I will never forget how I was swept away by Sadia’s persona as she received me. I met her eyes and realised that the elegantly pink-clad grandmother was analysing me.
Before me was a woman of vision and great perception. I saw a businesswoman who had taken great strides to take forward the legacy of her family with courage and vision.
Grace and dignity are the words I would always associate with her.
Sadia is the president of Hamdard Foundation Pakistan and chancellor of Hamdard University. As a woman CEO she leads a company, which employs thousands of people. She is also the caretaker of a legacy that goes back to 1906.
An up-close and personal with Sadia Rashid, the daughter of the legendary Hakim Said and the chairperson of Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) Pakistan, one of the largest business conglomerates in Pakistan that unites business and welfare
Sadia Sahiba, as she is fondly called, is the daughter of the late Hakim Said, the most forward-thinking man in herbal medicine of the Yunani tradition. He modernised herbal medication into an industry and took it to organisations like the World Health Organization for its approval and acceptance as alternative medicine.
Being an only child, Sadia was brought up in a culture that united business and welfare. Hakim Said kept her very close to him and it is no mean feat runs an organisation that spans across Pakistan; employs thousands of Pakistanis and engages not only in business but also higher education and philanthropy.
75 per cent of the profits from Hamdard Laboratories go to the Hamdard Foundation Pakistan.
Sadia Sahiba has suffered her fair share of hurt including the tragic loss of her father. I did not hold a formal interview. Instead, I let her speak. This was going to be about her and her life, her thoughts and her views.
Memories of a great age
“I am not the first woman in my family to run a business? My paternal grandmother, after the death of her husband, ran his business while raising four children. The women in our family have always been known to hold businesses together. Imagine running a business with four small children over 100 years ago. We come from a very simple background. The name Hamdard says it all. (Hamdard is a person who has experienced the same pain, therefore an empathiser.) We are a friend and service-provider to the nation.”
“My earliest childhood memory is of my mother feeding a beggar in the house and fanning him while he ate. Imagine the type of person she was. I recall running into the patio and watching the scene. That was the type of people we were. I hope it is still a fair description of who we are.”
“My father took me everywhere with him. I was his only child, and he invested everything into me and my life. Both my parents took care of my upbringing. [She shows me pictures of her with Fatima Jinnah and some pictures of her wearing Eid clothes.]. Because of the type of person my father was, I never felt I was less worthy because I was a female. A forward-thinking disciplinarian and a man of few words, he cared about the future of herbal medicine, setting up packaging and distribution channels throughout Pakistan, being a pioneer in the field.”
“As my mother observed purdah (the veil) I was the one he would take along even when travelling abroad. During the early years of my marriage, while I had three daughters, he took me into the organisation. I shared a room with four other people; I was not the chairman’s daughter. I had to learn from scratch and was taught humility and being a team player. I did a fair bit of stapling. My father was very clear in his final deed. He told me quite clearly if I wanted a stake in Hamdard, I would have to work. He was a man of few words and yet he would leave an impression on everybody he met.”
“Hakim Said was a stickler for discipline and for punctuality. Early morning, I remember even though back then we were a family who owned a car, he made me take the school bus. I used to leave the house at 7 am and returned at 4 pm. I was taught and groomed to learn the struggle of running things and was enabled to take care of myself and others. That was his training.”
The business of being
“With marketing of herbal products being revolutionised and brought into formal packaging, there naturally had to be changes and upgrades in the system. We are implementing technological changes and upgrading our systems from production management to distribution networks and marketing. We also have a sophisticated research and development department. It is a vast organisation. Everybody has their own field of work and focus. There is continuity in planning for not only the products but also for the graduates of the University. The organisation has a hierarchal structure.”
People who surround me
“My world consists of my husband and my three daughters as well as my Hamdard family. I have a supportive husband who always understood the stakes and the need for my presence in the office and by my father’s side. Every time there was a question of travelling with my father for his business, my husband would only say “Go with Abba”. I would sometimes have to leave my two older daughters and my husband behind.”
“My daughters work in Hamdard alongside me, carrying on the tradition of the long line of working women in our family. My youngest, Fatema, who is now the CEO, grew up in this business. She is highly independent.”
Faced with loss
“I, my family and the nation lost Hakim Said, in an act of brutal violence in October 1998. The news was devastating. To this day, I cannot go into it. All I did was pray. I asked Allah to please let me get through this with grace and dignity. I didn’t want to break down in front of others.”
“All that my father had taught me came into play. He had wanted me to be a thinker and a businesswoman. That is how I have been able to run this enterprise. I am keeping his memory and his legacy alive through my work. I am what my parents raised me to be.”
Mera Pakistan
“Pakistan was born on the 27th of Ramazan? It was a gift to us from above. A tohfa my father used to say… It is and will always be that for us, a gift to the Muslims of the subcontinent and a blessing.
“May family has always sought to serve the people. Two of my daughters are now working with me in the company. I live by the words (from an Urdu saying) quoted by my late father, “Time is a blessing from heavens, the correct use of it is an act of ibadah (worship).”
