Hyder Ahmad (MBA 1995) sees the advancing digital transformation of business and society as a seismic shift, likening it to the changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution. “This is the tip of the iceberg. How we run our businesses and our lives will be deeply impacted going forward,” he notes. Since founding Broad Peak Investment in Singapore 11 years ago, Ahmad has seen firsthand the effects. “We now have much better data around how businesses are performing and, in some cases, we can analyze the data in a more timely fashion than some of the companies we invest in.”

To further scholarship at HBS related to data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, and to support HBS’s Digital Initiative, Ahmad established the Syed Hasan Ahmad and Arifa Ahmad Research Fund. He named it in honor of his parents: “They told me that a good education is the only asset that you can hold on to for your entire life,” explains the Pakistan native. “My parents were big proponents of learning about how things evolve in the world. This fund tied in perfectly with their values and my own.”

Creating it also gave Ahmad the opportunity to express his gratitude to HBS. “I owe a great deal to the School and would not be where I am today had it not been for HBS. I wanted to give to something that I was really passionate about, and where it would have an impact at the School.”

Ahmad is looking forward to seeing how HBS will advance the study of the digital world and thus prepare students to be effective business leaders. “The work that is being done at HBS is going to drive change and help all our lives in a positive way over the next 5 to 20 years,” he observes.

“Today’s managers need to be far more data-friendly than my own generation. They need to be able to analyze, extrapolate, understand, and make decisions on the basis of that data. For students at HBS, that is incredibly important.”

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