From a drawing room office to a top consultancy firm in Pakistan
Exclusive interview with Engr. Imran Yasin Sheikh and Engr Momin Imran Sheikh
Jers Consultancy, formerly known as Jers Engineering Consultants (JEC), is a well-recognized group of consulting engineers with expertise in engineering and social development sectors. The firm provides a complete range of services covering the entire project cycle, from Preliminary Investigation, Feasibility Studies, to Detailed Engineering Design, Work Supervision, Technical Assistance and Contract Management.
CEO Jers Consultancy Mr. Imran Yasin Sheikh started his own company in the year 2000 after working for 8 years at Nespak. During an exclusive interview with Engineering Post, Mr Imran said “I started this company from the drawing room of my home. I remember converting the dining table into a makeshift office table and working from there. Today Alhamdulilah our firm is a part of almost every mega project of Pakistan,”
Coming from a humble inception, Jers Consultancyis now an ISO 9001 & 14001 certified company with more than 100 permanent employees and around 300 contract based employees working on development project all across Pakistan. The company is not just working on mega city infrastructure development projects like Gwadar city and Gilgit city projects but has also expanded the scope of their work to roads, highways and bridges development “We are also developing the Gilgit-Naltar road” revealedMomin Imran Sheikh, Executive Director Jers Consultancy, during the interview. Mr Momin completed his masters in 2015 and joined Jers Consultancy in 2018. “Our aim is also to bring innovative and new technologies in Pakistan. Following this concept, we are now working on the largest desalination plant being installed in Gwadar” he said. Jers is also playing a very active role in the development of many CPEC(China Pakistan Economic Corridor) projects. The most important project under CPEC i.e. up gradation of ML-1 also has contribution of Jers consultancy.
When we asked Mr. Imran Sheikh what basic objective he had in his mind was while establishing his own company in Pakistan he replied “I always wanted to make a company anyone would feel proud to work at and Alhamdulilah now we are one of the top tier companies of Pakistan,”
Mr. Imran Sheikh has a very unique viewpoint about the difficulties arising in life. Where any other average person would be apprehensive, he believes that every problem is a challenge for a man’s composure and skill. How dexterously one navigates out of it show one’s true potential “I think If you are facing no problems your work gets boring and mundane,” he said.
The only way for the local industry to grow is if the consultants suggest locally manufactured products to the client. That is only possible if the local industry brings itself up to the quality standards expected of them. During the interview we asked Mr. Imran Sheikh for his opinion about locally manufactured products. “We try to keep the import bill as low as possible so we actually prefer local products unless a client forces us to go for imported products. There is still room for improvement but please remember that we are not behind any country in the world in terms of technology” he said. During the conversation he revealed that he also keeps in touch with the industry guiding them about upcoming trends of the market so that they keep themselves up to date. “The manufacturing of plastic pipe instead of steel pipe started with our guidance,” he added.
Young people bring new ideas, are passionate and have the ability to change the course of an institution. Mr. Momin Sheikh is that injection of new blood in the company. His expertise in wind engineering and building aerodynamics has equipped Jers consultants with the capability to deal with the issues of tall building and skyscrapers whenever they arise. During the exclusive interview he revealed that their company is looking for new opportunities in the water and sanitation sector “The government has hinted that they want to Invest in public health sector and avail that opportunity since we consider our firm as specialists in this sector, having advantage over others,” he said.
During this exclusive interview, Engineering Post also discussed the menace of unqualified people working in the industry PEC should come in action to curb this nuisance “Unqualified people who have not yet developed their design competencies are also working in the field. Clients should remain vigilant” said Mr Imran. “People sometimes hire such unqualified consultants to save money but end up losing more than they save,” he added.
When asked about the most problematic aspect of work both Mr. Imran and Mr. Momin pointed towards the 16% sales tax. “In any other industry 16% is acceptable but in Engineering Design industry, 16% is usually more than the margin and amounts to a whole lot of money,” said Mr Momin. This leads to a lot of problems with the client who are usually very reluctant to pay it. The government should look into the matter and try to come up with an acceptable tax number especially for this industry where projects are worth million and even billions. Similarly payment methods need to be updated on a priority basis for public sector projects. “Cheques and payments get delayed so much that it can becomes difficult for a small to medium scale company to survive.”
We asked Mr Imran Sheikh about his opinion about the upcoming engineers in industry and asked for any words of guidance that he could provide for fresh graduates. “First of all I would recommend that you follow your passion,” he said. Because now a days what happens is that young engineers are more concerned about the market trends than they are about their own understanding. “Secondly be consistent with your work. Don’t work for money. Just work hard, money is a by-product of your hard work,” He also urged the universities and educational sector to introduce mentorship and guidance programmes for the young students. “Our young students need guidance and career counselling. Our matric student only knows about becoming a doctor or engineer. There are millions of fields which they know nothing about.”
