President & CEO- Archroma Pakistan Limited

EVOLVE: Would you start off by telling our readers about your professional journey? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Having a target in mind to reach at the top, was the aim that drove me all along the challenging but highly enlightening journey that started in 1982, when I joined Sandoz on a junior level position. My mentors in Sandoz guided me throughout giving me multiple opportunities on equal footing to excel in my career. In 2004, I became the Divisional Head – Textile, Leather and Paper, one of the largest Business Units of Clariant Pakistan. In 2006, I took charge as Chief Executive Officer of Clariant Pakistan Limited. Since January, 2014 the Company changed from Clariant Pakistan Limited to Archroma Pakistan Limited. We are now market leaders in – Brand & Performance Textile Specialties, Packaging & Paper Specialties, and Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants. “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” This quote from William Jennings Bryan fits well with my career with the company. 

EVOLVE: You were made CEO of Clariant Pakistan in January 2006. What made you the right person for the job and what was your mission statement when you took over? 

Mujtaba Rahim: It was not just one thing but a combination of many. Let me try to sum up in one line - Integrity - having strong values, beliefs, ethics, commitment - strongly supported by winning mindset and above all, long term vision approach. My mission was simple: create and nurture a winning team with a strong sense of belonging to the company.

EVOLVE: Archroma received the Award for Eco-innovation from WWF Pakistan? How do you ensure to implement an eco-friendly environment especially in connection with Swiss values? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Eco-Innovation Award is indeed, a great honor for us and has been conferred on us after meeting a rigorous criteria. We, in Archroma have a mindset to achieve more from less and resource saving initiatives have taken a front seat in our business action plans. Swissness is based on tradition, norms and values. Whilst comparing our corporate practices, we feel delighted to note that our business strategies are in full conformity with Swissness, the high end Swiss values.

EVOLVE: Your consumers are highly quality conscious which forces you to adopt high manufacturing standards. At the same time, you also need to keep prices down. How do you reconcile these elements? 

Mujtaba Rahim: We strongly believe in Economic and Environmental Sustainability and our value proposition, to passionately deliver leading and innovative solutions, enhancing people’s lives and respecting our planet is very clear on creating value for customers. There is a chain of requirements that needs to be fulfilled both from supplier and customer ends. The brand owners are under strict scrutiny by specialized agencies e.g. Oeko-Tex, Blue Sign, Greenpeace and many others. Our customers, mainly catering for brands must conform to stringent standards e.g. material should not contain hazardous substances above the prescribed limits, traceability of textile chemicals should also be transparently available etc. Archroma, due to its commitment to sustainability, ensures strong support and adherence to all Eco-standards. We produce chemicals with a better eco profile and our production processes are run with quality standards. At our Jamshoro site, Zero Liquid Discharge enables minimal water usage, less energy consumption and waste management through by-products. Since all our products are fully compliant to defined standards, we are the most preferred supplier for our customers.

EVOLVE: Alongside every opportunity, there is competition. How do you assess this competition and how can Archroma Pakistan emerge on top? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Global competition is increasing day by day. However, Archroma in Pakistan has strong leadership and shining brand. Our customers pride fully associate and use our products. Archroma has technical team which provide solutions and world class service to our customers. With our product portfolio covering end to end in meeting customers’ requirement, both environmentally and economically makes us the preferred choice for customers.

EVOLVE: How do you deal with the challenges and cultural issues within the company while making HR policies, keeping aligned with international HRM practices? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Archroma is a top brand in the country and to remain in that position we attract the best available talent in the country. Our HR policies are made in line with local best practices and international HRM practices of Archroma, both complementing each other. We believe in diversity and respect for others’ opinions. At Archroma, an open door policy is practiced; hence issues, if any, are resolved with mutual acceptability. Our endeavors have been recognized by the Employers Federation and we have been conferred with awards on HR practices and women empowerment.

EVOLVE: What are the important benchmarks if kept in the right direction, can help any company climb ladders of success? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Each organization defines its own goals. I personally feel that the following four should be focused in a balanced manner: 

1. Pushing the boundaries 
2. Ethical values 
3. Empathy 
4. Trust and strong belief in the team

EVOLVE: How do you balance pursuing opportunities and maintaining focus?

Mujtaba Rahim: We have three businesses: 

• Brand & Performance Textile Specialties 
• Packaging & Paper Specialties 
• Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants.

Pakistan is a growing economy with a bright future. Each passing day brings a number of opportunities. Our sales teams are geared to cater to the increasing market demands. They provide expert technical service at any time on customer request which definitely brings our customer in a comfort zone. However, every customer remains our top priority-needless to say that our focus never wavers from serving his business requirements.

EVOLVE: What skills leaders must possess to be effective today, regardless of the sector? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Leadership to me is not a buzz word nor attached to theories, to me it means inculcating a sense of ownership amongst team members, enabling them to achieve excellence; be in professional or personal life. A Leader should be firm in style yet should not be autocratic. I think situational leadership style is more adaptable to today’s needs. A leader should be able to harmonize with the failures equally as with successes. Leadership is all about taking actions that can lead to sustainable positive transformation of team members to higher and measurable scales.

EVOLVE: What is the recipe to achieve long-term success? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Perseverance is the key to achieve long term success. By staying focused and pursuing the set goals, I believe that we can achieve what we strive for. Today, sustainability in good practices drives long term success. Organizations need to think beyond competition to make themselves viable for the future.

EVOLVE: In terms of your ambitions, where would you like to take Archroma Pakistan in the coming years? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Archroma teams are vivacious, charged and dedicated. Year after year they raise the bar on their own targets. Although we are currently the market leaders, yet we continuously challenge for further improvement, like champions we compete with our own selves. Archroma Pakistan is a recipient of a number of corporate sector awards which shows excellence in every field of our operations. Pakistan Stock Exchange rated us amongst the top 25 Best Performing Companies of Pakistan for 14 years in a row which speaks of our good practices itself and the Employers Federation of Pakistan recognized us as “Employer of the Year”. We would like to continue and rather further improve on our best performance and hope that Archroma Pakistan is termed as a role model of the corporate sector.

EVOLVE: How effective do you perceive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Two main areas are our focus of attention towards CSR and they are:

• Education 
• Community welfare

Five decades ago, we embarked upon the task to train students on technical skills by providing them with hands-on experience in our state-of-the-art ACE – Archroma Center of Excellence absolutely free of cost! To date we have an alumni of over 6000 students. This training program has a fine reputation in the corporate sector. A student who has successfully completed a training course at Archroma is preferred for employment. It is a great pleasure to see our trainees working at prominent positions in the industry. We also partner with leading academic institutions and Engineering Universities. At Amantech, a vocational training institute, our managers sat down with the Faculty of the Institute and wrote syllabi well suited to the industry needs. Additionally, we also provide On-Job training at our Landhi site to their students. We reconstructed a housing facility for our neighboring Chakar Khan village and built a Water Filtration Plant. The neighborhood at our Jamshoro site benefits greatly from the Sustainable Effluent Treatment Plant as we provide approximately 30000 gallons of clean drinking water to the surrounding community on a daily basis absolutely free of cost.

EVOLVE: Is there any particular practice that you want to share with the world in order to make business more productive? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Water is becoming a scarce commodity and reservoirs are depleting fast. In order to remain competitive, businesses will have to save natural resources and water is on top priority. Pakistan is a water stressed country and taking a far sighted view we started a project at our Jamshoro plant to save water of river Indus as well as its civilization. In 2013 Archroma was able to install a Sustainable Effluent Treatment (SET) facility with Zero Liquid Discharge at Jamshoro. It is the labor and passion of our dedicated team of professionals. The facility not only supports substantial recovery of 80 percent of water but also allows effluent treatment based on zero liquid discharge which means not a single drop of water goes out of the factory. Compliance to international standards and saving water resources has not only earned Archroma accolades but also enabled our products and processes to become environment friendly.

EVOLVE: Any message for the readers of EVOLVE magazine? 

Mujtaba Rahim: Let us all have strong hope and faith in the future of our country. Pakistan is a country of young people with abundant talent. All we need is to harness and direct it towards productivity.