History
The Muslim Business Student Association is a relatively new club at The Anderson School at UCLA, established as a permanent club in December 2002. However, in this short period of time we have been able to accomplish many of our objectives. Started by several first and second year business students who saw a great need for such an organization to exist
in order to support Muslims currently entering business schools as well as to encourage more Muslims to consider business school for their career advancement.

Mission Statement
The purpose of the MBSA is to:

1. Provide a support and network group for Muslim students at Anderson by coordinating networking opportunities
   with students, alumni and local business leaders. MBSA would also like to support the diversity of the student body by encouraging more Muslim business leaders to attend Anderson;
   
2. Be an educational resource for the Anderson community to foster better understanding about Islam and issues faced by Muslims around the world. The club will also work closely with UCLA's Center for Near Eastern Studies to host a variety of speakers on topics related to doing business in the Islamic world; and
   
3. Work closely with other Anderson and UCLA organizations on various outreach activities such as free healthcare clinics, fundraising, food/ toy drives, etc.

The association is not limited to only Muslims; rather, it invites all students past, present and future at Anderson who are interested in Islamic business issues, seeking to increase awareness and foster discussion about topics such as Islamic finance and business ethics.

Our Accomplishments
MBSA has been a great asset to the Muslims at Anderson. The club serves as a means to network with past and present Muslim students. In the 2001-2002 school year, our members have become close friends, and we know these friendships will be long-lasting. These students include 7 nationalities and 4 languages.

Another equally important purpose of MBSA is to educate Anderson about business issues in the Muslim world. To that end, we co-sponsored a speaker series on Islamic Banking and Finance with Dr. Nejatullah Siddiqui, who has written a countless number of books and journal articles about Islamic Economics. We also held an informative lunch, where we showed students a video about the contributions of Muslims to the fields of business, science and technology. We plan to hold similar academic events in the future.

As should all good Muslim organizations, our club also exists for its surrounding community. As such, in our first year of existence, we held two very successful clothes drive for the UMMA Free Clinic of the Drew UCLA Medical School, which received much participation and support from Anderson students. Additionally we sponsored a fundraising event for the International Orphan Care to raise money for the orphanage in Afghanistan.

Other activities this year included a Professional School Information Session for UCLA undergrads. We also co-sponsored Cyrus Bina, a visiting Economics Professor from University of Minnesota to speak on Oil, Iraq and U.S. Foreign Policy. Furthermore, we organized several social events including two Iftars during Ramadan and several club dinners. For 2003, we are making plans for more speaker series as well as social events.

Our activities have made us an important part of the Anderson community. We hope to establish an even stronger presence at our school as we mature as an organization. But as a growing organization we need your support. You can contribute immensely through your ideas, comments, contacts and effort that would help us build as an organization supporting the Anderson Student Community and the Muslim Community. Please e-mail us at mbsa@anderson.ucla.edu.