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Giving back to the roots of success
Firoz Rasul has spent years establishing religious and cultural projects in
Canada
By UNNATI GANDHI
Friday, December 9, 2005 Page A3
Firoz Rasul's career path is anything but typical.
A couple of years ago, the Kenyan-born and British-educated engineer ended a
20-year business career in Canada as chairman of a B.C.-based company that is
a world leader in fuel-cell technology.
He's devoted years to establishing cultural and religious projects across the
country, most recently spearheading the effort to win the City of Toronto's
approval to build a new, privately funded Ismaili centre and museum.
And last weekend, the naturalized Canadian was named president of one of the
most prestigious universities in Pakistan.
But Mr. Rasul's uncommonly international risumi is likely to become more
typical in the next decade as he leads numerous successful immigrants who
have reached the apex of their careers, especially in Toronto and Vancouver,
to look for innovative ways to give back to their roots.
"As this generation of immigrant professionals scales the peaks of
professional success and feels the need for self-actualization, the path
Rasul has paved will show them how they should be spending their time, talent
and wealth," said Ashwin Joshi, director of the MBA program at the Schulich
School of Business and a volunteer who helps raise money and awareness for
international issues.
Those who are destined to follow in Mr. Rasul's footsteps are now spending
time and money on local causes after building a 25-year professional
reputation in the Western world, Mr. Joshi said.
"What is common is that most people come here with very little money and a
strong educational background, and they work their way up to the top of the
food chain," he said.
"Their focus is on making this country home first, and the concerns of their
countries of origin take a back seat."
But Mr. Rasul, a devout Ismaili, said giving back to his society has been a
fundamental part of his upbringing.
"My faith guided my values that I've grown up with and guided my decisions
throughout my life, to take some part of my life to give back to society," he
said in an interview from Pakistan this week.
Ismailis, a sect of Shia Muslims who follow the Aga Khan, number about 75,000
in Canada; half of them live in Toronto and around 15,000 in Vancouver.
Mr. Rasul, who was born in Nairobi in 1952, attended Aga Khan Foundation
schools through to the end of high school.
In the early 1970s, he went to study industrial engineering at the University
of Hertfordshire in England.
But he wanted to get a stronger grasp on how business was engineered, so he
headed to Canada to get his MBA from McGill University.
After a stint at Black & Decker in England, Mr. Rasul returned to Canada and
settled in Vancouver in 1981. He was named chairman of Ballard Power Systems
in Burnaby, B.C., and he remained in the technology industry until his
retirement in 2003.
Appointed president of Aga Khan University in Karachi last Saturday, Mr.
Rasul says he finds it fitting to give back to the foundation that raised
him. He will take up his post there on May 1.
"It's a unique opportunity at this point in my career to do something
completely different and to work with an institution that is both young and
achieved so much in its youth."
Founded in 1983 by the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of most Ismaili Muslims,
the university teaches health sciences, nursing and early childhood
education, with seven locations in the Middle East, South Asia and East
Africa. It has been a partner in research with Toronto's Hospital for Sick
Children, the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta.
Mr. Rasul, who also speaks German and Swahili and can get by in Urdu, has
served as chairman of Focus Humanitarian Assistance Canada, an international
emergency relief agency; president of Aga Khan Foundation Canada, and a
member of UBC's board of governors.
He has participated in several volunteer projects, including, most recently,
the establishment of the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, and the Aga
Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre in Toronto on the site of the old Bata
shoe headquarters. Sonja Bata, founder of the Bata Shoe Museum, showed up at
the community council meeting and endorsed Mr. Rasul's project.
"It's pretty clear Canada has a much bigger role to play on the world stage,
in that Canada has a great reservoir of talent, knowledge and capabilities
that could be used for the benefit of societies around the world," Mr. Rasul
said.
"I'm a good example of that in that I've chosen to take my knowledge that I
developed here and applied it elsewhere for the benefit of society."
Mr. Joshi said this will be a well-trodden path, with cities like Toronto and
Vancouver -- with their large concentrations of immigrant populations --
becoming "breeding grounds" for such well-heeled individuals.
"What numbers do is maximize the odds of professional success, but they also
make life easier for professionals," Mr. Joshi said. "You don't stand out if
you're walking on Bay Street in a suit and tie if you're a person of colour
any more."
__________________________________________
Giving back to the roots of success - Firoz Rasul
Firoz Rasul- Dec 24th Globe and Mail
FIROZ RASUL
Charla Jones/The Globe and Mail
Firoz Rasul, former
chief
executive http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le1410961/# of Ballard Power and now president of Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan.
Firoz Rasul was flying with the Aga Khan on his private plane to
Vancouver in 2005, when the spiritual leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims made a pitch to him about a new job in Pakistan .
Mr. Rasul, who had retired two years earlier as
chief executive
officer http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le1410961/# of fuel-cell developer Ballard Power Systems Inc. and was heading the Canadian association for the Muslim sect, was stunned by his offer to become president of Aga Khan University.
“I was shocked, flattered … and terrified,” recalls the 57-year-old, who agreed to take on the job. “It’s a massive role. You are talking about a university in the developing world – in countries that are highly volatile and fragile. We are in
Pakistan ,
Afghanistan ,
Kenya and
Syria [among others].”
But these countries need universities to develop leaders capable of improving education and health care, battling corruption and increasing social cohesion, he said.
While he was thrilled to accept the challenge of running a multicampus university and its myriad programs, he was asked to do so as a volunteer . “My wife and I have done reasonably well in life, and we feel it’s time to give back,” Mr. Rasul said during a visit to Toronto .
Born in Kenya , Mr. Rasul was educated at the primary and secondary Aga Khan schools in
Nairobi . That provided the foundation for his engineering degree, which he obtained in Britain , and his MBA from McGill in Montreal .
Not only did he get what he describes as a high-quality education at the Aga Khan schools that would ordinarily be the privilege of the rich, he also gained a set of values that would guide him in life . “It spoke not just about ethical behaviour, but also about compassion, generosity to those who are less privileged and giving back to the community.”
As president of an international university, Mr. Rasul spends a lot of time on the road. But his base is in the original campus in the Pakistani port city of Karachi . He is expanding the school’s focus beyond medicine and teacher development to arts, science and graduate programs.
Mr. Rasul acknowledged that leaving a comfortable life in
Vancouver for the dust and heat of
Karachi has been a bit of a shock.
It is not uncommon to be without power several times a day. “You could be driving home and the street lights go off.
You could be sitting in a restaurant … or be at the airport and the power goes off. You could have a 44-degree day outside, and no air conditioning at the airport.”
But he sees such things as minor discomforts.
“
You realize that what you are doing is actually making a difference to change lives,” ! Mr. Rasul said. “That is what is so exciting about it.”
Shirley Won
FIROZ RASUL
Charla Jones/The Globe and Mail
Firoz Rasul, former
chief
executive http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le1410961/# of Ballard Power and now president of Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan.
Firoz Rasul was flying with the Aga Khan on his private plane to
Vancouver in 2005, when the spiritual leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims made a pitch to him about a new job in Pakistan .
Mr. Rasul, who had retired two years earlier as
chief executive
officer http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... le1410961/# of fuel-cell developer Ballard Power Systems Inc. and was heading the Canadian association for the Muslim sect, was stunned by his offer to become president of Aga Khan University.
“I was shocked, flattered … and terrified,” recalls the 57-year-old, who agreed to take on the job. “It’s a massive role. You are talking about a university in the developing world – in countries that are highly volatile and fragile. We are in
Pakistan ,
Afghanistan ,
Kenya and
Syria [among others].”
But these countries need universities to develop leaders capable of improving education and health care, battling corruption and increasing social cohesion, he said.
While he was thrilled to accept the challenge of running a multicampus university and its myriad programs, he was asked to do so as a volunteer . “My wife and I have done reasonably well in life, and we feel it’s time to give back,” Mr. Rasul said during a visit to Toronto .
Born in Kenya , Mr. Rasul was educated at the primary and secondary Aga Khan schools in
Nairobi . That provided the foundation for his engineering degree, which he obtained in Britain , and his MBA from McGill in Montreal .
Not only did he get what he describes as a high-quality education at the Aga Khan schools that would ordinarily be the privilege of the rich, he also gained a set of values that would guide him in life . “It spoke not just about ethical behaviour, but also about compassion, generosity to those who are less privileged and giving back to the community.”
As president of an international university, Mr. Rasul spends a lot of time on the road. But his base is in the original campus in the Pakistani port city of Karachi . He is expanding the school’s focus beyond medicine and teacher development to arts, science and graduate programs.
Mr. Rasul acknowledged that leaving a comfortable life in
Vancouver for the dust and heat of
Karachi has been a bit of a shock.
It is not uncommon to be without power several times a day. “You could be driving home and the street lights go off.
You could be sitting in a restaurant … or be at the airport and the power goes off. You could have a 44-degree day outside, and no air conditioning at the airport.”
But he sees such things as minor discomforts.
“
You realize that what you are doing is actually making a difference to change lives,” ! Mr. Rasul said. “That is what is so exciting about it.”
Shirley Won