A clear highlight of this year’s first semester was the TSIBA Graduation ceremony which took place on Saturday 20th March on campus at TSIBA House. The ceremony was also live-streamed to include family members,
faculty and other key stakeholders who were unable to attend for social distancing health requirements. The event combined graduation ceremonies for the graduates of both 2020 and 2019, as the 2019 graduation ceremony had been postponed for Covid-19 associated lockdown regulations. The celebration saw 195 TSIBA graduates capped or certified: 11 postgraduates (with PG Dip SEC), 90 Bachelor of Business Administration graduates (38 and 52 for 2019 and 2020 respectively), and 94 Higher Certificate in Business Administration certificates (30 and 64 for 2019 and 2020 respectively).
Graduation 2021 was remarkable considering the obstacles which TSIBA students had to overcome in order to graduate. This ceremony was also the final graduation over which Professor Fatima Abrahams would preside as outgoing Chairperson of seventeen years. We were blessed to have Fatima address the gathering via a digital link. Following years of working together closely it was fitting that TSIBA co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer Adri Marias provided the keynote address. These remarkable women enabled and led a TSIBA community which to date has provided over 6000 annual tuition scholarships and 1095 graduates across the three core TSIBA Business School academic qualifications.
As if on cue to mark this special occasion, Graduation 2021 introduced the inaugural annual Graham Lashbrooke Prize, an award which will be presented annually in honour of TSIBA co-founder, the late Graham Lashbrooke. Graham lived his life as a pathfinder and a leading light in the wisdom of balance, and he was instrumental in the original TSIBA vision that unfolded over the years. The Graham Lashbrooke Prize is awarded to the TSIBA graduate who has achieved academic excellence in entrepreneurship and Leadership, subjects which Graham considered imperative to holistic business education. The TSIBA graduates bestowed with this honour on the day were Fiona Cole (2019) and Anastasia Roberts (2020 ).
These are two remarkable young women whom we hold with great pride and who will always be our very first Graham Lashbrooke Prize awardees.