salman taseer

8/6/2019 Salman TASEER

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Successful Business Leader

Salman Taseer (late)

Submitted By

Muhammad Fahad Ebad (19006)

MBA 3 (A)

TO

MR REZA H SYED

Submission Date: 6TH

JAN 2011


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Abstract

Salman Taseer (late) one of the successful entrepreneur leading to establish a

tremendous business image of the country is now no more but his life from his

childhood till his death was something an inspiration for future business leaders.

Personal life

In his early years Salmaan grew up amongst a host of intellectual stalwarts of the

time who used to frequent his house. Salmaan Taseers father Dr. M.D Taseer was

a PhD from Cambridge, a renowned poet, principal of the prestigious Islamia

College in Lahore and a leading literary figure of the city. His uncle Faiz Ahmad

Faiz, Pakistans legendary post partition poet was instrumental in influencing

Salmaans political views.

Dr. M.D. Taseer died at the age of 47 when Salmaan was very young. Years of

struggle and financial hardship followed. Armed with only a one way ticket Salmaan

landed in London aged 17. He worked his way through to complete his education

and qualified as a chartered accountant (England and Wales) when he was only 22.

Salmaan Taseer is married to Aamna Taseer and the two currently live in Lahore

with their younger sons Shahbaz and Shehryar.

Apart from entrepreneurship and politics, Salmaans passions include reading

books, music and traveling.

Business career

Salmaan Taseer is credited with nurturing a host of highly successful businesses

and is greatly regarded for his business acumen and foresight. Early in his career

he successfully set up top chartered accountancy and management consultancy

firms; Taseer Hadi Khalid and Company (THK) Pakistan (now KPMG) and KPMG,

UAE. He was instrumental in establishing the Middle East operations of KPMG.

Diversifying his interests, in 1994 he established First Capital Securities Corporation

(FCSC), a full service brokerage house with equity participation by Smith Barney


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Inc USA and HG Asia Hong Kong. FCSC set the tone for investment banking

services in Pakistan and together with leading international investment banks

worked on important advisory and corporate finance transactions. Since then he has

been actively involved in establishing other companies in the financial sector as well

as telecommunications, print, media and real estate/property development sectors.

Taseers companies have been able to attract foreign investment at times when

most were shying away from Pakistan. First Capital Group has had significant

investment from major international funds and high net worth individuals from

abroad. Financial services companies in the group include a mutual fund, an

investment management company, leading brokerage houses in Pakistan and Sri

Lanka and an insurance company (joint venture with a South African insurance

company and Shaheen Foundation).

Salmaan Taseer founded the Worldcall group with a payphone network in 1995

which has grown exponentially over the years to become a major private sector

telecom operator with national and regional footprint. Worldcall was a pioneer in

introducing innovative products in the Pakistani market which included supervised

payphones, prepaid calling cards, broadband and cable networks as well as wireless

local loop services. Worldcall has set trends which the entire industry has followed.

It worked with top of the line vendors and brought cutting edge technology for the

local consumers. Worldcall has the most diversified telecom deployments in the

country and is a market leader. Given the strength and positioning that Worldcall

enjoyed, majority stake in the company was acquired by Omantel, Sultanate of

Omans incumbent operator, in 2008.

Salmaan Taseer started his real estate part of the group with acquisition of Pace

department store in the late nineties which was then under huge financial debt.

With his business insight and good judgment he was able to turn it around in shorttime and Pace has since become a household name in the country. With its listing in

Pakistan and convertible bond listing in Singapore, Pace brand is recognized not

only in Pakistan but by international fund managers as well. Today the group has 6

operational shopping malls in different cities and around eight projects under

various phases of development. These include shopping malls, apartments/gated


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communities, office blocks, hotels and resorts and multi use developments. Pace

has partnered with Hyatt Regency to bring this prestigious international chain to

Pakistan with the first project under advanced stage of construction in Lahore.

Taseer once again took the lead by introducing the first English news channel in

Pakistan Business Plus which was followed by the first exclusive kids channel Wikkid

Plus. Salmaan is also the publisher of one of the fastest growing English newspaper,

the Daily Times and an Urdu daily by the name of Aajkal.

Salmaan Taseer has authored a number of articles on various subjects including

investment and finance. He has participated and spoken at numerous

telecommunication and financial services related conferences. He has served on the

board of the Export Promotion Bureau of Pakistan and currently is on the board of

the Universal Service Fund (USF) Company Limited.

Political career

Salman Taseer started his political career in his student era, as a member of

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's PPP in late 1960s. He was part of the movement for Zulifqar

Bhutto's freedom and opposed his arrest and death sentence. He has also written a

political biography on the Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He was insurrected in the notorious Lahore Fort during the MRD (Movement for

Restoration of Democracy) and tortured. He has been arrested many times and

charged with terrorism, murder and political violence. He was also arrested by Mian

Nawaz Sharif in 1992 and tortured at the Burki Police Station Jail.

His long and historic struggle for democracy and against dictatorship is part of the

history of Pakistan.

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called

Taseer "a proud champion of democracy and respect for the rights of women and

minorities." He fearlessly stood up to the threats of extremists and lost his life in

defense of moderation and tolerance, values shared by most Pakistani citizens,


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Kerry said in a statement. "The best way to honor his legacy is to continue resisting

violent extremism and supporting core principles on which Pakistan was founded."

His assassination has plunged the country into deep despair.

Conclusion

I can just say we have lost a true business entity & his death and it can be consider

as the death of hope of Pakistani business environment people like Salman Taseer

are not created or made but they are the blessing from God to any nation and

those who guide the entire nation towards prosperity. I am really in grieve to lose

such a business leader but even though I am quite optimistic for Pakistani youth to

follow in his footsteps and his practices to establish Pakistan in the world business

community.

salman taseer

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