I joined Berger Paints Pakistan Ltd in May 1996 as Marketing Manager (NR) reporting to Director Marketing & Sales. The company had two major divisions named Decorative and Non-Retail. Non-Retail Division in turn had four business lines called Automotive, General Industry, Protective Coatings, and Government/Marine. During the three years of my stay in the company from 1996 to 1999, road markings, powder coatings, and vehicle refinishes were added to the N.R. Division. As a matter of fact, I spearheaded the launching of road markings, powder coatings and 2-K in VR.
When I left the company in May 1999, I was working as Divisional Head of the N.R., reporting to the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the company. I was promoted in 1998 after the then Director Marketing & Sales left the company.
During the period 1996-1999, the share of the N.R. Division in the company’s overall sales increased to 38% in sales volume (litres) and 48% in sales value, turning in growth of 72% in sales value over the sales value of the year 1995-96. The new business lines added 19% to the sales volume and 20% to the sales value of the division within one year of the launching of their products.
The gross profit of the N.R. Division turned out to be twice that of the company’s overall gross profit as percentage of sales for the year 1998-99 (excepting company's Deco operations in the tax-free zone of Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir).
Out of the total staff of the N.R. Division in 1999, 70% were hired afresh to meet the requirements of the expanding business lines and business volume. Almost all new comers had no previous experience of the paint industry and had to be trained on the job after a brief initial training in the factory. Most of the new entrants were either management trainees or sales officers.
When I left the company, the operations of the N.R. Division were split among Director Marketing & Sales (who had been newly hired from within the paint industry), General Manager for Road Marking Business and Controller for other business lines.
As head of the N.R. Division, I was actively involved in everything related to the division from hiring of personnel to sales and marketing, finance, product research and development, production planning, material planning and procurement, distribution and logistics, and pre-sale and after-sale customer service. We had separate departmental heads for the various functions other than sales and marketing and customer service but the divisional head was involved in all the related activities. That involvement proved to be a great asset for me as it gave me broad-based exposure to the company operations. Almost every day, we had joint meetings stretching over hours of brainstorming.
The N.R. Division primarily dealt with institutional customers who were not only big but also very demanding. Paint was the end product or the “finishing touch” of the products of our customers. Any delay in supply of paint, technical service or any quality service meant a virtual ‘disaster’ for us. So, we had to be on our toes all the time. We were engaged with our institutional customers at every stage from the trial and approval of paints to the application of paints on their products.
When I joined Berger, I had zero knowledge of paints especially the paints of the N.R. Division that were highly technical and specialized in nature. I had to gain working knowledge, not exactly technical knowledge, of the kinds of paints and their applications by learning it on the job. There were 350+ products of the N.R. Division if we counted every shade and colour as a product. Almost every customer in every industry had its own paint specifications.
Coupled with this, there were 150+ shades and colours of Decorative Paints Division. As a result, every thing in Berger was huge in nature whether it was procurement of materials, production of products, distribution and logistics, number of customers and so on. To manage it all effectively and efficiently, Berger had developed vast systems and procedures and computerized all departments accordingly. That again was a great learning experience for me.
The accomplishments of the NR Division, exceptional in many ways, were made a reality by the undaunting hardwork of the team that I was fortunate to lead. A remarkable team by any standard; its members were knowledgeable, trust worthy, hardworking, loyal, growth-oriented, and wholeheartedly committed to their jobs, customers and the company. It was a unique combination of old and new colleagues; there were no biases, no prejudices and no complaints against each other. They stood as a rock against forces outside the NR Division.
The Berger's overall team consisting of all operating divisions was superb in many ways. Despite all the grumblings in meetings, we were all ONE in serving the company. Every complaint or heartburning was left behind in the conference room. We were all friends and colleagues all the time, enjoying our work and our 'gup-shup.' I solute all from the workers to the departmental heads who facilitated the NR Division and made us proud of our accomplishments and service to our shareholders, colleagues and customers alike.
The accomplishments of the NR Division, exceptional in many ways, were made a reality by the undaunting hardwork of the team that I was fortunate to lead. A remarkable team by any standard; its members were knowledgeable, trust worthy, hardworking, loyal, growth-oriented, and wholeheartedly committed to their jobs, customers and the company. It was a unique combination of old and new colleagues; there were no biases, no prejudices and no complaints against each other. They stood as a rock against forces outside the NR Division.
The Berger's overall team consisting of all operating divisions was superb in many ways. Despite all the grumblings in meetings, we were all ONE in serving the company. Every complaint or heartburning was left behind in the conference room. We were all friends and colleagues all the time, enjoying our work and our 'gup-shup.' I solute all from the workers to the departmental heads who facilitated the NR Division and made us proud of our accomplishments and service to our shareholders, colleagues and customers alike.
The most inspiring and driving force behind the company was Berger’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Dr Mahmood Ahmad who practically learned on the job almost everything about the company’s overall operations and the functions of the departments. He was a source of inspiration for me and others around him to learn things they did not know and utilize their knowledge for better performance. Very few chief executives usually devote so much time and energy to know the intricacies and complexities of company operations.
I was taken aback and shaken to the core of my heart when the company opted to hire a gentleman, who had already resigned from Berger’s largest competitor, as Director Marketing & Sales. The gentleman had previously been looking after the Decorative Paints business in his entire career with the previous employer and possessed no knowledge and experience of the Industrial Paints of N.R. Division. He was probably hired to give his magic touch to the sluggish decorative business of Berger. I was supposed to report to the new Director Marketing & Sales, which practically meant a demotion and, that too, after producing highly significant results for the company within a short span of time.
I informed the Chief Executive of my intention to resign from the company. An ad hoc working relationship was carved out for face saving of both the new comer and myself but I knew and probably the Chief Executive also knew that the arrangement was not going to work on a long-term basis.
The best option, in my opinion, was to let the new comer head the Decorative Paints Division and let me continue as Divisional Head of the N.R. Division till the division was large enough to afford me as a Director.
While working in Berger, I received an offer from an old acquaintance to partner with him in his newly acquired state-of-the-art software house in Islamabad and to establish side by side road marking business including manufacturing and application of road marking paints.
Out of sheer disillusionment with Berger in the new working environment, I accepted his offer and resigned from Berger. However, I continued to serve the company for three months to enable the management to find and hire a new divisional head.
I sold off my property in Karachi to generate funds for the new business venture and shifted to Islamabad along with my family in May 1999. Between the period of my resignation from Berger and arrival in Islamabad, my future partner changed his mind altogether without sharing his thoughts with me. As I later found out after having shifted to Islamabad, he had struck a deal with a gentleman who had knowledge and experience of software business to head his software house. This gentleman was a distant relative of mine and I had introduced him earlier to my future partner with a view to availing his services as a consultant for software house. Not only my future partner betrayed me on this count, he also pulled himself out of the earlier agreement to manufacture and apply road-marking paints.
The sudden and unexpected U-turn gave me the biggest jolt of my life. I did not have a job in hand, could not go back to Karachi and did not have any idea of what to do next. Being an optimist, I did not lose hope and started corresponding with paint manufacturers in UAE to import and market paints in Pakistan for the upcoming housing scheme of the government of Pakistan to construct 500,000 houses in the first phase.
It was a huge scheme and I knew the domestic manufacturers of the organized sector would not be able to meet the sudden demand. I also visited UAE and signed an agreement with Al Gurg Leigh’s Paints LLC to work as their sole agent in Pakistan. The company was producing decorative paints as well as industrial paints in Sharjah in collaboration with ICI and Leigh’s in England. The Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group was handling products of almost 60 companies at that time. I had also planned to go into manufacturing of paints once the business was assured from the housing scheme of the government for a longer period of time.
I hired and furnished a big office and made all the preparations to start the business. However, bad luck struck once again. President Pervez Musharraf deposed the elected prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif in a couple on 12 Oct 1999 and his government suspended work on the housing scheme for an indefinite period of time.
I waited for one year in the hope that the housing scheme might be revived but no progress became evident. Ultimately, I shifted back to Karachi along with my family after losing a huge sum of money in retaining office and staff for business and an expensive residence for my family.
It is said, “God is the best accountant.” It so happened that the software house for which I had shifted to Islamabad could not work and had to be ultimately closed down. The gentleman who headed the software house in my place had to leave Pakistan to get a job abroad.
God compensated me far in excess of what I had lost in Islamabad. I will talk about it in the subsequent parts of my autobiography.
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Topics: Religion & Spiritualism, Life, Community, Global Issues, General Topics, Governance, Judicial Activism, Media, Politics, International Relations and Professional Services
http://livethylife10.blogspot.com/
Topics: Religion & Spiritualism, Life, Community, Global Issues, General Topics, Governance, Judicial Activism, Media, Politics, International Relations and Professional Services
