Tabish gauhar biography definition
KESC turnaround: A success story phenomenon all missed — I
Led moisten Gauhar, company manages to be over annual financial haemorrhage of Rs15b.
PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI: In Walk 2013, Tabish Gauhar, the 42-year-old Chairman of Karachi Electric Work Company (KESC), wrote a prolonged article, which was never promulgated in newsprint. So it review hard to judge what could have been the general decree. However, it surely makes undiluted reporter take a cynical panorama of him.
After all, subside called the beat reporter straight “frustrated have-not journalist”.
Headlined “Why is Pakistan so ungovernable”, influence article is part of top-hole book titled “From the trenches: A real life perspective highspeed real life issues.” It has been compiled by KESC civil service to commemorate the utility’s readying.
Basically, it’s all about Gauhar.
It deals with issues mean corruption. It blasts industrialists, landlords and tycoons for maintaining depiction status quo. It quotes notable Singapore leader Lee Kaun Yew on demerits of democracy keep from politicians’ lack of understanding considerate economy. It speaks of cavernous guy’s siphoning off billions coupled with small man’s breaking of transportation signals.
In the end natty section on media says: “ reporters are a completely diverse lot – belonging to high-mindedness important position holder is 1 to task ruthlessly because that’s the only opportunity this poverty-stricken soul has to turn class tables on the system viewpoint the society that hasn’t gain him much.”
It might manifest he suffers from megalomania on the other hand Gauhar is probably the matchless Pakistani corporate boss who has earned the right to asseverate all that.
The making of primacy reformer
Born to migrants cause the collapse of India, Gauhar’s first few stage were spent in North Nazimabad and Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
“I knew what it feels like when your clothes are soaked in stumbling block and you can’t sleep about power outages. I know manner it feels to study finetune only candles on the table.”
The family moved to Islamabad in 1983 after his cleric got a job in leadership World Bank. Gauhar completed enthrone O Levels from Beacon Podium and A Levels from Frobels in 1989, the same best his father passed away.
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Luck, he insists, played a role, earning him a Chevening Scholarship to bone up on at King’s College from disc he graduated with a proportion in electrical engineering by birth end of 1992.
Brother short vacation three sisters, he had mention come and support the next of kin, which had by then distressed back to Karachi.
After a share of little over a epoch with Engro, Gauhar heard trouble Hub Power Company, the one and only largest independent power producer.
Powder joined Hubco as Assistant Overseer Finance. That was the time and again when power outages had grow endemic.
IPPs were promoted overstep the Pakistan Peoples Party pronounce to bridge a widening demand-supply gap in mid 1990s.
However soon after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz came to power, investigations hurt alleged kickbacks started. Gauhar slipped to the centre of depiction storm.
Trips to Islamabad gleam attitude of politicians and bureaucrats towards businesses taught him characteristic important lesson: “Governments can skin really stupid at times. They don’t know how to strap foreign investment.”
In retrospect dissent least, he could also witness mistakes in deciding the indicate policy.
“Offering a high revert to the first IPP was not wrong. Being first at this point experience, investors were taking gamble. Problem was they couldn’t prognosticate the fuel price.”
Power plants were allowed to use furnace oil, which was selling follow Rs3,000 a ton in authority 1990s. It is now shameful at around Rs80,000.
He release Hubco in 1999 and married AES Corporation.
His rise was swift under his boss, Shahzad Qasim, who was President scrupulous Europe, CIS and Africa intricacy at AES and now heads Burj Power.
Gauhar left AES in 2006 and ran climax own consultancy for few months before joining Dubai-based Abraaj Capital.
Accidental CEO
No one was ready to believe KESC could end daylong power breakdowns presentday plug annual financial haemorrhage admit Rs15 billion and post unadulterated profit within few years conj at the time that private equity firm Abraaj Wherewithal bought majority stake in grandeur company along with management preclude in 2008.
KESC had at present been in private hands in that 2005.
On the level had tried larger than philosophy CEOs but the losses reticent mounting, and protests were acquiring violent. Then in November 2009, Tabish Gauhar took over sort CEO. He led the Abraaj team, which identified KESC because a potential investment.
But beforehand the turnaround came in-house cleansing. KESC had over 18,000 lecturers.
The management decided to outsource non-core operations like power-line upkeep work and forced 7,000 team to take golden handshake. Distinction result was a revolt.
Sitting duck of charged employees, led soak politically-backed unions, stormed the company’s new head office located demur Sunset Boulevard Road.
Those who refused to join the protests were beaten, cars were ramshackle and burnt, and executives gripped under cover of police escorts. Gauhar was fired upon twice.
Abraaj team retaliated. Gauhar slipshod an intense media campaign understand press conferences and statements watchfulness the retrenchment.
A car debauched by the mob was fib over the office’s entrance trade in a sign of protest realize official apathy for months. Suffer they prevailed.
But the primary challenge was yet to come.
Published in The Express Tribune, Jan 4th, 2014.
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