KalPoint.Com (KPDC): Please tell us something about yourself, your education, family background and brought up?

Mr. A. K. Memon (AKM): First of all, I would like to thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to have the privilege of being here with you and sharing with you my experience of life.

I was born in Kotri, Sindh. I had my earlier education from Kotri. After doing BSC (Hons) and MA Economics, I started my career in a renowned pharmaceutical company and went on to become Advisor and Director at a hospital. The most exciting job of my career was at Aero Asia where I spent 13 years and held top positions, including Director Administration and Director Business Development.

As regard to my education, let me tell you frankly, I did not receive great schooling and studied in an ordinary school. However, my wife is well educated and is a Professor at D.J. Science College. My children are also studying in a good school.

I have done compering on number of important occasions besides TV Live Talk Shows, both within and outside the country. I have won international recognition from countries like U.S.A, U.K, India, Dubai, etc. I also have the honor to be the anchorperson in functions having luminaries like the President of Pakistan, the Prime Minister, Governors, politicians, businessmen and industrialists, persons from social and welfare bodies, intellectuals, etc. One important program that I compered was the inauguration of “Bagh-e-Ibn-e-Qasim’. I did many programs at the Governor House right from the time of Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim to the present Governor Dr. Ishratul Ibad.

I am an active member of the Social Committee of the Memon Professional Forum, Chairman Career Guidance of the Memon Federation, Senior Vice Chairman of FPCCI’s Standing Committee on Public Relations and member of the Arts Council. Besides, I have had held positions of Chairman of the Social Committee of the Memon Professional Forum and Vice Chairman at the F.P.C.C.I for the Aviation and Pharmaceutical Committees.

I also hold memberships of various clubs and social bodies that give me an opportunity to meet people from all walks of life, particularly from the business community.


KPDC: Please share something about your company “Courtesy Consultancy & Event Management”, its history and your association with it?

AKM: When I visited some countries to attend various seminars on different topics, I noticed that special arrangements were made for the programs and people specializing in “event management” were assigned the task of managing those events. From there, I picked up the idea for application in Pakistan, where there was not a great tendency towards event management. I started managing events for different organizations and associations. I co-arranged a program of the World Memon Organization in India besides other programs in countries like Canada and America.

Later, I established my own company by the name of “Courtesy Consultancy & Event Management”. We do very selective events because we believe in quality and not quantity.


KPDC: Do you have plans to facilitate the youngsters who want to start their careers but do not know where to start from?

AKM: I surely do. I had to face hardships to reach the position I am in now and I want to save the new comers from such hardships. We have plans to arrange seminars, conferences and other events in order to educate the youth. I believe it is very important to have a platform wherefrom the youngsters can learn and polish their skills. We are trying to build such a platform.


KPDC: You are also a famous TV anchor. In your opinion what are the qualities of a good compere?

AKM: I feel the most important thing for an anchorperson is good homework. An anchorperson should make complete preparation and have enough knowledge about the participants of the program and the event. After the program, the anchor should review his or her performance. He or she can get feedback from others to know how his or her performance was. This would help the anchor bring improvement in performance on the basis of this feedback. Another very important thing is that an anchorperson should choose a field and then try and get expertise in it. For example, if I am an anchor who does well in the business shows or programs, I may not do a showbiz program that well. So, every anchorperson should choose a field and try to stick to it.

I have done a number of programs with the legendary Moin Akhtar and have learnt a lot from him. He is a undoubtedly a great compere.


KPDC: How important do you think Career Counseling is for nurturing the youth of our country?

AKM: I don’t think we have any career counseling programs in our country. There is no such trend in Pakistan. Career counseling is very essential. In universities abroad, especially in the developed countries, there is proper career counseling available for the students. This helps the students in selecting the career that suits them best. Career counseling provides guidance to the youngsters which helps them a long way. Actually, without career counseling we can never know about our skills. Career counseling tells us about our own skills and capabilities.

Unfortunately, in our society, there is lack of awareness about the career counseling or career guidance. What happens is that parents tell their children that they have to become a doctor or an engineer etc. We don’t bother about what our children want to become or what are their aptitude. Another thing is that we think that career counseling is useless. Parents say that we did not receive any counseling, yet we have been successful in our careers. But I would say that not every one can enjoy luck. We should give proper guidance to our children and let them decide what they want to become, instead of thrusting our own desires on them.

So, I would like to request all the universities to start career counseling programs. I would also request the parents in our country that they should not force their children to choose a field. Let them decide themselves about their careers and do provide them proper guidance. I hope, in the near future there will be more awareness about it and proper career counseling will be made available to our youth. Furthermore I feel the role of Media in guiding the students about their future very important. Currently there are some programs on channels regarding this topic, but I think, the scale of such program should be maximized. In this regard I am also hosting a program on PTV News on the topic of Career Guidance & Career Counseling, which comes on air every Sunday at 7:05 pm, so far many program have been done on various topics with experts of that relevant fields, such as:

Pakistan Army (General S.P. Shahid)
Pakistan Air Force (Air Vice Marshal Abid Raza)
Pakistan Navy (Admiral M.I. Arshad)
Information Technology (Khurram H. Kalia)
Insurance (Saifuddin Zoomkawala)
Education (Professor Mazhar-ul-haq Siddiqui)
Journalism (Qazi Asad Abid)
Advocate (Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui)
Advertisement (Noman Nabi)
Nursing (Dr. Fouzia)
Air Hosting (Ms. Liby)
Police (Mr. Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui)
Flying (Captain Filex)
Pharmaceutical (Mr. Qaiser Waheed)
Charted Accounting (Mr. Shabbar Zaidi)


KPDC: What do you think should be done to make enough growth opportunities available to our students?

AKM: I think, first we need to create awareness. We must carry out a combined effort for it. Unfortunately, we don’t want to have good professionals, because we don’t have the awareness. We still believe that it all depends on luck. If someone is lucky he will be successful. But it’s not always the case. We can’t totally depend on it. We must take care of the future of our youth.

Memon Professional Forum is a good platform but again, it is limited to the Memons only. We should also think about others. I feel that Memons, Bohris and Agha Khanis have better awareness than others. Hence, we should expand our focus to other communities also. Especially, we need to put extra efforts for awareness in remote areas of our country.


KPDC: What are the international standards of event management?

AKM: I don’t think there is a specific standard for event management. Every country has a different standard. But I would suggest that if Pakistani companies have to manage events abroad, they should collaborate with the companies of that country. This creates a good combination and it results in a better event management.


KPDC: You have compered a number of programs. Which of them do you regard as the most important one?

AKM: I think the inaugural program of “Bagh-e-Ibn-e-Qasim” was the most important one which I really liked. President Pervaiz Musharraf was also present on that occasion and he appreciated my performance, which is an honor for me.


KPDC: Being an experienced compere of talk shows, what do you see as the biggest problem of people in our country?

AKM: I think there is much frustration among our people, mainly because of the problems that they are facing. Government has not been effective in solving some of the basic and core issues. Instead, it is busy in tackling not so important issues. What I feel is that people want the government to solve the basic issues, such as control over inflation, electricity crisis, law and order and other such problems which the mass is presently facing.


KPDC: Any message for the youth of Pakistan?

AKM: Yes! I would like to refer to a beautiful quote by Brian Tracy, Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International of USA, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations worldwide, which says:

“An average person with average talent, ambition and education, can outstrip the most brilliant genius in our society if that person has clear focused goals”.

Question: How effective has been the MPF in nurturing the talent of young Memon professionals?
(Saleem Khan, Montreal)

AKM: I believe that MPF (Memon Professional Forum) is an excellent platform for young professionals. It is very useful for doctors, engineers, businessmen, besides others. MPF, throughout the year, holds programs which include annual seminars, symposium, conferences, etc. Young professionals, who attend these programs, not only gather knowledge about the recent developments in their respective areas but also get an excellent opportunity to interact with the experts. All this, provides excellent experience to the youngsters which they can utilize for the development of their careers as well as the industry.

Question: How do you feel compering on TV? What part of anchorship do you like the most? (Sana Ali, Lahore)

AKM: TV anchorship is a totally a different ball game. On TV, you have an immediate result. I feel, that for a TV anchor it is important to give equal opportunity to each member of the panel especially, when it comes to live programs, we need to be spontaneous. We have to deal with the situation that can change anytime. But I enjoy my responsibility as an anchor. It is different from my job at Courtesy. But I can manage both because I believe that if you have passion for something that you are doing, your job becomes easy.

Question: Do you think there are enough opportunities for the youth to learn event management?
(Kazim Rizvi, Karachi)

AKM: I would say that there are not sufficient opportunities available for the youth as far as event management is concerned. I have been to other countries where I found a much better scenario, as regard to event management. So there should be a platform where the new comers can go and learn the skills and techniques of event management. I hope, in the near future, things will get better and there will be better opportunities for youngsters to learn event management.

KPDC: Thank you so much for being here and enlightening us with your thoughts. C U on Net.

AKM: I also enjoyed being here. C U On Net 2.

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