Alia Ikramullah interviews Zahid Rahim who has recently reached the end of his stint with Standard Chartered in August 2004, after having served for 35 years in 9 different countries. He was the Chief Executive Officer for Standard Chartered Bank in Pakistan, during 1996/2000, and also the Regional Manager for Sri Lanka, based in Karachi. Following the acquisition of ANZ Grindlays Bank, in August 2000, by Standard, Zahid accepted the opportunity to take on a wider role, overseas, as the Chief Executive Officer for Levant (comprising Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank - where the Bank had operations, as well as covering Egypt and Syria, where they did not). In addition, he managed as Regional Head, the Corporate and Institutional Banking business of South Asian Countries (comprising Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan) based in Dubai. He later moved to Jordan, to be closer to the business, and enforce the change management as part of the integration objectives pertaining to the Grindlays acquisition, in a growing difficult environment following the second intefada, in Israel and the Occupied Territories. We interviewed him recently, at his home in Karachi, where he talks about his family, his childhood and in part some of his work experiences....

AI: How many children do you have? And what do they do?

ZR: I have three lovely daughters, Sehr the eldest, Soraya, in the middle, and the little one Schehrezade. There is a wide difference in their ages. Schehrezade is only 9 years old, and Sehr the eldest, is working in the US, having graduated from Bryn Mawr, two years ago. She majored in Political Science and Economics and initially worked with MBNA, but recently moved as a mortgage banker to a subsidiary company of AIG, called Wilmington Finance, in Penn State. Soraya has just finished her GCEs and has secured provisional acceptance to go to Leeds University this year, although she's very happy here, and is even contemplating taking a local course. She wants to become a lawyer, and they have an excellent programme in Karachi. Schehrezade, the apple of everyone's eye, has a long way to go. She is at Bayview Academy, and will be entering class 6 this fall. Each one of them has different characteristics, but they all have a common thread, they love their father very much. I often joke that “I live with 4 women”, my wife and 3 daughters. I am surrounded by charms, laughter and good cheer. I don't miss having a son, although I feel my wife might - on occasion....more

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