Najla Khatib, an AUB graduate student in public health, picked up the annual AUB BCG Promising Leader Award, at a ceremony held on campus on June 4, 2010.
The AUB BCG Promising Leader Award was created last year by the American University of Beirut and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to help celebrate and develop future leaders from AUB. The award also offers the recipient the opportunity for a full-time job interview at BCG along with an $11,000 cash prize.
BCG is the fastest-growing global management consulting firm serving the Middle East and North Africa from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The award was presented to Khatib by Dean of Student Affairs Maroun Kisirwani and Vice President of Development Imad Baalbaki from AUB and Ziad El Baba from BCG.
"Such awards offer students the motivation to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations, obstacles, and challenges," said Baalbaki.
"To stand out from among 200 applicants was no easy feat," said Baalbaki, referring to Khatib, "particularly since the evaluation process was quite rigorous, requiring aninterview, essays, and solving a business case...But Najla's essay on leadership and empowerment, based on her own experience in community work and awareness campaigns, was excellent, and Najla certainly deserves this award."
Kisirwani concurred, adding: "This award represents an incentive for every ambitious student to achieve their higher aspirations."
Sven-Olaf Vathje, Partner & Managing Director at BCG and leader of BCG's Middle East Recruiting team, said: "We are delighted to present this year's award to Najla Khatib. She stood out from a group of over 200 applicants, with excellent credentials including outstanding leadership experience and a mix of academic and non-academic activities."
Vathje added: "At BCG we believe that good leaders can come from a variety of backgrounds. This creates unique team diversity and is one of the cornerstones of BCG's success. It is also why BCG has hired from many different faculties at AUB including Engineering, Business, Economics and Politics".
"Attracting and retaining the best talent is a big priority for BCG in the region," Vathje added. "AUB is a huge part of this endeavor and is our number one recruiting pool in the region with around one in ten of our consulting staff being AUB alumni."
Student Najla Khatib said that the competition itself was a valuable learning experience. "I learned a lot throughout the process," she said," because once I applied for the award, I felt responsible to live up to much higher standards of leadership in everything I did."
Khatib also pointed out that the competition offers students a valuable opportunity to connect with a leading job recruiter, irrespective of whether they win or not.
"Winning this award is an amazing honor. It really changed me and opened up so many new opportunities," she said.
