CEO – Kansai Paints, Pakistan

Evolve: What is the secret of your organization’s continuous and consistent growth in Pakistan? 

Agha Zafar: Reliability, unmatched service levels, customer delight, passion and a very hard working team. Our major part of business is B2B and we, in line with our parent Company, always encourage long term relationships and building alliances so when our customers grow, we grow. We are continuously improving, continuously investing in human capital and technology and growth has been a natural outcome. There are no secrets, just a lot of honest hard work by a very passionate team which works like an extended family.

Evolve: You must be facing a number of business challenges. How do you address them? 

Agha Zafar: All businesses have challenges and we are no exception. Internally, we are very collaborative when it comes to facing challenges and there is a strong culture of situational leadership and going an extra mile. Guided by our shared core values, we are quick in defining our preferences which enables us to reach and implement decisions quickly. We maintain a sense of urgency when targets are to be achieved. Externally, we have always maintained very transparent engagement with all stake holders and we have always found them by our sides whenever there was a need.

Evolve: How do you manage a rapidly growing company while focusing on operations? 

Agha Zafar: That’s the part I enjoy. We have experienced a very healthy growth and diversity in the last 5 years. Our focus has always remained on people, people development and bringing out the leaders in them. Everything else is a natural outcome of a strong and passionate team. Managing a fast growing becomes difficult when you maintain control in few hands, base the systems on mistrust ending up in lengthy, time wasting processes. As a result, different departments within the company start defending their own interests, trying to pull the others down. We are very strong believers in empowerment guarded by clear, well-defined accountability. This has enabled our younger colleagues to assume higher levels of responsibility in relatively short spans of time and we have been able to expand and diversify.

Evolve: What is the importance of values in sustaining a company? Do values repel change? 

Agha Zafar: Values are your DNA, your backbone and your compass. Values define your identity. Shared values encourage openness, ensure predictability and reliability which are essential to bring any improvement and make difficult decisions. We at Kansai not only focus on enhancing technical competence or skill levels, we have a very sharp emphasis on the values.

Evolve: What kind of culture you have maintained in your organization and how would you throw light in its significance? 

Agha Zafar: Let me give you my view on significance, a non-transparent, suffocated, politicized culture or a culture of malicious obedience is a sure recipe for the failure of any organization. Our culture is based on 4 shared values, Innovation, Respect, Entrepreneurship and stake holders’ interest. We are very passionate and sensitive about our culture and collectively, it has enabled us to achieve what we at times thought was not possible. We demonstrate a high level of respect for groups and individuals even when things are difficult and the pressures are high.

Evolve: How do you prevent mistakes and practice damage control? 

Agha Zafar: We are a rather young company and I must admit we have made a lot of mistakes but the experience from these mistakes has sharpened our decision making skills. We honestly do not spend too much time on forensics, we aim for prevention. FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis) is integral part of all our operations. We serve the automotive and other critical industry in Pakistan and there is almost no room for mistakes and that is where the Japanese culture of Gemba and Kaizen comes in. Our staff is continuously on a planned skill development program in the two very large R&D centers in Japan and there are very frequent audits of our manufacturing facility by the Japanese experts which includes validation of the skill levels of our people. We also have an in-house Job Qualification Program which enables people to enhance their skill levels through targeted training.

Evolve: How do you look at the paint industry in Pakistan and its current market trends? 

Agha Zafar: If I compare the per capita consumption of paint in Pakistan compared to our neighboring countries, I can safely say there is great potential. What needs to be done is providing a level playing field to all players. Unfortunately, our paint industry is cluttered with players who evade taxes and have little consideration for quality. Although Pakistan’s automotive market has grown in the past three years, our mainstream industry has been stagnant and there were no sizable projects in the past so many years. With CPEC coming in, I am already seeing the climate and sentiment changing. I think next ten to fifteen years are going to bring the long awaited industry upsurge in Pakistan.

Evolve: How do you see the quality of your products and customer service in a highly competitive market? 

Agha Zafar: We know that quality of our products and services is our license to operate in the industry. Service standards and service levels are very low in Pakistan and surprisingly customers seem to be quite happy with it. In the beginning it was always a challenge for us to raise the awareness amongst the customers to make them realize long term problems associated with poor service levels and poor quality of products. Now we can safely say that the customers are becoming more and more aware which is leading to a healthy competition in the market both in product quality and service levels. Our long term relationship with the major industrial players in Pakistan is itself an evidence of the quality of our products and services but this in no way means that we are now sitting back and relaxing. Kaizen means continuous improvement, is way of life in Kansai.

Evolve: What distinguishes your company from its competitors? 

Agha Zafar: Kansai Paint is not just a paint provider. We take pride in the fact that we are end- to-end solution providers when it comes to paint and coatings. We work very closely with the end users and spend a lot of time in carrying out in-depth analysis of their problems and developing solutions. For example, we offer corrosion monitoring programs to our large industrial customers which includes training of their staff, regular audits and reporting system and finding permanent solutions to their recurring corrosion problems. We have a state of the art laboratory at our facility which is equipped with latest measurement and monitoring instruments which were previously not available in the country. This has enabled our customers in the private and government sectors to better understand the global standards through on-site and field testing, interaction with international experts and also having access to international forums. We also take pride in introducing some very innovative products for domestic, industrial and infrastructure projects.

Evolve: Is there any company that has ever impressed you? 

Agha Zafar: There are many companies across the world doing wonders. If I talk about Pakistani companies, the ones which are run by young entrepreneurs, I would like to mention Getz Pharma for their business strategy making long term investment in human capital, E2E for their business model, Rozee.pk Pakistan for their rapid growth and a couple of others. We have regular events where we create opportunities for our younger managers to meet the builders of these success stories. It has actually worked out quite beneficial.

Evolve: What is the recipe to achieve long-term success? 

Agha Zafar: The answer is in the question itself. You must have heard the famous Chinese proverb, “if you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people”. As I told you earlier, we have experienced a very healthy growth and diversity in the last 5 years. Our focus has always remained on people and developing future leaders. If you have good people now and for the future and they maintain and follow the shared ethical values and culture, there is no reason why your company would not achieve long term success. We are part of Kansai Paint Japan, a company which shall be completing its 100 years in 2018 and this has been possible because of the strong value system which our founders laid down 100 years ago. I hope I have been able to reply to your question.

Evolve: Where do you see yourself and your organization in next 5-10 years? 

Agha Zafar: Our vision is simple, Kansai Paint should be the most sought-after paint and coating solution provider in the region. We would also like it to be the first choice of employment for fresh graduates. That’s what we have been working towards and I am already started seeing some positive signals.

Evolve: Any message for the readers of EVOLVE magazine? 

Agha Zafar: Evolve is a brilliant endeavor towards the development of corporate culture in Pakistan. It has already gained popularity amongst the corporate and financial sectors. My message would be that we have come a long and difficult way and success and prosperity is not far away. Keep your faith in this country and make it great. Bring back the glory to the green flag and green passport.