NOMAN Hasan Chief Operating Officer of Lucky Cement in an exclusive interview with Pakistan Observer has said: “Presently we are one of the country’s two leading brands though a couple of years ago we ranked fourth or fifth. Lucky Cement has challenged all the norms in the market and we have actually taken up some of our competitor’s share through consistent quality and availability”.
Speaking about psyche, he said that traditionally people wanted to use material that their father or brother had used to get their houses built. Similarly, architects, contractors and consultants too recommended established brands. These common beliefs made it very difficult for Lucky Cement to establish its name in the market. Maintaining that general perception about Lucky Cement’s quality was also building with the passage of time, he pointed out that reliability was given more importance than cost: “Since houses are built only once the majority prefers to pay a few rupees more per bag to get a ‘durable roof’ over them”.
Explicating a propos this trend he informed that two players (including Lucky Cement) held the controlling share in Karachi Market notwithstanding their higher rates.
Tracing the naissance of Lucky Cement, he informed that founded by late Chairman Mr. Razzak Tabba, Younus Brothers Group – one of the largest export houses in Pakistan – had been in textile trading business for generations. Their transition from trading to being one of the major players in the manufacturing industry has resulted in owning agroup of companies across the country.
Some 14 years ago they ventured into cement, building the first plant of Lucky Cement in Pezu, Lakki Marwat. “Lucky’s plants (Karachi and Pezu) are rated amongst the few best plants in Asia having a capacity of producing 24,000 tons per day of dry process cement. The biggest advantage of having a plant in Karachi is that you stay close to the largest cement market of the country, and for market leaders – like us – it is all about positioning and availability of our product. Though youngest amongst its competitors, since 2008 Lucky Cement – that provides work to thousands of employees – is the largest manufacturers, largest exporters having the largest local share.”
Acknowledging the fact that “international demand has shrunk because of recession”, he maintained: “Yet Lucky Cement is exporting to more than 10 countries. We have been very aggressive in our exports and that contributed to exponential growth. UAE was one of our major markets, but lately they are still recovering from 2008 recession so they have cut down on orders. There were times when we were the sole cement providers to Middle East, but now there are many companies, including those based in Middle East. Currently most of our exports are to Sri Lanka and South Africa”.
Speaking about Lucky Cement’s sales in Pakistan he said: “Our biggest clients locally are the institutions working on the government projects (dams and roads etc.)”. Adding that FWO was also one of their main customers he added: “Then there are construction sites, buildings and plazas. We have a joint venture with Paragon Construction.” Lucky Cement has area sales offices in Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Multan, Peshawar and D.I. Khan.
Noman Hasan is very optimistic person when it comes to Pakistan: “I feel that the potential and opportunity we have here is not available in many countries. Though many are dubious about the future, fact of the matter is that no major business ever fails in Pakistan. Man has three basic needs: roti, kapra aur makaan – and cement manufacturers are fulfilling one of the three indispensable requirements. Therefore, in a country with such a big population – that too is growing – there always will be a business potential, at least for our industry. There were many big projects going on previously, if that activity recommences it will give a boost to cement industry so much so that we won’t be dependent on exports for sustainability. Still the market is vibrant, there is growth. Due to floods there were devastation but now rebuilding activities are taking place.” Lucky Cement had distributed relief goods to over 6000 households affected by recent floods.
He observed: “In worse conditions too, growth of 5 to 8% is quite possible in Pakistan. You go to Europe where there is an overall stable environment, there is saturation due to concentration of so many businesses and then population is not growing. The most dangerous thing for any economy is the aging population – aged tend to indulge less while youngsters more. There is always business in countries having young and growing population”.
Informing about Lucky Cement’s proactive environmental initiatives he informed: “We moved away from furnace oil in our electricity generation much before the whole thing became an environmental issue. Similarly we had recovered the heat we were wasting during the process, to generate electricity. We are trying to improve the carbon foot print that we have. Recently, in order to replace coal, we have gone for organic fuel with lower carbon emissions. Huge investment had been made though as much material returns are not expected. We are vastly involved in plantation and try to do that in different places. It is a two prong strategy: the whole idea is to avoid polluting the environment and to return something”.
Speaking about his designation of Chief Operating Officer, he told:“COO handles all the business operations that include marketing, sales, human resources, supply chain, MIS etc”. As to why he – an outside cement person – was inducted, he said that Lucky Cement was a very good and growing company, so his impact on business might not be that much: “What was required was to work in a more professional and organized manner. To have more systems &processes. I think it takes time to bring things to that point. We have gone for a new corporate look – we are moving towards the next step in which we would probably go to active marketing of our product. Right now it is still a commodity product”.
Speaking about the modification he had endeavored to make, Noman Hasan said: “We have activated HR a bit; we have tried to link performances with increment systems processes; overhauled the logistics department. So there are more of these things that are on process side. The organization was right as long as it was a small company – though it grew into a big company, system remained the same”.
Holding that sustainable change was always slow he said: “Idea is that theprocess of change continues. Other job to be done is on the structure of the organization and then we will have to work on the staffing of that structure. Stakes are so high – company is doing so well – when things are not working in the right way you can handle it easily but if the things are going well you just need to steer it”.
He said that as he had grown throughout his career he learned from what he had seen in different organizations, in different set ups: “Then I take hints from my boss Muhammad Ali Tabba (member Board of Directors, KEI and CEO Lucky Cement), who is running this company for the past five years. He is the one who is responsible for the growth ofthe company to the level where it is today. He has a very clear vision as to what he needs to do. So I take some directions from him”.
Talking candidly about his early life, son of a businessman, Noman Hasan recalled: “In 1988 I did my matriculation from Saint Patrick’s School. After Matric I shifted and went into commerce. At the age of 13-14 when I studied biology and chemistry I realized that was not what I wanted to do. To be very honest with you the switch was more to get out of the science than to get into commerce because I realized that I could not do it. I could become neither doctor nor engineer. I had a natural trend to understand commerce, economics, accounting and I realized that was what I wanted to do. When I looked at it more seriously I applied for admission in IBA”.
His professional career commenced immediately after his Masters’ in 1994 with joining Shell: “At that time they were switching from a local public limited company to a multinational company. There used to be dingy petrol pumps. We revolutionized them, made canopies, got uniformed attendants, brought good perks. With that they had started the concept of convenient stores that we called Select. So I was basically responsible for setting up and running Selects. Just a few days after joining we set up first Select at Rashid Minhas Road’s Askari petrol pump. We set the second on Shahrah-e-Faisal and then in Lahore. So in my two years there I set up about 10 or 12 Select. Today people accept shops with petrol pumps but then it was a new thing. People wondered what shop remained open for 24 hours? That it would be looted during night. It looks like an accomplishment to me because at that time there was a lot of resistance. In a company that was selling fuel and lubricants I was talking of selling chips and biscuits. Than government rules did not allow to sell any such thing from petrol pumps. So after a lot of struggle we reached this point. Now there are Makro and Metro but at that time when you went to companies with an idea of opening a national chain they used to say ‘talk to our local distributor why are you coming to us’. We could not talk to distributors all over the country. Since there was no other chain before us except for the Utility Stores, they did not have the concept of a national chain – a shop that is everywhere. Then TOTAL also came, PSO and Caltex too revolutionized themselves. Now there is no pump until there is a shop there. We feel that something that we had started had become a norm”.
In 1995-96 when Noman Hasan was associated with Shell, the company had acquired Burshane (that marketed LPG in red cylinders). He was sent to Burshane as Business Development and Brand Manager in 1997. From there he got picked up by PepsiCo International in 1998 where he worked till 2009: “Actually I started with them when I was 25. PepsiCo is the company that developed and groomed me into what I am today: that company gave me the exposure, the experience, the learning chance, to sit at top level. I worked with world class people over there; my corporate being is basically the gift of PepsiCo. The beauty of this American company is that there is no role of seniority level or of age, they just see if you could deliver or not. So at the age of 32 I became a Director. At that time it was a record for that company”.
He was made the Franchise Director, heading whole of Pakistan – that was a significant part of business.
Karachiite Noman, still narrating his career, told: “PepsiCo kept me everywhere but Karachi. Unlike a lot of Karachiites, I know Pakistan like the back of my hand. Particularly I know Punjab very well, you take me to Gujarat, Gujranwala, Rhimyarkhan, you just put me anywhere, I will tell in ten minutes where I am after roaming around for a while. I have the idea of people, their culture; I understand almost all the dialects. I can tell you specifically who is from which part of the Province; I comprehend intricacies like Butt-A’raeen politics, because I had extensively worked with them. I think that ethnic knowledge helps you comprehend people”. His last assignment with PepsiCo was in Saudi Arabia as General Manager heading non-carbonated beverages business of PepsiCo for Middle East Region.
Due to his acquaintance with the populace and their penchant Noman Hasan’s first assignment at Lucky Cement was to focus on the northern Pakistan: “It was very easy for me to go there and mix with people; I identify with their issues very quickly and resolve them just because I have some perception. I believe that anything that you pickup, that you learn, helps you. It does not have to help you directly; it just has bearing on your personality. I was very average learner, so if someone asks me what has got you to a certain level, the answer in a quick word will be that I always like to pick up things. Anybody is saying something, any discussion is going on, my quest is to know, what is going on. Nothing attracts me as much as picking up things does. You understand different mentalities of different people and I think that genuinely helps”, Noman Hasan concluded.
Source: Pakistan Observer
