ALKHOBAR, 28 December 2006 — When young Mohammad Ilyas Khan landed in Saudi Arabia, from Azad Kashmir some three decades ago, way back in 1976, the Kingdom was undergoing a transformation — a virtual metamorphosis. But he had no inkling he would not only be a witness to this evolution, he would be contributing to it as well.
His employers, the Dammam-based Tamimi Global Company Limited (TAFGA) hired him as a supervisor, one in many, but Ilyas was to be different. TAFGA was involved in catering business. It was a comparatively smaller outfit then with only a few hundred employees.
Although Tamimi was an established name in local trading world, yet catering was not their domain. They were yet to be recognized as force to reckon with in this particular sector. Some of the subsidiaries of the company were in red. Yet those were different times. With acumen and sharp eye, Ilyas Khan soon got to know the tricks of the trade.
Ilyas had little exposure to the catering sector. His only stint before joining TAFGA was with the Habib Bank in his home country. Yet with sheer hard work, acute acumen, keen eye, and indeed little luck, Ilyas rose to new heights and conquered new worlds. He was instrumental in turning around TAGFA ever since he took over.
A number of units that were in red are earning entities today. Today as the vice president and the managing director of TAFGA, he is running a company with presence all around the region, employing some 12,000 employees.
Today the company serves 1.2 million meals/day, and their orbit of operation is not only confined to the Kingdom but has spread all around the region.
Now Ilyas is headed to new pastures. He has just launched a multimillion-dollar construction project in Islamabad, Pakistan, “Centaurus” which he claims would be the icon of Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad. Spread over 3 million square feet, in the center of Islamabad against the stunning backdrop of Margalla Hills, the complex will include an indoor mega mall, spacious, modern, state of art apartments, a premium corporate center and a 7-star deluxe hotel.
Expected to be completed by 2010, work on the project, a venture of Pak-Gulf Construction, has already been initiated. Headed by Ilyas, Pak Gulf selected Atkins of the UK for the entire concept and design of the project. Atkins already has a number of projects to their credit including Burj Al-Arab, the icon of Dubai, today.
While giving out the rationale for selecting Islamabad for this prestigious project, the CEO emphasized there was a market, a potential for a world-class complex in Pakistan.
“Not one worth mentioning shopping mall is in Islamabad and daily scores of people fly over to Dubai on shopping spree,” he added while citing the reason for selecting Islamabad for the project. “Once Centaurus is there, with its state of art shopping mall, all major international and domestic brands next door, no one would be bothered to go to Dubai or London to shop. And this would be cost effective for the buyers too,” he emphasized.
Contradicting the impression that the shops and apartments in the complex are prized extremely high, Ilyas says if you look at the maintenance cost of the complex, it would be much less than similar properties in other parts of the world, as the maintenance would be carried out on no profit no loss basis.
Secondly, he insisted if one compared it with similar properties in Dubai or even the Creek project in Karachi, one would find it less expensive. Secondly in view of the area being quake prone, Ilyas added every precaution has been taken to ensure a world class, quake resistant construction.
“Centaurus would be able to bear earthquake of 9.5 Richter scale — much higher than the legal requirements. Then it is at a prime property, the cost of which is going up constantly. And all these features could come only at a cost,” emphasized Ilyas.
The Centaurus project is almost 60 percent booked. The largest number of investors as yet is from Islamabad itself. Then the second largest number of investors is from Karachi, followed by London, the CEO said. A number of people from Saudi Arabia have also shown keen interest.
Ilyas is confident the project would be a tremendous success. He continues to emphasize that the investment in the “Centaurus was secure” from all angles and advised the potential investors to investigate before making a decision.
Indeed Ilyas has once again proved that you are not required to be born with a silver spoon to scale new heights in the world. Hard work with a sense of mission and dedication are enough to make one succeed in this world.
