Iraj Abedian lectures at local school

The global poverty proportion has reached a critical level, well-known Economist Iraj Abedian said at a public lecture at Mitchell House on Saturday.
Abedian spoke on Poverty Alleviation and Ethics and said that the root cause of the crisis is the pandemic disregard for ethical conduct. “Unless government, business and the society at large refocuses on the importance of ethics, the human suffering will continue, leading to social instability,” Abedian said and added that it is always the right time to do the right thing.
The event was attended by learners and interested educators and members of the public and the fact that the questions and answers took up nearly as much time as the lecture itself, was evident of the relevance of the theme.
Abedian told his audience that entrepreneurship was not about making money but rather about making a difference. He urged the learners to be innovative and not to strive only to make a living, but to make a difference in the world and quoted Martin Luther King saying that a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.
Local Educational Technologist, Farivar Rahime attended the lecture and remarked that it is clear that South Africa is becoming a global society and that we have to adjust to cope with the new world order.
Havy Manala, one of the school’s Business Studies students, said that Abedian’s lecture swept him off his feet. “It was a great privilege to listen to Dr Abedian and he really opened my eyes to the world,” Havy said.
Mitchell House Principal Andrew Cook thanked Abedian for coming to the school. “He gave me so much to think about and I wish I could have filled this venue to give justice to this excellent presentation. We will definitely expose our learners to more of this in the future,” Cook concluded.
Abedian holds a MA in Economics from the University of Cape Town, a PhD Economics from the Fraser University of Canada and is among others, a Board Member of the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA).

Featured Photo: Barry Viljoen – Farivar Rahime (local Educational Technologist), Iraj Abedian, (Economist), Andrew Cook (Mitchell House Principal) and Business Studies student Havy Manala at the public lecture on Poverty Alleviation and Ethics.

BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com