Adil Ahmad

Ghazan Khan, the wise old man of Shireen Jinnah Colony “Imran Khan wants to jump straight onto the roof,” says Ghazan Khan as he goes about repairing an old radio not worth very much and quite pre-historic in the modern scheme of things. But a reassuring sight, nonetheless, that there are still people in the world who treasure their old things and intent on getting them fixed and working. “But to climb to the roof requires a ladder and a one step at a time approach.” As a social scientist I have often frequented the Shireen Jinnah Colony. It presents a fascinating mosaic of Pakistan’s frontier spirit, and has gained a fair bit of notoriety in the guns and drugs bazaar, though unjustly I feel. This is hub of the mighty tanker-trawlers that ply the nation’s highways, carting all manner of liquid goods, inflammable and otherwise, from the massive tanker storages that dot the Kemari landscape. These behemoths of the road are ridden by seasoned riders accustomed to seasoning their endur...

Memon Professional Forum’s 5 th Entrepreneurship Conference 2015 advocates Hope + Risk + Belief as recipe for success Celebrating three decades of a very vibrant existence, the Memon Professional Forum (MPF) brought together an impressive array of leading lights from the worlds of trade, commerce and industry to dwell upon the phenomenon that is entrepreneurship, in its search for peace, progress and prosperity for Pakistan. The heavyweights on board comprised M. Ali Tabba (CEO, Lucky Cement Limited), Arif Habib (CEO, Arif Habib Corporation), and Khalid Awan (Founder & Chairman TCS Holdings Private Limited), with Moin M. Fudda (Country Director, Center for International Private Enterprise) and Rafiq Rangoonwala (COO, Burger King Pakistan) providing the stimulus for thought provoking discussions. The Conference celebrated Dr. Abdul Bari Khan and his social enterprise the Indus Hospital built on ‘Pukhta Yaqeen’ (firm belief). Conference proceedings began with the conve...

One lives and learns on a daily basis, and the learning so obtained makes for a rollercoaster ride with the good news elevating the spirits and imbuing hope and positivity, and the bad news always taken with a pinch of salt, with the search for the silver lining dominating mental proceedings. On this particular day the Memons occupied center stage.  They’re a people blessed with razor sharp business acumen and have constituted the backbone of Karachi’s trade, commerce and industry both as merchants, professionals and entrepreneurs. The Memon Professional Forum (MPF) was holding its annual conference on entrepreneurship, and the TCS sister concern Octara was charged with putting together and managing the day-long event, and my event report was part of the package. I love such event reporting. It entails spending the day in the cool climes of five star comforts, listening to subject specialists raise the curtain on new and exciting developments in their fields. ...