The triumph of hope: Syed Babar Ali at 100

At the expense of sounding self-referential, we would like to state the following: there is quite simply no Pakistani business leader other than Syed Babar Ali about whom we at Profit would write a cover story simply because he had reached a milestone birthday.

Syed Babar Ali is important for the following reasons: in a country that lacks institutions, he has built them; in a society that woefully lacks trust, he builds companies that his counterparties and stakeholders tend to trust a great deal; and in a society content with complacency, Syed Babar Ali seeks out innovation.

If Pakistan ever develops a world-class economy, with a highly educated workforce, companies that invest and innovate, and a financial system that banks on ambition, it will in large part be because Syed Babar Ali (and a very small handful of others) dragged the country kicking and screaming in that direction.

He is also important for another reason: as the living memory of Partition and the pre-independence era fades away, he is the last remaining link among major Pakistani business leaders to that era, a symbol of understanding just how far the country has come from its beginnings.

On Tuesday, June 30, 2026, he will turn 100 years old. We can learn a lot about the story of Pakistan’s economy through the story of his life.