Pakistani Business Leader
Sadruddin Hashwani
Prepared by: Jawed Mukhtiar (MBA IV/II) Morning
“My life has been hard at times. I am a self-made man and have never depended on my parents. I took it as a challenge, touch wood and thank God because it has been a success. I am very satisfied that I have achieved many of my goals.”
(Sadruddin Hashwani)
Sadruddin Hashwani, is one of the top 10 richest men of Pakistan, is the boy who made it. The life of this tall, gangly, self-made entrepreneur tells us that a different future is possible. It tells us that there is power in words and there is power in conviction. It tells us that if he can be ‘Sadruddin Hashwani’, so can anyone be; provided he or she is willing to go an extra mile.
Sadruddin Hashwani is the Chairman of ‘Hashoo Group’ (Established 1960). Today, ‘Hashoo Group’ is one of the most diversified industrial groups in Pakistan with interests across tourism, travel, real-estate development, pharmaceuticals, IT, and oil and gas. However, this huge empire has a tale of utmost conviction and hard work to tell. Sadruddin started with nothing, after that everything was sheer profit. His drive and ambition brought him wealth, power and a taste for more in a world where those things mattered. He started from scratch. However, his skills brought him to better things – money doesn’t grow on trees, true; but he proved to the world that it is certainly easy to find if you have the commitment.
In the early seventies he expanded his business interests as a pioneer in Pakistan's hotel industry and real estate development. He seized the opportunity to build the Holiday Inn in Islamabad in 1978, and then again two years later in Karachi.
The Islamabad Holiday Inn was the first to be completed in 1978. In 1977 Prime Minister Bhutto was ousted from power and General Zia declared martial law. That was again a difficult time for Pakistan as it went through transformation to incorporate Islamic rules and regulations. Nevertheless, this did not prevent Sadruddin Hashwani from doing what he wanted to do. It was not for any political party or any government, but rather a project which he had undertaken for his own country. ‘Hashoo Group’ built another hotel in Karachi, which was again a Holiday Inn. The reason it was a Holiday Inn was that they allowed Sadruddin to have a franchise whereas other hotel brands were not prepared to give him a franchise because they wanted to manage the hotel themselves. However, he wanted to be in the driver's seat and to manage the hotels himself.
After that, Intercontinental was built with the help of President Ayub Khan. He had a vision that there should be hotels available. Thus Pakistan Services Limited, which Sadruddin owns today, was established by the Government of Pakistan, which held some of the shares. They were able to give free land to Pakistan Services Limited to build these hotels. The Intercontinental Group had also put its own money into the project. There were other investors such as the American company Pan Am and Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan. They all pooled their resources and the government came forward and gave the land for these five hotels to be built. One of them was in Dhaka, and the other four were in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar.
These initial projects laid the foundations of the modern tourism and hospitality industry in Pakistan. Sadruddin’s vision has always been to contribute towards developing this important sector of our economy at par with world standards.
The contract with Inter-Continental expired and “Pearl Continental” became the new name all over. Today, the Pearl Continental in Karachi is a member of the leading hotel group in the world. Sadruddin Hashwani built a hotel in Bhurban, PC Bhurban - a beautiful hotel from which one can admire the mountains.
Pearl Continental is the name which has captured the market, to say the least. In Lahore everybody calls it PC and it is the meeting place for people in the city. It is easily pronounced and widely recognized.
Marriott too, belongs to Hashoo Group. When Hashoo Group started using the Marriott name it was one of the first times in the history of the corporation that they had given a franchise to a hotel that was not directly under their management control. An achievement for Hashoo group, indeed. Sadruddin Hashwani terms it as a matter of great satisfaction because when he met Bill Marriott he had never thought about the franchise. Then they sent their people to inspect these hotels before offering the franchise. As a matter of fact, the franchise agreement of the Marriott was made based on Hashwani’s hotel contract and drafted here in Pakistan. Today the format of franchise agreements has been initiated by the Hashoo Group and Sadruddin Hashwani is very satisfied that Marriott decided to recognize the product and lend it their name.
Sadruddin Hashwani believes that in everything you do today there is a component of image. What you wear, how you groom, and how you speak are all of the individual efforts that you do to create your own image. Similarly in the service industry you have to make sure that you are in best shape in order to provide the best possible service and to keep on spending money in order to improve the product. Today in the Marriott ‘Hashoo Group’ has a 27-year old property but they have been investing money every day. The entire hotel is being equipped with plasma televisions. There are computer systems available in the rooms and you can do your airline bookings directly from them. This is their software; they have researched and developed it themselves. Nobody has it anywhere else in the world. Hashoo Group’s IT department has top class professionals, dedicated to research. They are putting new furniture in the rooms, and the only thing they cannot increase is the size of the rooms because they do not have the land. Otherwise, they would have built another hotel with 400 rooms and with maybe the quality of the Ritz Carlton. Sadruddin Hashwani believes that it is very important to invest in quality and in building up the product and its image. The reputation of their world-class hotels has spread far and brought new business and leisure travelers to their cities as destination cities. This is a big boost to the domestic hospitality and tourism industry.
Mr. Sadruddin Hashwani was awarded the ‘Outstanding Professional Contribution Award’ for his distinguished services to the tourism industry of Pakistan. He is a humble and down-to-earth gentleman. Awards do not satisfy him.
His satisfaction is his own personal satisfaction. He is not looking for any award or recognition. What he does is what drives him, and above all his satisfaction is not making money in business, but rather providing 9,000 jobs today. He wants to provide more jobs and to contribute to his country's economic growth. His goal is to play a positive role.
Sadruddin Hashwani is a man who has all the qualities of head and heart. He is a philanthropist as well. The philanthropic Hashoo Foundation, and Umeed-e-Noor, are his projects which provide special education and healthcare for children. The Hashoo Foundation has built 18 schools in Pakistan so far. It has a program to build another 40 schools with ten in each province of Pakistan. They are taking in children from working class families and providing them with free education, books, uniforms, making sure that once they pick up a child, they can make him a graduate and hence play a positive role in the building process of Pakistan. The Hashoo Foundation was established to provide scholarships and to build schools.
The Hashoo Group also has two other foundations: the HOAP Foundation and Umeed-e-Noor Foundation.Sadruddin Hashwani’s wife is running the Umeed-e-Noor Foundation, which helps handicapped children. They are looking after 75 children and currently are trying to get land from the Capital Development Authority to build a permanent home which would then allow us to have a facility for 300 children to be boarded there. Some of the children come from rich families but it is hard for them to look after them properly. It is essential for Pakistan to be able to take care of the people who need help. Umeed-e-Noor is committed to this cause and he has been financing whatever he can and his wife organizes fundraising functions a few times a year.
Mr. Sadruddin Hashwani is a man of integrity whose ideas are worth admiring and his practices are worth emulating. His success story gives the nation a zillion lessons to learn. Mr. Sadruddin Hashwani, Hats off to you and thanks again.
He is a true son of the soil, indeed!!!
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