A few years ago, Pakistan had a prime minister, who actually knew what finance was and had held posts at financial institutions such as Citibank. Being a Pakistani-American, Shaukat Aziz as a prime minister declared about the expat Pakistanis that they are one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet. His comments are not very far from the truth and Pakistani expats have excelled in all the countries in which they have settled, be it the USA, UK, Australia, Europe or South East Asia.
A less typical example would be Russia and the Former Soviet Unión (FSU) countries. Though geographically not very far from Pakistan, Pakistan does not have many cultural, linguistic or commercial ties with the FSU countries. Pakistan, soon after its independence, allied itself to the American bloc, which further hindered any chances of improvement in relations. During the 50s and the 60sPakistan became a front line ally of the US during the cold war as the relation continued to deteriorate. During the 70s and the 80s, Pakistan conducted US’s proxy war in Afghanistan against the USSR and the relation hit an all time low. This state of affairs continued till the dissolution of the USSR during the early 90s.
It would therefore seem highly improbable that a Pakistani who settled inUkraine in the late 80s would turn out to be a billionaire after the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union. Stranger things have happened and a Pakistani born in Karachi who went to study to Donetsk in Ukraine is now a true billionaire.Muhammad Zahoor arrived in Russia in 1974 to study engineering in Donetskwhich is now in the hands of the Russian rebels.
After completing his degree he went back to Pakistan and started working in the only steel mill in his home country at that time. It is not a coincidence that this steel mill was built by Russian technology and the Russian help.
When Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1979 Zahoor who had a Russian wife chose to left Pakistan. The Pakistani intelligence authorities suspected his wife to be a Russian spy. Once in Russia Zahoor started to work as a businessman.
He bought cheap Russian steel and sold it on the international market for a profit. He continued to do it till the collapse of the Soviet Union. By the time the Soviet system collapsed Zahoor was so rich that he bought the very steel mill where he had studied for his engineering degree.
From 1996 to 2008 the Zahoor kept on buying and selling steel mills all across Russia. In 2008 he liquidated all his assets especially the steel assets and turned out a neat profit of 1 billion dollars. It is a proof of his business acumen that when he sold his steel business in 2008 it was very very successful but as soon as he sold his business the steel prices on the international stock market tanked. The Russian oligarch who had brought his business went bankrupt within a year.
