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Money Matters

A man of substance

By Saleem Qazi
Mon, 08, 17

“Like any ambitious young man, working for an organisation of international repute was my dream. And the most significant day of my career was February 1, 2014, when I joined BASF,” said Faisal Akhtar, managing director, BASF Pakistan.

Reminiscing about his humble beginnings, Faisal Akhtar said he started his career 27 years ago, when, while doing his Masters in Chemistry from Karachi University, he was selected for the post of trainee chemist at ICI Pakistan, an established multinational firm. At ICI, he got the opportunity to work for various departments including pharmaceutical, consumer products, PTA, polyester fibres and chemicals business. The rotation to different departments helped him develop his professional abilities.

“During my stint at ICI, I managed to obtain diversified experience from commissioning of a large scale petrochemical plant, to tariff negotiations with relevant government ministries. This enabled me to understand both technical and commercial aspects of the business, which is integral for managing company affairs efficiently,” he said, with a sense of satisfaction.

However, Faisal believes that the real turning point in his career came when he got the opportunity to join BASF, one of the largest chemical companies in the world with presence in over 130 countries.  In Pakistan, its operation dates back to 47 years.

When asked about the challenges he faced after joining as the head of the organisation, he said, “I had two challenges before me when I joined BASF. First was to focus on core businesses of the company and channelise all efforts to grow them. Second, further inculcate high performance culture.”

To achieve these, he said, “I prepared a first 100-day plan and shared with my team to gain their support and acceptance.  Employees are the biggest asset of any company and I was fortunate to have a team of outstanding people. This made my job simpler and enabled me to deliver the desired objectives.”

Faisal considers his father, Masroor Akhtar as his role model and follows his advice in letter and spirit. His father, who served as the MD at National Motors advised him that there was no shortcut to success; the only way to achieve was through hard work and honesty. That, Faisal says, has always been the guiding force in his life. He affirms that this philosophy has enabled him in his journey from a mere trainee to the country head.

Talking in detail about his current organisation, Faisal highlights that BASF creates chemistry for a sustainable future. He further adds that innovations based on effective and efficient research, as well as development are an important growth engine for BASF.

Explaining the efforts made by his company in innovation, he said, “BASF focuses a lot of its R&D efforts in the areas of ‘sustainability’, health and hygiene’ and ‘urbanisation’, to meet the demands of a growing population.”

Market-driven research and development was the cornerstone of BASF’s global strategy and therefore R&D network in Asia Pacific was significantly expanding as well. “With our unique combination of chemistry, application know-how and the new and improved R&D set-up, we are well positioned to work even more closely with our customers across the region and help them solve their challenges and develop sustainable solutions,” the BASF managing director said.

In 2016, BASF Group’s research pipeline encompassed around 3,000 projects, and the spending on research and development was €1.863 billion. Around 10,000 employees work in research and development worldwide at BASF.

BASF globally divested its textile business in 2015. When asked about the challenges that accompanied this divesture in Pakistan, Faisal explained that this provided them an opportunity to focus on core businesses of BASF and drive profitable growth in areas where they have competitive advantage. The concerted efforts of the employees registered the company as one of the most successful multinational companies in the country.

“BASF expects gross domestic product and chemical production in Asia Pacific to continue to outgrow other regions. BASF’s target is to produce around 75 percent of the products it sells in Asia Pacific in the region by 2020.  BASF participates in innovative and growing markets where chemistry is an essential enabler for their development. These include transportation, consumer products, electronics, construction, packaging and agriculture,” remarked Faisal.  “The upward trend in the business graph of BASF is definitely phenomenal and of course a matter of pride for all those working for the company. Our shareholders appreciate our strategy and performance,” he added.

Commenting on CPEC, Faisal Akhtar said, “CPEC will be a game-changer for Pakistan. The completion of this project will not only give a new impetus to our economy but will also pave the path for more such investments in the country. If I look at CPEC from BASF’s perspective, the demand for our construction chemicals will increase manifold because of ongoing infrastructure projects. This ambitious project will be very beneficial for our other products as well.”

Faisal pointed out that climate change is one of the main challenges society was facing. Business, science, politics and society need to combine forces in tackling climate change and using resources more efficiently. BASF was committed to economically efficient and ecologically effective global climate protection, he added.

Speaking about the overall industry and the business environment, he said that to maintain the growth momentum, the government must resolve the energy shortage issue, adopt a more business-friendly tax culture and further improve “ease of doing business” in the country. “For an investor, the expected relative risk/return ratio is the driving force of investment decisions. Therefore, they tend to invest in countries and projects where they expect the highest returns and the lowest risks relative to alternative investment opportunities,” the BASF managing director said.

Companies that paid all the taxes have to compete with the unorganised sector. This created unfair competition. The government must provide a level playing field for all the players. Multinational companies keep highlighting such problems through the Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said he was hopeful for the future as he firmly believed that “Pakistan’s better days are ahead of us”. A pro-active campaign by the government should be launched to enhance Pakistan’s international image as an investment location. International investors must be persuaded that Pakistan, despite challenges, has many promising policies at its disposal, Faisal Akhtar said.

Emphasising on the importance of corporate social responsibility, he said, “We do not see this as a responsibility, rather an opportunity for us to contribute towards improving the living standards of communities that host us.”

Currently, BASF is actively engaged with TCF to make quality education accessible for the less privileged children. BASF also regularly contributes in the health sector by organising blood donation camps in collaboration with The Indus Hospital and skin camps for the tannery workers.

BASF Pakistan is now also working to launch BASF Global’s initiative Kids’ Lab, to help school children of various age groups develop an interest in science and chemistry. On the performance management system prevalent in the company, he said “The system encourages employees to adopt a blend of performance and leadership behaviour to further individual and organisational aspirations. In parallel, an open and transparent evaluation system is in place which prioritises merit, and results in a participative effort between the company and the employee, to address performance requirements and build a mutually desirable career track within the company.”

When asked if he had some tips for the youth, he said that youth of today is very intelligent and smart and above all, they are exposed to the latest development in the world through technology, which during his time was simply unthinkable.

Despite all that is available to them today, they must not resort to cut corners and try to achieve their desired target through hard work, honesty and patience, he advices. The increasing demand of talented youth would provide ample opportunities to them, so all they need is to keep working with dedication and sincerity.

Talking about his personal life he said, that his engagement and professional career started simultaneously in the year 1990.

He was married in 1994. His wife was a civil engineer by profession and is currently employed by one the largest education system where she is teaching Mathematics to O level students. They have two daughters.

Faisal said that there is no denying of the fact that when you really give your heart and soul to building your career, you end up compromising family time. However, in Faisal’s case, his wife has been a pillar of strength for him.  It was she who took care of the children while he was busy in office and travelling, which was an integral part of his job.

He gives full credit to his wife, in fact, he fondly remarks, “While I was fighting at the office front, she was holding the home front.”  He advises everyone to love their parents and remarked that people are so busy when they are growing up, they often forgot that they are also getting old.  “I am fortunate to have the company of my mother and her presence is the biggest source of satisfaction for me.” he says emotionally.

One can sum Faisal up as a leader who is tough on himself and who keeps on raising the bar for himself and his fellow colleagues.  Being a caring man, he wants his people to excel at what they are doing so that they can achieve whatever they aspire to n life.

The writer is a staff member