Bilal Mukhtar is name that needs no introduction; the veterans know him and so do the millennials. He has been a highly successful entrepreneur 10 decades of his life, with event management and public relations being his forte. The superstar has had an enormous clientele from both the lifestyle and entertainment fields, and also from the corporate sector. His events are star-studded, well-attended and mostly, the talk of the town. After going from strength to strength after 10 glorious years as a working professional, Bilal Mukhtar says, “After finishing my degree, I joined Fashion TV Pakistan as a director. One day, my friend Khalid Sulman who is my best friend, asked me if I could launch his cutlery brand, which I agreed to. Due to my extensive experience in PR, media management and all my links, the launch was a huge success. Since then, there has been no looking back.” Mukhtar is a dedicated professional and for him, work comes first. He says he has been very lucky by the Grace of God, as there have been no hurdles for him. “I was already on very good terms with everyone in the industry due to my time at Fashion TV, which I believe helped a lot when I started out. I don’t believe in partnership, even if it is with your brother or very close family friend or best friend. It always ends up in to a disaster,” Mukhtar tells us and we surely agree. Mukhtar is a dedicated professional and for him, work comes first We ask Mukhtar if he’s had his share of tough clients to work with and how he deals with them, to which he says, “Clients always give you a hard time because every client comes up with a lot of expectations and with many ideas in their mind. We try and come up with more innovative ideas, plans and strategy depending on what type of client we have. Usually, you yourself aren’t satisfied if you don’t create a new concept or plan for the client and keep do the same thing again and again.” We know for a fact how the market is now saturated with so many PR companies and event management firms doing the rounds and that makes a client spoilt for choice. The force that BM is, it must not be a tough call for him to survive. He says competition is always great as it helps in bringing more innovative ideas. “It’s healthy and I’m glad to have more competition around as it makes me challenge myself to work more and differently with all these new ones coming in this field. I believe it’s time to prove yourself once again. Meanwhile, guiding the junior ones because there’s always a new fish in the pond and one PR person can’t have it all otherwise there won’t be any creativity,” he says positively. Sharing a memorable incident from his career, Mukhtar said, “Once a client came in for an event. Everything was done and advances were given but three days before the event, she cancelled because of some father-in-law issues, so we postponed it. This kept happening for six months and in the end, we were blamed for not managing the event which we still offered to accommodate.” BM is international. He has held numerous events not just in his home country but abroad as well and that is what makes him so unique, powerful and awe-inspiring. “We started doing international events a few years ago and it has been an amazing experience. It’s a whole new world out there. Imagine how many Pakistanis are there all over the world and this way how many work opportunities you get, Alhamdulillah. So whenever we are abroad we are loved and appreciated. This is definitely one of the reasons we are branching out to more international shows. Last year, we were invited by the Pakistani Embassy in Berlin and it was an incredible experience to be chosen as the youngest event manager and to represent Pakistan’s culture in front of German officials.” Mukhtar has the sweetest disposition, a down-to-earth attitude and a heart-warming smile. After 10 years, Mukhtar has decided that BM should not be just about glamorous events and premieres. He wants to do things that would satisfy his soul. “We launched Children Film Festival for orphans because we believe every child deserves to be entertained. It was a week festival with no gain of profit and was held in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. Another campaign was of Make Pakistan Green Again which went amazing. We launched ‘Iftari har aik k liye’ which was 30 Iftaris for 30 days the whole month of Ramadan with no profits and it was all done for my own self and for the betterment of the society.” I ask him what gives BM and edge over his contemporaries, to which he confidently replies, “We at BM give different way outs be it through giveaways, through social media or through different activities planned for a day with different guest lists. We try to not limit ourselves with one client and have made a vast field for us. We try to focus on diversity of the filed which is why we stand out and are different from the other PR companies.” Mukhtar has all the love and respect for QYT when it comes to weddings and MUA for its happening parties and concerts. He also mentions Aamir Mazhar. “It’s really amazing with everyone, I get along with all of them because I personally think everyone has that one specific niche and whoever is giving them their work know why they are giving it to them or me, there’s always a specific reason. Yes, I love them all,” he maintains. Here’s wishing BM good luck for all his endeavours and hope to run into him soon.