Most date set ups by friends are pretty crappy. I've gone on a couple of dates set up by friends trying to be match makers or just "think you two would be great together". Honestly those were probably the worst dates I have ever gone on. Your friends/family may think someone is right for you, but when you two get together you think to yourself "wtf were they thinking!".
Remember the one I asked my friend afterwards, "where the heck did you even find this guy? He's such an asshole!" And she replied "well you both were Christian, I figured it would just work out?" (-_-)
The other one my friend slept with him since they apparently had history she never told me about and he called me wanting to do a 3-some without her knowing till it "happened". Told him to fuck off and have a nice life (^_^)b
If you decide to give something like this a shot I would say go out in a group like social setting. Don't let your friend set this up as a one on one date till you get to know this person better. If this isn't possible then you decide if you want to do this or not. I can't say all set up dates are shitty, but again having an inexperienced person decide what kind of person is good for you doesn't normally end well. This friend also doesn't seem to realize if this date goes poorly that this could affect his work relationship with this person.
My personal opinion is to say no, but my advice is to really just think this through and decide for yourself if you wish to do this or not. I can only tell from personal experience and some friend told stories how this isn't the greatest, but I'm only one opinion lol.