to sell-side mergers, leveraged buyouts and capital                       raises.
• Drafted a qualitative overlay for a quantitative EVA research report on “At Home”, a publically traded firm.
• Customised a Shariah compliant marketing pitch and collateral for an offshore annuity company, Knighthead. 
• Selected by the CEO to participate in, and provide feedback for, White House Business Council conference calls during Obama's administration.

Analyst

As the Senior Lead for Strategic Growth and Alliances at the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard, I build global communities and ecosystems that create positive impact and shared value for organizations and people. Expertise in aligning interdisciplinary cross-cultural teams, forging cross-sector partnerships and delivering excellence in digital transformation and AI related projects. Passionate about creating an environment where everyone around me achieves their highest potential. Inspired by the African Ubuntu philosophy suggesting “to achieve success through intentional teamwork advancing humanity.”


In my free time, I enjoy cross-fit, weight-lifting, traveling, watching global documentaries and learning about health and well-being. Proud of my recent 80 kg deadlift! :) Aspire to climb Mt. Everest (soon)!

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