Amongst his more celebrated achievements, not enough is known of Salmaan Taseer’s singular success in an initiative to establish a world class professional firm in the Middle East. Taseer and his partner Khurshid Hadi established their accountancy practice in the UAE initially in 1972 which today is the largest practice in the Gulf.
Imagine for a moment a Dubai not of gleaming glass skyscrapers, not of gigantic malls and of every pleasure dome known to man – cinemas, bars and restaurants, entertainment of all shades and for every taste, but a Dubai of daily long power outages, of ubiquitous dust and sand, a city with just one 5-star hotel,with state controlled Arabic only broadcast channels, where the Ruler could regularly be seen wandering through the souks and where it was routine to attend his majlis, in the company of supplicants from around the world representing the big and powerful oil and banking interest and long lines of locals anxious to pay respect. Into this closely monitored commercial environment dominated by a handful of colonial era interests, enter two very young Pakistani chartered accountants intent on breaking this dominance and to promote world class professional services through Pakistani resources.
Perhaps it was a case of fools rushing in where angels feared to tread but yet they persevered. Dogged determination, obstinacy and a passionate belief that Pakistani professionals were as good as, if not superior to any from the West fuelled the vision overcoming physical hardship and entrenched competition. Taseer and Hadi successfully persuaded the international firm of Peat Marwick (now KPMG) to join hands. Five years on by the end of the 70s, PMTH had been established as a preeminent professional firm with top quality service delivery and was now the firm of choice for the explosion of commercial and industrial interests of the Government of Dubai – including such gigantic ventures as Dubal, Dugas, Dubai Dry Docks, Port Qasim amongst others.
Over the past 44 years and still continuing, this firm has provided employment, to hundreds of professionals from Pakistan, groomed young professionals to take on leadership roles in industry and commerce throughout the Middle East and beyond and today is regarded as the pre-eminent professional firm in the Middle East. The leadership provided by these professional pioneers has made Taseer Hadi an institution of excellence and of the highest professional standards. Yet another arrow to the Taseer quiver.