Director / Co-owner Fast Cables Limited

Profile: 

Kamal Mian is an executive member of the Board of Directors of Fast Cables Limited. He holds a Master of Laws degree specializing in corporate and international finance from Harvard Law School, Harvard University, USA. Kamal commenced his career as a corporate law attorney at Pakistan’s leading corporate law firm, Orr, Dignam & Co. Islamabad where he practiced company law and was part of the team handling first round of the private power projects in Pakistan. Subsequently, he worked in the corporate and investment banking industry in the Middle East. He has more than 20 years’ experience in local and international corporate and industrial sectors. Recently he has elected as President of Harvard Club of Pakistan, the Harvard University students’ alumni association in Pakistan. In addition, he also holds the position of a member of the Executive Committee of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Blurb:

We aim to be the market leader in terms of product diversity and innovative applications in addition to being the largest cable manufacturer of Pakistan. Therefore, we have invested more than Rs. 3 billion in building 2nd cable manufacturing facility and bringing in technology previously not available in Pakistan.

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: The blessings of Allah Almighty, the prayers of our parents, and the efforts of our entire team under the leadership of GM Shaukat (CEO) have placed Fast Cables on a trajectory to success. The establishment of our second manufacturing unit, equipped with latest cable manufacturing technology, exemplifies the company’s journey to excellence over the last three decades. 

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: Personally, I am of the view that senior management should not intervene in operational matters on a day to day basis and instead allow its team of professionals to oversee operations. Senior management’s time and energies should be devoted to   identifying avenues for growth and developing strategies that will take the companies to the next level of success. One of the key challenges to adopting this approach in Pakistan is that many people in managerial positions don’t take ownership of their actions and decisions. The culture change required to give managers the skills and confidence for independently overseeing operations and for senior management to refocus their energies on strategic issues will take time to evolve.  

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: Challenges are of two types: micro and macro. Day to day challenges, such as delays in meetings, approvals, etc. fall in the micro category and can be managed through a more proactive approach with advanced planning rather than the generally seen reactive approach prevalent in many offices. Macro level challenges are more difficult to address and include aspects such as recruitment of skilled human resources, meeting the energy requirements of our manufacturing units, ease of doing business, etc. To address the issue of skilled human resources, we are devoting more time towards identifying the correct skill set needed for each category down to the extruder operator, for example, in our factory. In addition, we focus on post induction trainings on a regular basis to ensure productivity and competency of staff. To meet the energy requirements of our manufacturing units we use alternate available sources to keep the efficiency bar high. 

As far as ease of doing business in Pakistan is concerned, the problem lies in the attitude of government functionaries. If and only the government servants change their approach towards conducting their day to day work from negative to positive, we can achieve a lot. Many existing procedures and practices can also be modified and reformed with minimal effort. The resulting time saving and increase in productivity will give a boost to Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan has dropped on the World Bank's Doing Business 2016 ranking and is currently placed at 138 out of 189 countries. Positive improvement in other countries compared to our stagnation has also contributed to the decline in Pakistan’s ranking. Tax payment indicators further highlight our dismal state. On average we Pakistanis take 598 days to pay 47 taxes annually. Comparison with another developing country such as Sri Lanka shows that although the number of taxes is same in Sri Lanka, time taken for tax payment is less than 200 hours. So, you can evaluate yourself how much time we are wasting in irrelevant procedures and multiple documentations. For a positive change in ease of business indicators, we need do the same procedural things in a more efficient manner. I believe only minor changes are required in procedures along with rigorous implementation. No IMF loan is required to make these changes; all we need is the proper attention and focus of key stakeholders.  

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: The international cable industry is very vast. Unfortunately we don’t see the same depth in the domestic cable industry due to several issues such as the energy crisis and insufficient capital expenditure. For example, in the energy sector we don’t have enough distribution capacity to transmit energy from one place to another. Let’s say we were to somehow increase our energy production, its distribution to requisite areas will still remain a major challenge. Such challenges have a direct impact on the development and expansion of the cable industry among other industries. Therefore, as a nation we need to focus on developing new and upgrading existing basic electricity transmission network infrastructure. 

Further, the lack of investment in the last few decades is another challenge that the cable industry needs to overcome. Unfortunately, in the past there was unfriendly environment for investment that discouraged potential investors. For example, High Voltage (HV) cables are not available in Pakistan and concerned government departments have to import HV cables as electricity transmission is not possible without them. Continuation of HV imports is not the solution; instead encouraging local industry and investors for enhancement of manufacturing facilities is the way forward in the long run.

There is also a collective issue of bad governance reflected in the non-regulation of various industrial sectors including electrical cables. Cables are the arteries of electricity and electricity is the bloodline for a home, office or factory. However, we don’t have enforcement regime for implementation of national quality standards in the cable industry. A few players at the top end of the cable industry including Fast Cables follow national and international standards but there is no level playing field as the government lets small or informal economy manufacturers operate without adherence to any standard leaving the public exposed to safety risks in the name of low prices. In order to move forward, we really need to strictly adhere to the national and international standards and implement them in letter and spirit.

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: This is a very important question. You might have read the book “Built to Last”. You will find successful habits of 100 visionary companies in this book. The crux of the book is that companies which were successful, framed their values, first tier management adopted the values themselves and then ensured that their employees also abide by the same set of values. We too have adopted this practice of ensuring that the entire Fast Cables’ team understands the company’s core values and stands by them.  This is one of the reasons for Fast Cables’ unprecedented success in a short span of time. 

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: Mistakes can be reduced with the help of precautionary measures undertaken well in time. We have a system of internal checks and balances, which is refined periodically and in the event of any significant event. Assurance of premium quality products is our main objective, which is achieved through rigorous implementation of a quality control system encompassing testing as per international standards on all key steps of the cable production process.  

Evolve: What distinguishes your company from its competitors?

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: Fast Cables’ focus on premium quality, customer service and management style set it apart from competitors. There is a clear vision in the company that we want to establish our Pakistani brand firmly at par with other cable brands in the international cable industry. In order to achieve this we aim to make each Fast Cables employee the owner of his/her task and have him contribute to the collective performance pool. This approach fosters a competitive environment where the performer leads automatically and helps to bring out the best the company can offer. 

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: There are companies both on the international and national scene that inspire me to work further and emulate their successes. Within Pakistan, there are several shining examples such as Microtech, which deals with smart metering and has undertaken a revolutionary task to shift load management online with the help of USAID. 

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: I believe long-term success can only be achieved through honesty and hard work. Trust is a key element in business dealings and without honesty it’s difficult to   develop the trust level required to sustain long-term personal and business relationships. Hard work paves the road for success; dedication to the job at hand and application of oneself to the best of ability is essential. There is no rocket science behind long-term success; just the tried & tested and often quoted basic values such as honesty and hard work. 

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

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: We aim to be the market leader in terms of product diversity and innovative applications in addition to being the largest cable manufacturer of Pakistan. Therefore, we have invested more than Rs. 3 billion in building 2nd cable manufacturing facility and bringing in technology previously not available in Pakistan. The introduction of state of the art technology will revolutionize our domestic cable industry. We will be in a position to produce medium and high voltage capacity cables with the latest technology in a shorter span of time.  Delivery time of some products will be reduced from 3-6 months to 3-6 weeks. Our new facility also includes aluminum alloy plant that will produce raw material for high voltage conductors of 220 KVA, 500 KVA capacity resulting in the saving of precious foreign exchange. This will also increase production capacity and provide employment opportunities to hundreds.

Evolve: Any message for the readers of EVOLVE magazine?

Mr. Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian: Value life! Each individual should recognize that he/she has an important role to play in this world. Each individual’s contribution to the immediate community and humanity at large is as valuable as the person down the street or living in one of the presidential palaces. We often think that someone else has to do something to change our state of affairs without realizing the difference we ourselves can make. This realization of ‘self’ or Khudi needs to then be accompanied with a determination to do all tasks to the best of his/her abilities. Then rest can be left to Allah Almighty!