Business & Finance Club - Dubai : Cass Business School, a leading UK business school with a campus at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has launched a new Middle Eastern scholarship fund designed to nurture the region’s future business leaders.

The new scholarship aims to build the leadership, management, finance and entrepreneurial skills in the region by funding the studies of talented, locally-based students through the Cass Executive MBA (EMBA) offered at DIFC.

Ehsan Razavizadeh, regional director (Mena) at Cass said: 'As a leading provider of business education, an experience at Cass can shape the future of a student and the scholarship fund will help talented individuals, who are already contributing in the region’s business sector to further their education and fast-track their careers.'

'The fund is in line with Sir John Cass’ philanthropic vision to support ambitious students who may be without financial means, and the scholarship will be funded by individuals and companies in the GCC region,' Razavizadeh explained.

Cass, he said, was encouraging local business leaders to come together to support the opportunity to help nurture rising local business stars.

The school started its prestigious EMBA programme in collaboration DIFC in 2007, and currently more than 120 professionals from the region study in the programme.

The Cass Dubai EMBA programme is ranked second in the UK and fifth in Europe by the Financial Times, and the programme is specifically designed for ambitious regional professionals who want to accelerate their career while remaining in full time employment.

Roy Batchelor, professor of Banking and Finance at Cass Business School, and director of the Cass Executive MBA programme in Dubai said the scholarship fund was yet another example of the strength of commitment from Cass Business School to this region.

'The UAE especially is an important commercial and financial hub and as this region continues to secure its position as a major player on the international business stage it needs to ensure it has the right people to drive this growth.'

“The region is home to a young, rapidly growing and talented workforce and we hope that this new scholarship fund, in addition to the other scholarships that Cass and the DIFC already offer, will continue to support the impressive business talent pool that there is in this region,” Batchelor added.-