IBA seminar focuses on critical role of academia in building sport ecosystem

The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, hosted its first seminar on ‘Building a Sport Ecosystem: The Critical Role of Academia’, organised by the School of Business Studies (SBS).

The seminar brought together executive members from leading companies to initiate a dialogue on building a sustainable sports ecosystem through academics. The seminar was hosted by Dean SBS Dr Abdullah Zafar Sheikh, and Chairperson Marketing Department Dr Nida Aslam Khan.

Dr Sheikh initiated the seminar by emphasizing the significance of exploring new horizons of sports through academia and the focus on the sports marketing knowledge cluster which is a growing opportunity. “In today’s dynamic society, sports marketing is a growing emergence. We here at IBA are keen to explore new areas of sports marketing from different angles and take this discourse to a new level. This has resulted in IBA broadening its horizons and considering creating a minor within its programme, and in the future a proper separate degree. This demands quality research and academic support,” said Dr Sheikh.

The keynote speech was delivered by Dr Joseph Cooper (PhD in sports management), in which he devised strategies for building a sustainable sports ecosystem, different approaches and challenges to be considered. “To build a sports ecosystem, it is important to not only focus on the economic and marketing aspects, but also on religious, cultural, and spiritual aspects. There is great importance on how key stakeholders are taken into account which helps in achieving long-term success,” said Dr Cooper. There was a panel discussion focused on building a sports ecosystem and how academia can play a vital role in it. Panel A was from the perspective of the corporate world while Panel B was from the perspective of the sports world.

Panel A comprised Ali Habib, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of HBL; Ali Fahd, VP Marketing, Jazz; Dr Muhammad Imran, Group Head, Islamic Banking Bank Alfalah Limited; and Kiran Kohati, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Millac Foods Private Limited; moderated by Salman Sever Butt. The panel discussion focused on the role of the corporate sector in building the sports ecosystem. Mr. Habib said, “Sports is a product and it should be delivered like a product. We have PSL as a sports product in Pakistan. The main challenge is that PSL is active for one month but for the rest of the 11 months, there is radio silence that needs to be worked on. The lack of investment is becoming a challenge and companies need to invest to grow this industry which has great potential.”

Panel B discussion comprised Haroon Malik, Chairman Pakistan Football Federation; Hassan Sardar, Former Field Hockey Player and Team Captain; Mahrukh Isa, IBA Alum, Former National Badminton Player; Rashid Latif, Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer; and Yasmin Hyder, Chairperson, Softball Federation of Pakistan; moderated by Dr Nida. The panel discussion focused on how academia and sports itself can help in building a sustainable ecosystem. Mr Lateef said: “Due to no facilities, poor infrastructure, no place to play, and no proper professionalism, there has been a challenge in the growth of the sports industry or creation of building sports ecosystem in Pakistan. The media needs to take account of every sport shown along with people, or the elite cannot control the people’s talent which is the main problem in Pakistan. There are areas like Landhi and Baldia where there is a great amount of talent not explored. We must create a proper research and development department and produce effective and combined solutions.”

The seminar emphasized that it’s important to work as a community and involve all the stakeholders which can help in building a sports ecosystem. Moreover, it is time we explore other sports industries such as Esports along with improving the current sporting facilities in which institutes like IBA can play a vital role by initiating sports marketing programs and encouraging students to contribute to building the sports ecosystem.