Incoming MBA students rise to the challenge at annual Zabeen Hirji Responsible Leadership Challenge

The incoming MBA class at SFU Beedie School of Business marked the start of their academic journey by tackling real-world challenges of responsible leadership at the third annual Zabeen Hirji MBA Responsible Leadership Challenge, held during MBA Orientation in September.

Founded and sponsored by business leader, advocate for responsible leadership, and SFU Beedie alumnus, Zabeen Hirji (MBA ‘94), the challenge brings together students, alumni, and industry leaders to explore how purpose-led, values-based, and performance-driven leadership can create meaningful impact.

Developed through the Elevating Human Capabilities Fund, the challenge reflects Hirji’s commitment to investing in future leaders and bringing responsible leadership to the forefront of business education. The challenge sets the tone for the students' journey and the kind of leaders they can become.

This year’s case study, developed by SFU Beedie Faculty Luana Carcano, challenged students to navigate responsible leadership at the intersection of AI and geopolitics. Teams were asked to weigh an AI-generated recommendation and make a difficult business decision amid economic uncertainty and a Canada-U.S. trade war.

The case pushed students to think bigger and engage directly with complexity, while also keeping responsible leadership at the heart of the challenge.

The challenge concluded with a high-energy final round, where teams presented to a distinguished panel of judges: Dalia Hussein (Vice President, Shop-Pay-And-Care, CIO, TELUS), Lindasy Jones (Regional Vice President, Real Estate Market, RBC), and Troy Kay (Partner, Higher Education, Deloitte).

In her keynote to the new MBA cohort, Hirji reflected on how her SFU MBA built her confidence and encouraged her to raise her ambitions. She shared that she learned as much from her classmates as she did in the classroom, crediting their diverse experiences with helping her discover new ways of thinking and understand the kind of leader she wanted to become.

“I share that because I hope this MBA expands not only what you know, but what you believe is possible for you. Dream bigger. Then take action,” says Hirji.

Finalists

This year, two teams tied for third place, resulting in four finalist teams receiving awards. Congratulations to all the students who participated! Best of luck on your MBA journey with SFU Beedie.

First place: Team 5

Joshua Foo, Erzsi Institorisz, Aaisha Kamdar, Sayed Al Mahir, Mariam Naseer, Mark Nguyen, and Chenhong Xu

Coach: Lesley McKay

Second place: Team 4

Zahra Al-Autman, Abhishek Badhan, Alysia Chan, Kai Zhe Chen, Natalie Erickson, Junhai Hua, Anjanette (AJ) Ruffin

Coach: Brian Liu

Third place: Team 2

Enoch Agbana, Franklin Damptey-Brown, Mátyás Csapó, Kezia Mitzi Serran, Talia Khan, Thi My Linh Hoang, Simran Bhatti

Coach: Cinnamon Bhayani

Third place: Team 13

Abdul Rehman Butt, Isaac Choo, Rami Elsamady, Sayed Mahmood Hashimi, Yixuan Liu, Yok Nimmahnratanakul, Shengyuan Zhang

Coach: Laxinder Singh and Grace Ding