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The Alchemy of Work-Life Success! – Life Lessons from Tech Guru Veqar Islam
“Even after doing everything, it may not happen when you want it or not happen at all. As long as you
are following the fundamentals, results will come. Learn to be patient without compromising on failure
to win.” – Veqar Islam
Sustained success is a distilled essence of passion, perseverance, and pruned habits, and local leaders
who set an example for us are few amongst many. We were fortunate enough to have Veqar Islam have
a one-on-one conversation with us and share some remarkable insights with us on what it truly means
to strive for the goals that inspire you to aspire.
Veqar Islam is the CEO and President of Jaffer Business Systems (JBS), a leading IT company in
Pakistan. With more than 20 years of work experience, not only has he managed to leave a deep mark
on the corporate world, but he has also become one of the most well-known tech entrepreneurs in
the country. As the President of Touchpoint Group, he leads their services assortment across Business
Intelligence/Analytics, Call Centre solutions, and VAS platforms. He has also paved the way for various
startups, such as Hysab Kytab which he founded. Veqar is the Director of Blutech Consulting, a big data analytics company which was acquired by JBS under his
leadership. He is also the Director of ForeePay, which enables fast and secure payment delivery. His
enriching work experience as Country Manager at NCR Corporation, Country Director at Nokia Siemens
Network, & Senior Vice President at Comptel Corporation informs and shapes his perspective on
business agility, tech, and the art of achievement.
Here is a toolkit of the lessons we learned during our chat with Veqar Islam!
Art of Letting Go
Do you secretly think you are a control freak? Do you think that no one else can do the task as precisely
as you can? If yes, then read on!
If you can empower others, lead winning teams, and let go of tasks that can be done by others, you will
have enough time on your hands to sit down and enjoy a steaming cup of coffee, have a
meaningful conversation, and yet achieve your work goals – all at the same time. Veqar realized this
when he was trying to do everything himself and yet tasks kept piling up until he felt he never had
enough time. There was a time when he was hopping from one international flight to another in a single
week, working from crowded waiting areas and airport lounges, and this shift in perspective kept the
ball rolling in the right direction.
It's important that those in power have the ability to step out from the persona of always being in
control and empower teams to own and lead their decisions. After all, lands are conquered by armies of
dedicated soldiers, and not by a leader alone.
Set up a framework for success
One of the many differences between local businesses and global success stories is their approach to
lasting success.
Once you set up a framework of best practices, guidelines, culture, and ways of doing business and
engrave it in letters and documents, the weight of your business is no longer carried only by those who
are a part of it. This means that you no longer hire for loyalty, rather you recruit for potential, capacity
to learn and adapt to the playing field. If loyalty has a price, then there is always someone who will be
willing to pay a higher one as long as they see value in the right spaces. When you put your frameworks
on paper, your business goals no longer lie in the hands of an employee or his loyalty to the company.
The policies are documented in the form of principles and practices, which make all the people working
for the business accountable for their work.
The framework not only provides a map of policies that are essential for growth, it also lays the ground
for implementation of goals in an effective manner. Having a framework makes sure the company is
going in the right direction, achieving milestones, while ensuring task alignment across objectives.
Foresight to see beyond what you can in the now:
Veqar believes that the one thing that hinders growth is limited use of data in decision making and
complexities of manual systems. He takes considerable pride in pioneering the concept of Data
Warehousing in Pakistan during his tenure at NCR when data driven business intelligence was still in its
embryonic stages. He believes that easy usage and consumption of technology is the need of the time,
and it is the one factor that will accelerate economic growth.
It does not come as a surprise to know that Pakistan still relies heavily on manual methods of data
collection and task completion. These detrack the business from exponential growth to
accumulated growth with the latter being way slower and mismatched to the need of the hour. His sole
futuristic approach is to ingrain usage of technology in the mindsets of the people of Pakistan. This is the
only way we, as a nation, will be able to survive in this fast-paced world. We see this thought process
neatly woven in the concept behind Hysab Kytab to encourage individuals to take data driven
consumption decisions.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
One of the ways to stay ahead of the curve is speed to market. Since little things add up to bigger things,
and speed to market is a product of all these little things. One of the practices Veqar is determined to
weave in the culture of JBS is the habit of promptness in your work. He does not believe in doing the
work on time, rather making sure task completion happens before time. When things are done earlier
than expected, your business outshines, outgrows, and outperforms. As particles in a fast expanding and
dynamic universe, speed of light is what most of us chase but few are able to reach.