Sales Prospecting and Karachi Earthquake

How Earthquake and Sales Prospecting Relate

Well that were some strong jolts felt here in Karachi. The earthquake jolt originated from Iran – Pakistan border.

What was noticed, when earthquake hits, people throw in the frantic and people do notice and register the influence of the panic – which is negative. People then start rushing and gushing and blushing, whatever is possible. Journalists get an incident to report and people get to phone to inform their acquaintances of their safety.

Point is, how does this related to sales discussion – well here is the proposition – when and during earthquake, people cause the panic, they just don’t think twice of the reaction of the people around them, they just have one focus, safety for one and for all.

So what are we doing while Sales prospecting – do we have the focus..? If we don’t, we don’t cause the stir to initiate the sales discussion. Sales prospecting is all about confident attitude projection – most sales guys, not experts friends, the sales guys hesitate. Reason? The focus is not there, start revising your visions and dream goals. Plus, don’t just sit there and care what would people say, get out there and start talking with passion. Passion comes with powerful dreams..!!

So cause the frantic, get noticed, get your company the sales records hitting the roof and blowing through it.

Start talking without FEAR..!! FEAR is the call to take action in the path of FEAR. FEAR is invitation. Go and meet it head-on. 

Create the JOLT FACTORY Sales deserve..!!

Afghanistan sitting on a gold mine

The USGS estimates there are about 700 billion cubic metres of gas and 300 million tonnes of oil across several northern provinces.

KABUL — Afghanistan is sitting on a wealth of mineral reserves — perhaps the richest in the region — that offer hope for a country mired in poverty after decades of war, the mining minister says.

Significant deposits of copper, iron, gold, oil and gas, and coal — as well as precious gems such as emeralds and rubies — are largely untapped and still being mapped, Mohammad Ibrahim Adel told AFP.

And they promise prosperity for one of the world’s poorest countries, the minister said, dismissing concerns that a Taliban-led insurgency may thwart efforts to unearth this treasure.

Already in the pipeline is the exploitation of a massive copper deposit — one of the biggest in the world — about 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Kabul.

“There has not been such a big project in the history of Afghanistan,” Adel said.

A 30-year lease for the Aynak copper mine was in November offered to the China Metallurgical Group Corporation and the contract is being finalised.

“It is estimated that the Aynak deposit has more than 11 million tonnes (of copper),” he said, citing 1960s surveys by the Soviet Union and a new study by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

“With today’s prices, it contains an 88-billion-dollar deposit,” he said.

The mine is expected to bring the government 400 million dollars annually in fees and taxes, Adel said.

That is on top of an 800-million-dollar downpayment from the developer who has also committed to build a railway line, a power plant and a village for workers, complete with schools, clinics and roads.

About 5,000 jobs will be created and mining is expected to start in five years. “Up to 40 percent of the income will pour into our pockets,” Adel said.

The colossal Aynak project represents, however, only a fraction of Afghanistan’s unexploited resources, he said. The scale of the deposits is still being charted.

The USGS is carrying out a nationwide survey of mineral wealth and oil and gas deposits that is expected to be completed in a year, Adel said.

Studies of only 10 percent of the country have discovered abundant deposits of copper, iron, zinc, lead, gold, silver, gems, salt, marble and coal, the ministry says.

The USGS estimates there are about 700 billion cubic metres of gas and 300 million tonnes of oil across several northern provinces.

A Soviet survey estimated there are more than two billion tonnes of iron reserves, the ministry says.

One of the best known iron deposits is at Haji Gak, 90 kilometres west of Kabul.

“If everything goes as we desire, Haji Gak requires two to three billion dollars’ investment,” said the minister.

“Another 100 million to 1.5 billion dollars is needed to explore the gas and oil mines.”

The government plans to offer more projects for private sector tender next year, Adel said.

There is already some mining underway such as ad hoc emerald extraction in the Panjshir valley region northeast of Kabul, where dynamite is used to blow gems out of the ground.

And the ministry has handed two coal mines to private Afghan companies, although they lack standard equipment.

The site for the mine at Aynak, 60 km southeast of Kabul contains the world’s second-biggest unexploited copper deposit with the potential to generate revenue of $1.4 billion a year. Of greatest danger is the threat of toxic waste which has led to environmental damage around copper mines in several countries.
Reuters, Dec.12, 2007

The Aynak contract will be a model for others, with developers expected to put in basic infrastructure as Afghanistan’s power grid is weak and its transport network limited.

There is also the challenge of the insurgency, which overshadows development and has made many areas off-limits to foreign companies.

Writer and analyst Waheed Mujda warned there could be no mining in Taliban-held areas, which are mostly in the south, without the permission of the Islamic extremists.

“Any kind of agreement with Taliban will have to involve money and that money obviously would finance the insurgency in part,” Mujda told AFP.

But Adel is not concerned. “We can provide security for mining sites simply by hiring a private security company,” he said.

Most of the deposits that have been discovered are in the relatively stable north. There are, however, uranium reserves in the southern province of Helmand, one of the worst for Taliban attacks, the minister said.

The minister’s sights are firmly set on mining bringing his impoverished country a brighter future.

“In five years’ time Afghanistan will not need the world’s aid money,” he said. “In 10 years Afghanistan will be the richest country in the region.”

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFrOtnNs42obPsi8ul_AHEXmOGzQ

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Hassan Saleemi
External Relations & Media Manager
City Muslims
Mobile: 07956 574066
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Hassan.Saleemi@CityMuslims.org
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Kindest Regards
Hassan Saleemi
Landline (before 2pm UK time): +44/0 208 1234264
SMS Text: +44/0 7956 574066
External Relations & Media Manager
City Muslims
Hassan.Saleemi@CityMuslims.org
http://www.cityMuslims.org

Emergency & 9th November and Beyond

6 days since the promulgation of the emergency. Media, most of it is under the locks, but no public turmoil seems to be outpouring against it save GEO news, which was and still is quite vocal for the emergency that seems only existing on GEO. The public response, particularly, the business community welcomed the move. Ironic. The business community cannot be bought overnight, but how come the community sides with the General?

Seeing this trend, the trend of serenity of an issue which was taken up quite seriously, where some of the EU countries and only 1 from the Far East, ‘Japan’, have upped the pressure through their usual threatening tones of banning Pakistan their aid and ending her tumultuous and tiring marriage with Common Wealth.

Now, with the expected protest call given by the Bibi jee, which was efficiently foiled yet again, which reflects management from Punjab’s side which is going strong and also non callous response of the public, situation at the ground level seems normal and life is going as it is. No restlessness, as planned and tried-to-be-instigated was visible. The conspirators and think tanks which see in Benazir the opening up of the nuclear assets and handing over the Doctor over the US, she already has proved the very political behaviour to devour Pakistan by providing the lists of the Sikh freedom fighters back in the early 90’s to buy the Prime Minister’s post, the treacherous way to which goes through many deals and White House, want her to be on the forefront and vocal about her position. The sheep of Pakistan a.k.a the Public, are short sighted and have loss of memory; even so, many might not be able to recall the former name of Faisalabad. With such mindset, democracy is another game to bank on the monetary reserves which saw the graph rising though gradually.

Now with elements gaining strength in Swat valley, situation there is still not being taken to note by the military. If it does, the fate would same as Bugti and Lal Masjid. Period.

With the current situation, in the NWFP, race is on for the future stakeholder of Pakistan between 2 contenders, Bibi and Military; latter being in the power, Bibi stresses interim government to oversee transparent elections which wouldn’t be possible under the current regime which would influence the elections in February to be swayed in their favour to keep the Bibi out. Possible, perhaps.

Emergency could be a herald, to gain time for more homework as pressure mounts with each passing day. The present Government, till now managed, with the plethora of projects being completed in more of a rush than calculated to woo more of voters who seldom have voted for any of these advocates of democracy carrying tainted history and democracy.

What is to Come?

Now with the facts available; no public outpour on emergency, Government now showing lax to allow some media channels which are screaming at the top pitch in futile reflecting their biased opinion and propaganda rich purposes to derail the Government. The conspirators would resort to some tactic to see the Government on its toes and doldrums. What could that move be? More of attacks? Possible. More of unrest in NWFP? Perhaps. Free hand to the militants in Swat who aren’t Taliban as realities confirm them to be Uzbeks; Ahmed Shah Masood too had an Uzbek background and also had Indian support and enjoyed public relations with the latter. The militancy would then be geared up at the border; foreign pressure would mount on the military. But they too wouldn’t be sitting without a plan. Maps would have been drawn by now, strategies chalked out, locals would have been invited for more rigorous support in return of peace and tranquility and control.

Much is to be seen, coming weeks are crucial for Pakistan.

The upcoming long march (between 15 and 18th of November) in protest of emergency would again be taken with an iron fist as precedented and wouldn’t show any promise but would keep investors on the wary, still. But politicians cooing while pigeonholed, would at least have something to exhibit that they too form the part of the game and that they shouldn’t be stashed out from deck of options the foreign lobbies have before them. But politicians too would be shown the exit this 15th which justifies the long march to justify their political ‘existence’ or be left out, simple.

Let’s wait and watch, how the stars form and the term in the Wild Wild West too coming to its ebb of end, things would change a bit quickly. Possible perhaps.

The rise of Benazir Bhutto

Sunday, October 28, 2007
Yasser Latif Hamdani

Benazir is back. Without drumming about the salience of the events of last week, it should suffice to say that she is back with a bang- a bang that resonated — where no previous Pakistani bang resonated – in that hallowed hall of international diplomacy that is United Nations Security Council. It seems that the international community does not seem to notice the loss of hundreds of innocent lives anywhere in the third world, unless of course it came close to killing someone of significance on the global stage. Still there is no downplaying that the fact as far as significance goes, Benazir Bhutto is the most significant individual on the world stage right now. Linked with her is the future of a country of 160 million people, the second most populous nuclear-armed Muslim majority nation, and a country that has played a pivotal role in global politics since the Second World War. Therefore, it is no surprise that when Benazir travels in and around Pakistan this week, the world will be watching her every move.

A lot has been written, indeed right from her first homecoming, about the comparison with her famous father, the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The elder Bhutto was a global figure in his own right. Because he was passionate and patriotic, he electrified the people of Pakistan. On the global stage he positioned himself as a great third world and Islamic bloc leader challenging the might of the super power – though he was enough of a diplomat cut from the cloth of Talleyrand himself to have a good working relationship with the US. He failed because Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was, despite his Berkeley and Oxford education, at the end of the day steeped in the feudal politics of honor and revenge. Never financially corrupt, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was capable of considerable cruelty and guile towards his enemies real or perceived and in many ways, he had risen too high too early. This was also the cause of his downfall. Had he become the Prime Minister a decade or two late, he would have a statesman of the highest caliber who would have never made the tremendous mistakes he did. He paid for those with his life. If Benazir Bhutto becomes the Prime Minister next year, she will be 55 years of age. That is five years older than the age her father died at. Her first two terms in office came at a difficult time. She was a newly married young woman who carried the burden of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s martyrdom on her arms. Her mistakes were horrible and they dented her credibility considerably. The Benazir of 2007 is markedly different from Bhutto’s daughter of 1986. While she owes her constituency to her father, Benazir’s style of politics is at considerable variance to his, at time diametrically opposite.

For one Benazir Bhutto is unabashedly pro-West. While her father had quit the British commonwealth — a largely ceremonial cultural fraternity – it was Benazir who re-joined it. Unlike her father, she is not swayed by the romance of revolution. Her politics is not red by any stretch of imagination. We got a glimpse of that when the stock exchange shot up to unprecedented levels on the day of her return. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on the other hand is rightly credited with the most devastating blow to the business sector of Pakistan with his ill-advised nationalization. In many ways despite being the inheritor of the glorious Bhutto legacy of populist politics, Benazir is increasingly coming into her own as a leader who has ready to make hard choices and take tough decisions. But does she have it in her to carry out the monumental task before her? The very fabric of Pakistan’s society has been torn asunder by parochial concerns and the military establishment’s manipulation of right wing Islamic groups. All over the world Pakistan has been projected – with some truth to it albeit exaggerated – as a violent and extremist society. In these circumstances, even the most well-meaning and honest of politicians like Imran Khan are clueless. They honestly believe that religious extremism is not an issue in Pakistan. The media — completely free and independent – reflects the middle class’ flirtation with this the re-hashed and Islamised “anti-Americanism”. A TV anchor who narrowly escaped death last week in the Karachi suicide bombing was seen lamenting the fact that while condemning Islamic radicals for their activities, no one condemned the “liberal fascists” for their actions. As if the “liberal fascists” were going about blowing themselves up in crowds of people.

Benazir must — to use her father’s phrase – pick up the pieces. Her stand must be clear. The answers are well known: While respecting its Islamic heritage and sense of identity, Pakistan must become for all practical purposes a secular state with clear separation of church and state. She must undo the terrible legacy of outward and hypocritical Islamization, which ironically was initiated by her own father. As the leader of the largest and the strongest party she must go at it alone without any futile consensus building exercise. Benazir must learn to live in the solitude of great leaders. She must leave her father behind and rise above him not for the sake of popularity but posterity. Despite her many faults, Benazir today commands the support of the people. For once Uncle Sam also seems to be on the right side of the Pakistani current, dragging the army and the establishment along kicking and screaming. The soldier-president must also know that while he will fade away into oblivion, Benazir is the best hope for the future of his agenda of enlightened moderation. A democratically elected strong woman Prime Minister like her alone can further the little good Musharraf has achieved. He must therefore come out in total support of Benazir Bhutto.

Also if and when this battle is fought and won, Benazir must also preside over the institutionalization of the great Pakistan People’s Party as a truly broad based political party of the masses, no longer dependant on caste and biradari politics of rural Punjab and Sindh. The Pirs and the Makhdooms must ultimately give way to party workers like Jehangir Badr and Fauzia Wahab — extracted from the people. Pakistan People’s Party must also, for itself and for Pakistan, break away from the South Asian tradition of the cult of personality. Benazir must ensure that she is absolutely the last Bhutto to lord over this party, but is the first of many Benazirs that the party will produce from within its cadres in the service of the nation. Only then will she be able to go down in history as a truly epoch-making figure. May Allah help her succeed in her stated objectives and protect her from those who want to harm her. Amen!

The writer is a lawyer. Email: yasser.hamdani@gmail.com

Government parties, military and Taliban seem to be uneasy with the lady. Ladies’ apartment is specifically separate, that explains.

One candidate who could stop her from surfacing again as PM is probability of keeping Shahbaz Sharif around the seat. Government previously had the ‘Little’ Sharif in good books. Lately, it would be possible, Government might have initiated some talks with the brothers. ‘Elder’ Sharif might not extend warm hands to the Government, to save face. But the Junior brother was scurried unscathed, the card is ready. Let’s see how things turn up. The General is waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling for him or against him.

But cards are ready for yet another showdown.

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