Message from Owner & Chairman of HB Group, Hasan Bokhari
When the HB Group first looked at the acquisition of wi-tribe in 2014, we didn’t think we would have to wait till 2016 for the deal to be completed but we were patient and determined. I believe that those two traits, patience and determination, are key to success in the business world and beyond. And of course wi-tribe was definitely worth the wait.
There is no question that Qatar’s national telecom’s company, Ooredoo (formerly Qatar Telecom), having invested over $200 million into wi-tribe, has laid down some very sound foundations in Pakistan. When Ooredoo’s Board made the strategic decision to exit certain non-core businesses and hence, wi-tribe became available, there was naturally much interest from numerous parties both inside Pakistan as well as internationally.
For our part we feel blessed that we were able to succeed in the acquisition and now we are equally determined to succeed in developing the business further and making a great success of our acquisition insha’allah.
As a business we have a simple philosophy across all our subsidiaries and entities – focus on excellence in all areas of operations and success will follow. From customer-care to product development to technology advancement, we want to see wi-tribe develop, expand and create wealth and employment in Pakistan, and what’s more we are committed to making the necessary investment to enable this to happen.
Testament to our commitment to long-term investment approach and to putting the customer first is our multi-million US dollar partnership investment in August 2016 to upgrade our spectrum.
Within days of taking over we listened to our customers and agreed this key technology upgrade and then subsequently deployed the solution to over 140,000 households within the two months. Over a number of years our internet system had become congested and this crucial investment now means some 90% more capacity now exists and this has greatly enhanced the customer experience with a near doubling of internet browsing speeds.
So it’s clear that remembering our customer is ‘king’ (or indeed ‘queen’) is important to us; but perhaps more importantly we also believe in recognizing when God has been kind. In this regard, we are committed to extending our blessings to others and are embarking on a number corporate social responsibility initiatives designed to ensure we maximize the benefit to worthy causes and needy individuals and families. To this end our current high priority initiative is to develop an orphanage for over a hundred kids insha’Allah.
In addition, we are assessing a number of other initiatives, which will add to our desire to bolster our corporate social responsibility portfolio for the betterment of Pakistan and its most needy citizens.
I earlier identified patience and determination as key aspects of success but perhaps most key is the role of teamwork and especially leadership. In that context we were extremely fortunate to have engaged the services of the former UK Federal Government Minister and Member of Parliament Mr. Shahid Malik, who led the negotiations on the acquisition from Ooredoo and took them through to their successful conclusion. As well as having held numerous international roles serving as a Governor of the Asian Development Bank amongst other Development institutions and Vice-Chairman UNESCO UK, he also has the distinction of being the first elected Muslim to become a Minister in the West.
In addition, we are thrilled that we have managed to persuade him to become Chairman of the Supervisory Board of wi-tribe, which represents the shareholders, sets the strategic direction of the company and both appoints and holds to account the chief executive and senior management team at wi-tribe.
Following in Ooredoo’s footsteps we have quickly laid solid foundations ourselves in wi-tribe and invested in technology and talent, and importantly, through the Supervisory Board, set a vision for long-term success insha’allah – we will now sit back, navigate the bumps and enjoy the journey.
