Imtiaz Ali Rastgar

Imtiaz Ali Rastgar
Imtiaz Ali Rastgar.jpg
Born	27 May 1946 (1946-05-27) (age 77) Jalandhar, India
🏡 Residence	Islamabad, Pakistan
🏳️ Nationality	Pakistani
🎓 Alma mater	University of Punjab
💼 Occupation	Businessman, entrepreneur, manufacturing specialist, consultant
Known for	Business and Entrepreneurship, Training, Mentoring, CBI Expert, chairman EDB, Mentor

Imtiaz Ali Rastgar (born 27 May 1946) is an entrepreneur and is founder and chair of Rastgar Group. Imtiaz Rastgar is a manufacturing specialist and a consultant for marketing and exports.

Imtiaz Rastgar is one of the best known entrepreneurs of engineering sector in Pakistan. He has been a member of Boards of several government organisations. Over the years, Imtiaz Rastgar has participated in inception of the various trade bodies e.g. Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, PAAPAM (Pakistan Association of Automobile Parts & Accessories Manufacturers), QPSP (Quality & Productivity Society of Pakistan), PFA (Pakistan Foundry Association), TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Islamabad Chapter.

As Founder Charter Member of TiE Islamabad, Imtiaz Rastgar mentors young entrepreneurs and also chairs the Higher Education Commission's Committee on Knowledge Transfer so as to bring an economic impact from interaction between businesses and the Universities of Pakistan. Imtiaz Rastgar frequently participates in various seminars as a trainer and a guest speaker. He is considered an expert in the automotive industry and is the key advisor of Pakistani Automotive magazine ‘Automark’. As an expert in the CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) programmes, he guided and coached more than 50 SME's (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) in their efforts to export to Europe. Though not all companies were successful, many of these companies improved their business operations. His commitment, practical experience, vast network and knowledge of the industry contributed to the success of the CBI programmes in Pakistan.

Early life

Imtiaz Ali Rastgar was born on 27 May 1946 in Jalandhar, India. Later, his family migrated to Pakistan. He attended PAF (Pakistan Air Force) Public School, Sargodha and Gordon College, Rawalpindi. Imtiaz Rastgar graduated from Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore in 1966.

Imtiaz Rastgar earned a diploma in metal casting technology from PITAC (Pakistan Industrial Technical Assistance Centre) Lahore in 1967. Foundry processes captivated him so much that in spite of lack of resources, he founded Rastgar Engineering.

Business career

• Rastgar Group: Chairman (1967 – till date)
• HEC-Higher Education Commission: Convener of Committee on Knowledge Transfer Program (KTP) (2011 – till date)
• CBI – Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries, The Netherlands: External Expert (2007 – till date)
• EDB – Engineering Development Board: CEO (2004–2007)
• Engineering Vision 2010 – Pakistan: Consultant (2002–2003)
• Pakistan Aerospace Council – Convenor (2017– till date)

Engineering Development Board (2004–07)

Mr. Rastgar was requested by the Government in December 2004 to head Engineering Development Board (EDB), a techno-economic arm under the Ministry of Industries and Production. He became the first person from the private sector to lead EDB on honorary basis. Soon after taking over, Mr. Rastgar evolved EDB into a dynamic organization by expanding its scope to areas of policy formulation, business development & export marketing of engineering goods & services and enhancing efficiency and competitiveness of indigenous engineering industry.

The most important feat of EDB during Rastgar tenure was formulation of the first ever Automotive Industry Development Program (AIDP), a five-year roadmap (2007–2011) to foster development and growth of the automotive sector of Pakistan. In 2007, another important policy framework ‘Modernization of the Trucking Sector of Pakistan’ was developed under the guidance of Mr. Rastgar. Under his guidance, deregulation of the motorcycle sector saw production rise from 0.45 million to 2.2 million per year and prices falling from Pak Rs. 75,000.00 to Pak Rs. 35,000.00. This helped create an economic multipliers by starting large scale motorization and improved mobility has led to creation of a lower middle class; this in turn has positively impacted several sectors of Pakistan, most potently the retail sector. Owing to this initiative, local auto parts manufacturing industry got a big boost.

Export development and international marketing of engineering goods and services was an area close to Mr. Rastgar's heart, himself a large exporter of truck parts. The prime objectives of the export marketing strategy was to pitch and promote ‘Engineering Pakistan’ globally as a competitive outsourcing destination for engineering goods and services and give international exposure to Pakistan engineering industry which hitherto have had not chartered into export arena in an organized way. The idea of taking an organized group of engineering companies to the world's leading engineering trade fair at Hannover, Germany, was put forth by Mr. Rastgar during the visit of German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, to Pakistan where he witnessed a display of Pakistani engineering goods organized at the Serena Islamabad.

Hannover trade fair proved a high watermark for the Pakistan engineering sector as it exposed over 150 engineering companies to the global supply chain for the first time, out of which over 50 industries entered into export market and now supplying their products to countries like Germany, Netherlands, America and South America which apply stringent market access requirements. During the two-year stint of Mr. Rastgar, EDB led engineering delegations to Turkey and Korea and organized a road show in Europe to aggressively promote ‘Engineering Pakistan’

On the indigenization front, Mr. Rastgar steered local development of standardized ‘Gin Stand’ by putting together a group of private sector entrepreneurs, representatives of R&D institutes and related government organizations like EDB, SMEDA and TUSDEC. He also initiated local development of six farm implements on similar lines.

Since 2007, Rastgar built a strong foundation for meeting the training needs of the engineering sector through international organizations like PUM and CBI in diverse areas of export marketing, product improvement, effective trade fair participation, change management and process improvement etc.

Mr. Rastgar served EDB for two years from 2005 to 2007. Mr. Rastgar's contribution in terms of formulating a vision and mission for EDB to become the driving force of Pakistan's economic growth and establishing a strong springboard for the engineering industry and EDB to become a global force has had far reaching effect; by obtaining a five-year customs horizon (2007–2012) for the auto industry, huge investments were made by car and truck assemblers in increasing depth of indigenization within this sector.

Since July 2016, Imtiaz Rastgar is Member of the Board of Pakistan Aerospace Complex, Kamra, Pakistan and also Convener of the Pakistan Aerospace Council. He is leading a group of Pakistani Aerospace Industries to AIRTEC 2017, at Munich, Germany, where ten Pakistani companies will showcase their products for the global aerospace market.

Companies founded

Imtiaz Rastgar, a visionary leader and a successful entrepreneur, has laid the foundations of the following business organizations:

• Rastgar Engineering Company
• Rastgar & Co
• iRastgar
• Air Audit
• Pakistan Construction & Quarry
• Rastgar Materials Handling
• AirPro Technix
• MedAir
• Sakoon Services
• Asian Institute of Industrial Air

Awards and honors

Year	Award
2008	Valuable contribution at the 2nd IFCE
2007	JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) "Towards Development of Pakistan Automotive Industry"
2005	Export Performance Award by ICCI (Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
1998	Export Performance Trophy from President of Pakistan
1995	Pakistan Auto Show Achievement by PAAPAM
1993	Best Performance in Metallurgy Technology by RCCI (Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
1985	Quality Award from President of Pakistan

Articles

• Forklift selection – Choosing the right Forklift for textile.

Choosing the right forklift is important for your business. It affects everything from operation costs, productivity, employee morale and stock management. There is a large range of forklifts, and each one is designed to be used for specific jobs. So how do you know what type you need for your business? This article highlights several important factors when choosing the right forklift.

• Forklift Selection – Choosing he Rifgt Forklifts for Redrtile
• How to prepare for a acompressed Air energy audit.
• How an Air Audit brings down manufacturing costs?

• How to prepare for a compressed air energy audit: The compressed air energy audit comes in all shapes and sizes, from free and basic to full system audit with specific measurements, such as leak detection, power and flow rate, maintenance review and more.
• Optimise your energy efficiency with VPVision by Imtiaz Rastgar.

Imtiaz Rastgar is a knowledgeable person who writes on different topics.

• Be brave, step out and export
• The present CNG crisis and its remedy
• Effect of Corrosion in Steel Pipes
• Waste is the enemy: Increasing productivity through reducing "seven wastes" in operations
• How Germany Became An Export Powerhouse
• How A Small Company Is Making A BIG Difference To Profits of Large Companies
• Removing Oil & Water from Your Compressed Air System

Seminars

Imtiaz Rastgar frequently participates in various seminars as a guest speaker.

His articles and presentations are taught in various universities. He often delivers lectures in universities e.g. NUST (National University of Sciences and Technology), Comsats, Bahria, PIDE (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) and participates as a trainer in workshops.

Interviews

Why Business is the No. 1 Profession
Imtiaz Ali Rastgar headed the Engineering Development Board of Pakistan from 2004 to 2007, during this tenure he launched several Pakistani engineering sector companies that became successful exporters, through innovative government interventions. Policy initiatives that taken in his tenure made a huge impact and large scale expansion of the motorcycle, home appliances and auto sectors as well recognition of several capitals goods manufacturing sectors for hand holding by Government of Pakistan. Interview with Imtiaz Rastgar by StartupDotpk, Empowering Startups and Entrepreneurs

Imtiaz Rastgar is considered an example of a self-made man. He is among those few entrepreneurs whose success story has been shared on National Television Network of Pakistan, The Pakistan Television (PTV)
Why Cost of Doing Business in Pakistan is Increasing?

References

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