ISLAMABAD – Asad Umer has been appointed as the new Finance Minister ofPakistan.
Asad Umar graduated from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA),Karachi in 1984 and did a short stint at HSBC Pakistan before moving towhat was then Exxon Chemical Pakistan as a business analyst. When Umarresigned from Engro Corporation after 27 years of an incredibly successfulbusiness career, many knew it was to pursue what would become a highlysuccessful political career.
Umar had shown an inclination towards Imran Khan-led PTI and rumours spreadthat he would join the party.
In 2012, Umar announced that he was joining PTI. When he was awarded theparty ticket for the 2018 elections, many already guessed that he would bethe party’s candidate for finance chief.
“Umar represents the growing class of executives trained by the country’sbusiness schools who made it big by working their way up the corporateladder rather than being born into privilege,” *The Express Tribune* wroteafter Umar’s retirement from Engro.
His tenure at Engro has certainly been a remarkably successful one. WhenUmar took over as president and CEO of the company in January 2004, Engrowas largely just a fertiliser manufacturer with a small petrochemicalsubsidiary.
Under his leadership, however, the company turned into a diversifiedindustrial conglomerate, with interests ranging from fertilizers, foods,petrochemicals, chemical storage, energy and commodity trading.
Even within the core fertiliser business, Umar took Engro from being alocal player to a globally competitive one, leading the firm into the $1.1billion project that set up the world’s largest single-train ureamanufacturing plant in Pakistan.