Global Alumni Networks: Spotlight on the UAE

The WBS UAE Network, part of our Global Alumni Networks, was created in 2021 to provide formal support for alumni and it aims to maintain the continued success of members of our community. The Network organises professional and social events during the year and shares information about business markets and job opportunities.

The Network is led by a team of alumni Ambassadors that include:

• Sorina Constantinescu, Executive Chair
• Wanchoo Ananya, Social Chair.

Sorina shares: “We aim to organise a monthly dinner for the network to join and socialise. We also take part in joint social events with other business schools. With our most recent one being an Eid Networking Dinner at Fairmont, this usually happens once a quarter.”

Caroline Egan, Alumni Careers Manager, has played a crucial role in the success of the Network: “I began working with our WBS and Warwick alumni in the UAE after moving there in 2015. I discovered there was a real thirst to build a vibrant network of alumni who can help one another out, both professionally and socially.

"It has been a real pleasure to create a legacy of regular speaker panels and networking events over the last six years, and to be able to hand those over to the capable hands of Sorina and Wanchoo with the formation of our new WBS Global Alumni Networks and the WBS UAE Network.”

The Network also has close links with the wider Warwick alumni community in the UAE. Alongside social activities and meet-ups, members of the Network connect with other Warwick alumni through an active WhatsApp group which has over 145 members.

Saima Asghar Riaz, a Warwick alumna and international representative, recently hosted a Warwick Eid al-Fitr celebration in conjunction with the WBS UAE Network.

Saima comments: “We have an interactive and highly engaged Warwick alumni community in the UAE which stays connected through WhatsApp to support each other in networking, job placements and general advice about living and working in the region. We are a unique group of alumni in that we are all expats in our host country and the one thing that binds us together is our Warwick community.

"As a Warwick alumna from 1998, I have stayed engaged with alumni networking events in my role as Warwick’s international representative for the Office of Student Recruitment and Overseas Admissions over the last 24 years.

"This year we held our first ever Warwick alumni family Eid get together which saw various alumni and present students from WBS join other Warwick alumni with their wives, children (future Warwick grads!), and visiting parents. We hope to be adding more family friendly events to our social calendar in the future.”

WBS alumni can join the WBS UAE Network by emailing alumni@wbs.ac.uk. The next Network event, focusing on the ‘Great Reshuffle’ will take place online on 9 June.