Pakistan's private sector is doing quite well, taking into consideration the extremely difficult circumstances that the country is facing from long hours of loadshedding to the decaying infrastructure that is in urgent need of BMR (balancing, modernisation and repairs).
These views were expressed by Asad Umar, CEO Engro Corporation Ltd, in a talk on "Agenda for Private Sector Reform" organised by The English Speaking Union of Pakistan at a local hotel. In his discourse, Umar praised the private sector in Pakistan for its energy and endurance under difficult circumstances and said Pakistan was blessed by some of the finest entrepreneurial concerns.
However, they mostly run on a family-controlled mode which is dependant on a personalised decision-making structure rather than a corporate decision-making structure. This mode is a drawback in the modern globalised economic world where competition is fierce but the turnover massive. This is why Pakistanis are nowhere in the global commercial scenario while the Indians, having understood the usefulness of the corporate machine, have set up major global corporate enterprises to generate massive wealth.
He said it was very unfortunate that Pakistan lagged far behind in this sort of wealth generation despite the talent and capability of our private sector. Sadly, he said, our mindset is still embedded in a fear of the past pertaining to the corporate culture and this was a legacy that needed to be cast off. He strongly advised Pakistani entrepreneurs to go out and compete in the global environment. He added that we need to change our mindset and transform our structures into corporate enterprises strong enough to face the global competition.
He stressed that a successful corporate enterprise must be guided by right values and demonstrate integrity, transparency and performance appraisal. Records must not be multifarious, but unified, transparent and accurate, and corporate policy must also be based on concern for the environment and concern for the entire work force of the enterprise.
He said in the 21st century, we cannot operate isolated from the rest of the world with the high walls of tariff structures and these walls must come down. He said it should be clearly understood that outmoded strategies will not work under new conditions. The talk was followed by a question answer session, after which the ESUP Memento was presented to the speaker by Senior Vice-President, Abdul Kader Jaffer.-PR