Four students from the School of Business and Management at American University of Sharjah (AUS) won the top three prizes at the Young Business Leaders Conference held recently at Zayed University.

Usman Ehsan, an MBA student at AUS, won the first prize at the conference and received the Best Paper Award, winning a certificate, a souvenir and a cash prize.

"In addition to that, I will also receive training and mentorship from Emerald Publishing Group, the world's leading scholarly publisher of journals and books in business and management. The training is designed to perfect my paper to make it publishable in one of the group's journals," said Ehsan.

Ehsan's research was titled "Key Benefits and Potential Barriers to University-Industry Research Collaborations; Empirical Evidence from the Services Sector of a Developing Country." The research identified key benefits for collaborative research between universities and industry players. These benefits include meeting government regulations, leveraging innovation development, increasing need for innovative products/services and rising global competitiveness. The research findings also identified the potential barriers that inhibit organizations from these research collaborations. The barriers include patent conflict, low-control and over-emphasis on publication.

"By the grace of Almighty Allah, I am proud to secure the top position. I am also very happy that students from AUS secured the second and third positions as well, which indicates the quality of education at American University of Sharjah. Although mine was an independent research project, I could not have done it without the guidance of my professors, especially Dr. Nicholas J. Ashill, Professor and Head of the Department of Marketing, as well as Annibal J. Scavarda, Associate Professor of Management Information Systems. I hope to continue to represent AUS well regionally and globally in the future," said Ehsan.

The second price was awarded to AUS students Ala Zaki Shbib and Noora Al Sabek who did a collaborative research work. Saher Saeed, also from AUS, won the third place.

"I am so proud that at my university we are always encouraged to take each opportunity that may not only add to our academic knowledge, but also to our character to make us distinguished individuals," said Noora Al Sabek, a junior accounting student.

"I believe that conferences like the Young Business Leaders Conference can serve as a very good platform for students who want to take their researches to another level. I also believe in the fact that today`s youth is tomorrow`s future, So it is very important for us to participate in such conferences in which the talented students can get all the exposure that they need. For me standing there and presenting my paper alone was a very huge deal, but I was more than overwhelmed to see the phenomenal response of the audience to my presentation. It seemed like they could relate to each and every thing I was telling them. So for me winning the hearts of my audience was my biggest achievement," said Saher Saeed, a sophomore finance student. "I am also very happy that I was able to represent AUS at such a well-organized conference and it makes me happier to think that I was able to make AUS proud."

Held for the first time, under the auspices of Zayed University, the Young Business Leaders Conference gives business students from universities across the UAE a chance to present research findings on any business related topic. Prior to the conference, shortlisted participants undergo a three-hour-a-week training session, conducted by a professional certified trainer to help them develop the necessary tools and tips to present their research findings well.

In this first edition of the conference, 12 papers were submitted. After the first round of evaluation, six papers were shortlisted to proceed to the next round. Four of the six shortlisted papers were by AUS students.

The shortlisted students were called for individual interviews before appearing before a four-judge panel, which awarded the top three prizes to four AUS students. The judges comprised three professors from Zayed University and a representative from Emerald Publishing Group.

"The School of Business and Management is proud of the achievements of its students and we congratulate our students for their success in the Young Business Leaders Conference competition.  We also congratulate Zayed University for its sponsorship of this worthwhile program.  It is always gratifying to see our students successfully applying things that they have studied," said Dr. Malcolm Richards, Dean of the AUS School of Business and Management.

"Participating in the Young Business Leaders Conference is one of the great experiences I've ever had. It is a step towards success and an inspiration for my future career. I learned that when competing with others, distinction can only be achieved by focusing on my goal, challenging self-skills, dedicating my time and determining to do my best. Many thanks firstly to God and secondly to AUS that helped to build and shape who I am today," said Shbib, a junior finance student.