KARACHI: Shell Pakistan Limited Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Haroon Rashid has been elected as the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (OICCI) president with effect from July 1.
Haroon Rashid’s appointment comes after the resignation of OICCI’s former president Shazad Dada. The OICCI former president had earlier also resigned from Standard Chartered Bank after taking over as United Bank Limited’s president.
Additionally, Meezan Bank President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Irfan Siddiqui has also been elected as the OICCI vice president with effect from July 1. Irfan Siddiqui is credited with the formation of Al-Meezan Investment Bank in 1997, which was later converted into a full-fledged scheduled Islamic Commercial Bank in May 2002.
Commenting on his appointment as the OICCI president Haroon Rashid said: “It is really an honour to have been elected as the president of a prestigious organisation like the OICCI, which is the largest chamber in the country in terms of economic contribution, contributing over one-third of all government levies and is also the largest foreign investor in the country”.
“OICCI members are fully cognizant of the need to ensure that the wheels of the economy keep moving and business activities continue while ensuring the implementation of all safety guidelines,” he added.
“OICCI believes in the economic and investment potential of Pakistan which, with forward-looking policies and their robust implementation will put Pakistan among the most promising countries for foreign and local investors.”
Haroon Rashid is currently the chief executive and managing director at Shell Pakistan Limited, where he has been a director on the board since 2011. He joined Shell in 1995 after graduating from The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Haroon has had a diverse experience across Shell in Pakistan, United Kingdom and Singapore and has held various senior leadership roles in sales, marketing, downstream strategy consultancy, trading and supply and aviation.
After working in retail sales, non-fuels retailing and network planning from 1995 to 2000, he took time off in 2001 to complete an MBA from INSEAD, after which he rejoined Shell as a consultant in downstream management consultancy in London.
In 2005, Haroon was appointed as a downstream competitor intelligence manager in London, before moving to Singapore in 2008 as the global marketing manager for aviation.
In 2011, Haroon returned to Pakistan as the general manager supply and distribution for the Middle East South Asia Region. In 2016 he was appointed as general manager lubricants. Haroon has been on the boards of a number of leading industry associations and social cause organisations.
Established in 1860, OICCI is the largest chamber of commerce in Pakistan based on economic contribution in the form of taxes and investment by its members. Moreover, collectively the chamber consists of over 200 foreign investors in Pakistan, including over 50 Fortune 500 companies which contribute about one-third of the total tax collection in the country and a significant portion of the Gross Domestic Product.
