‘Opportunity-rich Pakistan needs stable policies to win foreign investors’

Jahangir Mirza, the CEO of ETS International, a leading German chemical-maker, called on the government to ensure stable policies for foreign investments, while providing foreign investors with one-window facilities during setting up and then spreading out their businesses here for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Mirza, recently led a four-member German business delegation to Pakistan to explore investment opportunities and hold business-to-business meetings with local investors to find future partners for joint ventures.

“To know about the country’s market potential, Dr Pantelis Poetis, Pakistan’s active Honorary Consul in Munich, contacted the ETS last year during the planning stage to lead a business delegation to Pakistan. After many deliberations, the ETS board decided to join the delegation aimed to tour and explore the Pakistani market,” Mirza said while talking to The News in an exclusive interview.

Mirza, who is a German businessman of Pakistani background, said they wanted to tap Pakistan’s business market and for this, he had earlier made a similar effort in 2008 but later postponed his plans as he could not find a suitable business partner in Pakistan at that time.

A research-based company, ETS manufactures some 445 chemical based international standard products that are based on a hi-tech wire formula and are capable of safely cleaning sensitive manufacturing units, like the food, oil etc., and the rest of the giant and small industry areas. Meant for surefire cleaning of the large-sized manufacturing facilities, in particular, these chemicals, which are water and organic based, offer a maximum level of rust protection and thus are ideal for production and processing units where quality cleanliness is vital. On the other hand, similar chemicals produced by other manufacturers are mostly based on alcohol and contain a range of harmful and hazardous substances, such as solvent acids, caustic, paraffin, etc. “In contrast, our chemicals are safe, reliable and environment-friendly and can easily be handled with bare hands, with certain precautions,” Mirza said, while comparing his company’s products with the locally available ones.

Giving more details about the ETS, he said that the ETS was headquartered in Germany, while its manufacturing units are based in Belgium and the Netherlands. “Our products are used by such international companies as The Boeing Company, Airbus SE, Douglas and McDonalds and many other throughout the world,” he said.

Speaking about his company’s marketing strategy and local partners in Pakistan, Mirza was of the view that in the initial phase some 45 products would be introduced in the country and seeing the potential, manufacturing units would soon be set up, also. “In Pakistan, we have signed a strategic partnership with SWAN, a reputed name in the local chemicals industry headed by Yasir Qazi. Yasir’s father, Qazi Sajid, has long served as the CEO of BASF, Pakistan, one of the biggest chemical-manufacturing companies with an extensive experience in the field. We hope their rich experience would not only be an asset for us but will also lead to a long and mutually beneficial relationship,” said Mirza beaming.

Having entered into a strategic alliance with SWAN, the ETS has aggressively started marketing of its products, whose range will be augmented gradually, while the ETS manufacturing setup will be established in Pakistan and will soon be able to export these products to the neighboring countries as well. Mirza proudly informed that, “All their products are EU and HACCP compliant”.

As to their experience so far, Mirza quipped they had received a positive response in Pakistan. It must be noted that to demonstrate the unmatched efficacy of their chemicals, the marketing teams of SWAN, under the dynamic leadership of Qazi Yasir, are visiting hotels, hospitals, and large manufacturing facilities and they hope they would be able to capture a sizeable market share very soon.

According to both Yasir and Mirza, such chemicals are heavily used for cleaning and rust-removal, particularly in military organisations, namely the army, the air force and the naval forces as they tend to use chemicals for a range of objectives, e.g. arms, aircraft, and ship cleaning. “Our marketing team is also approaching the country’s defense institutions in this regard,” Yasir said.

Mirza, however, emphasised that the present government of Prime Minister Imran Khan should ensure ease of doing business, especially to the foreign investors. Mirza also elaborated that all bottlenecks and bureaucratic ambiguities should be removed by the concerned agencies to encourage foreign investments to flourish.

Yasir stressed upon the fact that the rate of import duties by the government were very high, generally making joint venture products very expensive and non-competitive as cheap and low-quality local products were widely available in the market. “The government must review this so that more and more foreign investment is encouraged generally, and in the chemical sector, particularly,” Yasir said.

Mr Peter, Director Sales, ETS, said, “A country of 220 million people, Pakistan happens to be one of the world’s larger business and trading markets and is an ideal country with maximum potential for investment and business growth”.

Peter, heading the company’s sales outfit, on his part, said as a foreigner he had misconceptions about Pakistan before he visited here, mainly owing to the country’s reported poor law and order situation.

“However, my misgivings soon proved wrong and I realised that Pakistan boasts a robust industrial infrastructure almost in all business sectors with a broad range of trading and investment potential,” he said.

He was also pleasantly surprised to note that the people here were generally very hospitable and friendly and more importantly, there were actually no security issues in the country as they moved around freely and without any hassle.