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| 24/02/2000 |
| IMPERATIVES OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN |
National Conference on “Professional Competencies and Values Required for our National Growth”, Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi, February 24, 2000.
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| At the outset, let me say how deeply grateful I am to the Pakistan Society for Training and Development (PSTD) for the invitation to speak today at this National Conference. Dr Masuma Hasan collared me as early as October last year and as many of you know she is as determined as she is successful in everything she applies her impressive mind to. |
| I am honoured by the presence of Mr Shaukat Mirza as this sessions’ Chairman. Having had a distinguished career in the fertiliser industry, he then retired but to our good fortune makes fresh appearances in newer incarnations, the latest as the MD in Pakistan State Oil. Abbreviated thanks in advance to our two panelists – Saquib and Waqar. They are close and valued friends, and I hope will remain so even after my speech. |
| The subject of my paper this morning is Imperatives of Business Management in Pakistan. I suppose if I had wanted to be less provocative I might have chosen something prosaic like `Essentials of Business Management in Pakistan’ or better still `Fundamentals of Business Management ’, but to tell you the truth I wanted something in the title with a little more bite to it, something which contained teeth which would grip my attention (and I hope yours) for the next twenty minutes or so. |
| I wanted to convey, through the selection of such a title, the concern I, as a senior professional working for my living in Pakistan, feel for the future of business management in our country. At the same time I wanted to voice the concern I have - and I believe we should all have - for our country itself. For if we do not improve ourselves, whether as individuals or as business managers, we can sure of only one thing in the future. We shall have no future. Without a viable, sovereign and dare I say democratic Pakistan, we shall have only a past. |
| When I described myself just now as a senior professional, I was reminded of an earlier occasion when I was asked to address a gathering of fellow Chartered Accountants. The time slot given to me was in the afternoon. Any speaker who has been faced with the task of trying to keep an audience of seminar attendees awake after a heavy lunch will know what a chore that can be. The organiser introduced me as a senior member of our CA fraternity – ranking me with such prominent CAs as Irtiza Hussain, Humayun Mufti, and Nasim Mirza. |
| I told my audience that after such an introduction I could not help being reminded of Ms Barbra Sharif. At a film function, she too had been similarly introduced as a senior member of her profession. Her response was swift and abrasive. She took the microphone and complained: `Senior might be your mother. Senior must be your grandmother. Abhi to main jawan hun.’ |
| Although I may not look as young or as nubile as Ms Barbra Sharif, I can at least claim to feel as young. And that is because, no matter how many years I may carry on my shoulders, I am the citizen of what is still a young, growing and vital country. [EXTRACT] |
| The full text has been published in THE BARK OF A PEN. |
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| 24 February 2000 |
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| All Speeches |
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