With clients like the Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts & Accessories Manufacturers, Habib Construction Services, and the government of Punjab, Klockwork positions itself in the category of event managers responsible for signature, high-end events. Founded and co-owned by Arif Jalil Paracha, also the co-owner of Smartprep, Naina, and MAP (Muneer & Paraha), Klockwork has secured a strong position in the market in a mere three years.
Not new to event management when commencing on this venture, before falling out with his partner and walking away, Arif was a part owner in another such company, Evenement. Despite being careful in not mentioning his erstwhile partner or the company, Arif was yet vocal on the issues that led him to part ways and sounded happy at founding Klockwork and running it his way, irrespective of what the market may dictate.
“Ideally we gun for big businesses, not because of profitability, and definitely not because it is easier, for actually it is much messier. It’s that when a business scales a peak, and we arrived there quickly, you want challenges.” Arif though is not known to shun projects as small as putting up a Christmas tree for Coca Cola and managing a five-person dinner.
Nurturing clients, big and small:
“The idea is that those five people will refer us to 25 more clients. But since we have a portfolio where we land big projects, we prefer them.” Klockwork’s forte remains expos, state events, and signature weddings, with 5,000 plus guests. “Such clients come to us because they know none else will be able to manage at this scale and none will take that pain.”
As for competitors, Arif maintains, that in every sector there were different, with no single company operating on as broad a scale as Klockwork.
“When we are working on state level projects, we don’t have any competitors. There is no other event management business that has under its belt events such as ours and
there is none event manager who can take that pain, and most importantly there is no event manager who will work without writing.”
Klockwork undertakes work at a mere say-so, without prior a written agreement where government is concerned. “We blindly trust Punjab government. No sane man will put in Rs15 million rupees without any contract. Though now we are where even that is a minor event for us, our motivation being ‘if we don’t do it, someone else will take it’.”
From experience, he has more faith in the government than the corporates. “The government does not shy away from formalities, but time is a constraint. When the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to Pakistan, to arrange the event, we had a two day notice. At such instances there is simply no time for documentation. Similarly when the PM inaugurated Bhikki power plant, we again had just two days for everything.”
With corporate clients though, he’s clear on not working without a PO, irrespective of time constraints. “We have been stung by corporations, they commit and ask us to proceed at work, and afterwards they disappear, don’t even pick up phone, but since there is nothing in writing, we can’t follow it up.”
He narrated a story of a project with a multinational. They were congratulated on the contract and were asked to start working. “Time was short so we began only to find out when we asked for a PO that the person who gave us the contract had left the company while the rest were not even willing to acknowledge that a deal was struck with us.”
The bigger the risk, the bigger the return:
Arif is a big-risk, big-return man. “A standard corporate event would be x million, but a standard government project would be 3x million. Also it is more challenging for my team and we like it that way. So we place our bets on government instead of corporates.”
Proud of his 11-man hardworking team, he credits it for the success of Klockwork. “For the Bhikki event, none of us slept for 48 hours straight. It was killing, yet we delivered. No other company would have been able to pull it off. Only two people from my team handled the Rs17 million Pakistan automobile exhibition project. My team is that efficient and this is what I meant when I said I am managing people.”
Keeping quiet about his previous company, which is an open secret to the market anyway, he said, “In my previous organization people management was a major issue. But I believe that if you give your people means, tools and responsibility, this empowerment will make them deliver.” Another reason he has faith in his ‘Eleven’, “Majority of them left with me when I quit the previous enterprise three years ago. So I feel very strongly for them and I believe that it is rooted in mutual respect.”
Post abandoning his previous partnership, Arif said, the first year was indeed tough. “The market buzz was that since I had left and while the company will fall through, but that I will also go down. That company is doing as well as the skills of the owner allow it to, but nowhere close to where we are.
“Then everybody in the market, my former partners included, went out of their way to block our vendors, using every single dirty tactic in the book and then some to bring me down. But I am thankful that people for making a fair judgment on our integrity.” He reiterated how important his employees were for his success and added that he makes it a point to treat everyone from top, mid level to bottom with respect, as equal. “That is the way to go. When you respect others, they return that respect.”
Klockwork not only keeps itself available on as short a notice as two hours, it has cultivated vendors and suppliers to follow similar out-of-the-blue call. “Every event has different requirements and different challenges, so we have caterers etc. on board who are as time conscious as we are.” Talking about challenges he got into a long list of small mishaps here and there. “In state events, with bureaucracy involved, every new official comes and tries to have his say. Then there are issues with security steps, especially the jammers putting a spanner in the works, and power outages have their own threat factor, especially when VVIPs are in attendance in big numbers. We have to have contingency plans for all this.”
“We’re a Monday to Friday, 10.30 to 6 company with weekends off. I believe that family time is important and if I want them to be motivated, they need to take care of their
own lives too. But when there are events, we are there.” The work environment in Klockwork office appeared to be rather relaxed.
Arif said he is running a fully tax compliant business, adding in jest, that since he mostly works with the government he doesn’t have much of a choice anyway. We are totally tax compliant – regardless of government or private projects – and open to auditors.”
Satisfied at his success, he has plans to turn Klockwork into a public limited company once the venture starts generating revenue well upwards of half a billion rupees. “We are already in the process of registering as a private limited company. I’m not too sure when will that transpire, but since we are not too far from the half a billion milestone, so we are on the right track. That said, such things take time.”
In addition to SmartPrep, Klockwork, and Naina, Arif is also running a tender business called MAP (stands for Muneer & Piracha). Though for now Klockwork remains his high-yield enterprise but in time he expects MAP to become the largest of his ventures. “Good education, good luck and right contacts in the right places” remain his watchwords for success, and, for good measure, “parents’ blessings” too.
Being an Aitchisonian and Luminite, Arif has networked well and used those connections to optimise gains, to the extent that by his own admission he didn’t require to do much marketing for any of his projects either. And he continues to enter into new projects and expand his operations.
Alongside his work, he has also been able to manage the same variety and quality in his personal life. “We go to a new place every year for vacation. Last year we went to Scotland, the year before to Spain, and prior to that to France and for Umrah. So we keep trying new things, new places even when on vacation. My five or six things [businesses] keep happening in rotation, the mess is only in Klockwork. The rest have
a routine that runs smoothly.”
