The entrepreneur's prayer

O God! Behold, I ask of Thee the good through Thy knowledge, and ability through Thy power and beg (Thy favours) out of Thine infinite bounty.

For behold Thou hast power; I have none. Thou Knowest, I know not; and Thou art the Great Knower of things hidden.

O God! If in Thy knowledge, this matter be good for my faith, for my livelihood, and for the issue of mine affair (or for the beginning or end thereof), then ordain it for me, and make it easy for me, and bless me therein.

But if in Thy knowledge, this matter be bad for my faith, for my livelihood, and for the issue of mine affair, or for the commencement and end thereof, then turn it away from me, and turn me away therefrom, and ordain for me the good wherever it be, and cause me to be pleased therewith.

(Dua Istikhara, Prayers of Mohammed, Abdul Hamid Farid)

Bright young graduates

Every now and then, I end up interviewing a bright young Pakistani that restores my faith in the future of our nation. The fact that we have the ability to produce talented desi's, have the institutions to groom, train and direct the said desi's and finally a choice of firms that can employ the same desi's, suggests that there is still hope.

So what if the western media thinks that we are bunch of trigger happy, cheating, suicidal, hopeless, flag burning mullahs. (We are not).

The East is rising. (We are not exactly East, but proximity should pay some dividends).

Although the latest Economist sources indicate that a recession has arrived or in transit and the East will soon start sinking. (Albiet at a slower rate than western economies)

The Actuary, August 2006 issue

The Blue screen of death, a desi’s misadventure in the land of opportunity and Jawwad get coverage in the August 2006 issue of the Actuary. The magazine is Society of Actuaries membership newsletter that reaches 30,000 Fellows, Associates and students world wide. Follow the review link for more details

In case the link doesn’t work, you can also try the following:

Goto www.soa.org
Click on The Actuary link on the right hand side panel
Click on the August 2006 issue
Click on if at first you don’t succeed…

Scheduled outage for 2 weeks

I will be running the Pakistan Bank Association (PBA) workshop on Basel II and FRM prep for the next two weeks. It has been an interesting run up preparing for the event and I think I could possibly write another book on the workshop and training business if and when I find the time.

Frequency of blog posts should decline dramatically. Will see you all in two weeks, if not sooner.

Karachi btw is still standing. I love this city.