S.M. Munir From bankruptcy to flourishing business

S.M. Muneer Sahib built his multi-billion-rupee business from scratch, slowly but steadily. The rise of his Din Group of Companies as one of the major business groups in the country is the story of almost 50 years of hard work and perseverance. A year after 18-year-old Muneer had joined his father S.M. Din’s firm — Din Leather, which had by then emerged as one of the largest exporters of raw leather in a short span of 10 years — the company went bankrupt, and the family had to face a serious financial crisis in 1966 because of heavy losses.“We had to sell almost all our personal assets — cars, property, etc. — to pay off creditors. It was then that I thought of accepting an offer of a job at PIA. But my father stopped me from taking it. He wanted me to set up my own business, no matter how small or insignificant it may have been,” Mr. Muneer, chairman of the family-owned Din Group, recalled during an interview. So the family sold whatever was left after paying creditors, and he rented a small leather tannery in Karachi. Shortly afterwards, he rented another, and then another, and so and so forth.

“In the matter of a few years, my hard work paid off and my company expanded sales to Europe and elsewhere to become the largest exporter of finished leather from Pakistan — a position it still maintains, with annual sales of Rs2.6 billion. In 1970, I established my own leather factory,” he says.For many years, Muneer stuck to the leather business. It was in 1987 when he stepped into the textile business and set up a spinning factory in Chunian, near Lahore. Today, the group owns five spinning factories in Lahore, with an installed capacity of 100,000 spindles, producing premium quality yarn worth over Rs8 billion, up from just more than Rs3 billion in 2008, for domestic and foreign markets.

Later, Muneer partnered with Mian Mohammad Mansha to bid for the Muslim Commercial Bank (now MCB Bank) when it was sold out by the first Nawaz Sharif government in the early 1990s. He holds 10 per cent shares in the bank and has been the vice-chairman of its board for the last many years. The group he heads also has business interests in non-life insurance, chemicals, dyeing, real estate, etc. in the country and abroad, and is now planning to form consortia to bid for public sector businesses whenever the government puts them up for sale as part of its privatization program.“Hard work, honesty and luck have played a key role in my success,” says Mr. Muneer, who likes to describe himself as a self-made businessman. “I am in my office at 8 in the morning every day and work till 5 in the evening. Hard work and honesty always pay dividends,” he says, while refusing to give the exact amount of his fortunes because of the prevailing security situation in the country.

Words from the Editor

Renowned industrialist, leader of Pakistan business community, and patron-in-chief of the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) S.M. Muneer left for his final abode this week. He is the mentor of business community throughout the Country and abroad.He is the very well-deserved receiver of the ‘Sitara-e-Isaar’ and the ‘Sitara-e-Imtiaz’ in 2006 and 2007 and “Lifetime Achievement Award” respectively by the President of Pakistan in recognition of his outstanding public service for the cause of humanity and received “Lifetime Achievement Award” in the same year in the City of Markham (Canada) by then-Mayor Frank Scarpitti in the presence of members of parliament.I Met him numerous times, did different interviews, on which he said humorously that “I know you are writing a book on me chupke chupke.” In fact, this is my desire and I have all the material in hand for it. He is a gem of person, very helpful to all, a born leader, always working or thinking about doing work. He is the man of words if he promised, it would keep no matter what happened.