Asif interview
06-26-2008 | 11:38 PM
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Asif interview
Face-to-Face: Asif Rangoonwala
In our interview with Powerboat P1 chairman Asif Rangoonwala, we explore his background as a businessman, how he got involved in what is now one of the fastest growing international sports properties, and his vision for its future.
Time spent with Asif Rangoonwala can never be described as ‘dull’. When talking to people – even complete strangers – the 50-year-old is confident, open, honest, funny and ebullient, all in equal measure. And when Asif talks, it’s worth listening. He loves quotations and the fact that he has many nuggets of his father’s words of wisdom ready for comparison with almost any subject is an indication of just how large a figure the late Mohamed Aly Rangoonwala was in Asif’s life.
Mohamed Aly Rangoonwala was a pioneer businessman in Pakistan, eventually expanding his Rangoonwala Group of companies to international success. In 1981, he was voted President of the International Chamber of Commerce, leading debates with the presidents of large multi-nationals. “He was an extremely intelligent man, and very tough,” Asif recalls. “He said what he thought. He was a very hard man to work for, but I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him.”
Asif was born in Mumbai, but was educated in European and US surroundings, inheriting an accent that is more trans-global than trans-Atlantic. He showed a slight rebellious streak when he left his expensive international boarding school, but when given the offer (some might say ultimatum) of a job in his father’s companies, he took it with both hands.
Asif admits that his relationship with his father wasn’t perfect or easy, but he acknowledges that it was an education beyond value. “I worked with him for 24 years,” he says. “Our relationship was 24/7, but I’ve sat in meetings you can’t imagine. Today, I see things most people can’t see because of the experience that I built up working with my father since the age of 17. You can’t buy that.”
In 1996, though, Asif decided to go it alone once again. Prompted by a call from an old business colleague, resurrecting an idea he’d had five years earlier, he founded Eurobuns – a baked goods specialist supplying numerous high-street chains that he developed over the next decade into a company with a sales turnover of £50m and a roster of over 400 employees.
He’s also a key player in the Swanbourne property business – a rapidly growing provider of student accommodation, with £200m portfolio already on the books, and plans to add another £700m of property to that over the next two years. And Asif shows no signs of slowing down over the next few years. “Business for me is a passion, because I grew up with it,” he says. “I love what I do.”
His most recent venture is the Powerboat P1 World Championship, but just as Asif’s mind is focused on expanding offshore racing’s fastest growing championship, there’s another future on his mind. And like so many successful businessmen today it’s not his own. Sharing his father’s philanthropic spirit, Asif is Chairman of the Rangoonwala Foundation, which provides vocational training, medical centres, libraries and other life-enhancing facilities for marginalised communities around the world. He’s also a fellow of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a trustee of the Whitefield Development Trust, Vice Chairman of the Indus Entrepreneurs UK and Chairman of the World Memon Foundation.
After a long and successful career, many high profile businessmen would think about slowing down when they enter their fifties. But not Asif Rangoonwala. When given the possibility of being involved in the – until then – relatively obscure world of offshore powerboat racing, he saw an opportunity to combine two of his passions: growing a new sport-based business and the oceans.
After an initial foray looking at the Class 1 championship, Asif was approached about investing in the Powerboat P1 championship. “When the concept was presented to me, my first thought was: ‘this is the third form of motorsport in the world; I can turn this round in two years’. Class 1 is a pure performance sport, but Powerboat P1 is an entertainment sport, and has the values of providing improvement in technology into the marine industry. “I didn’t realise how much depth I was getting myself into, though. It was a great concept – it still is and it always will be – and it has grown so much. It’s like a puzzle. There are so many pieces involved in P1, and the sport itself is just one part of it. To get the true value out of the championship, you have to put all the pieces together, and that’s what’s happening now.”
Asif admits that moving from a more conventional business background to the world of sports management has been an eye-opener. “I’ve never had so many doors closed on me, and so many disbelievers,” he admits. As has been shown by the introduction of a new P1 management team, Asif is more than prepared to acknowledge his own shortcomings and put the right people in the right place to do the right jobs. He remains focused on the big picture and long-term vision. Bringing in the vastly experienced Jim O’Toole as CEO, Robert Wicks as Commercial Director and Andy Hindley as Racing and Events Director has paid dividends over the last 12 months, with the championship going from strength to strength.
Asif is impressed with the progress made.” As organisers, we’re moving from being people who build to people who deliver the right product. There are still things that need to be completed, but that can only be done with additional money.” Like the evolution of car racing, the growth of the Powerboat P1 championship is now all about manufacturer involvement and sponsorship. “I, personally, cannot take this sport to the next level,” Asif openly admits. “In three years, I want every team sponsored. Without the teams and manufacturers, there isn’t a championship. And they are beginning to step up to that level. As for the future, I used to see a flicker at the end of the tunnel, but now it’s a big fat light.”
“Next year, we’ll have more Grand Prix events, and that means the teams will need to look at professional pilots. There’s only one Formula 1, one MotoGP and one Powerboat P1. This will always be the top of the ladder, and there’s huge potential for growth if teams, manufacturers and sponsors are prepared to invest. It’s growth for everyone.”
Asif also has a long-term vision of how Powerboat P1 can help the marine industry to evolve in a more environmentally conscious society, and have a positive effect on the world’s oceans. Just as Formula 1 and motor racing are moving to new, greener technologies that help accelerate car industry development, Asif wants the same to happen in Powerboat P1.
“In 10 to 15 years, there won’t be an ocean left, because big companies are destroying it with the amount of stuff they’re spewing into the water,” Asif says. “We’re the only testing platform for smarter engines. I want to set up a Powerboat P1 Foundation in which everyone coming on board will have to be involved to improve technology, encourage innovation and energy saving, and clean up the world’s oceans. If you don’t dream you’ll never arrive.”
Asif admits that, in five years time, he plans to take a more advisory – rather than hands on – role. But, ask him what he expects to see when that happens, and he’s brutally honest. “Five years from now,” he says. “Powerboat P1 will be the greatest show on water, ever. It will be a platform for performance and entertainment. And I will have played a big role in saving the oceans.” On present form, it would be a brave man who’d bet against him!
I got this from the p1 site. It is good to see that someone has a vision of a future for the sport.
pat W
In our interview with Powerboat P1 chairman Asif Rangoonwala, we explore his background as a businessman, how he got involved in what is now one of the fastest growing international sports properties, and his vision for its future.
Time spent with Asif Rangoonwala can never be described as ‘dull’. When talking to people – even complete strangers – the 50-year-old is confident, open, honest, funny and ebullient, all in equal measure. And when Asif talks, it’s worth listening. He loves quotations and the fact that he has many nuggets of his father’s words of wisdom ready for comparison with almost any subject is an indication of just how large a figure the late Mohamed Aly Rangoonwala was in Asif’s life.
Mohamed Aly Rangoonwala was a pioneer businessman in Pakistan, eventually expanding his Rangoonwala Group of companies to international success. In 1981, he was voted President of the International Chamber of Commerce, leading debates with the presidents of large multi-nationals. “He was an extremely intelligent man, and very tough,” Asif recalls. “He said what he thought. He was a very hard man to work for, but I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for him.”
Asif was born in Mumbai, but was educated in European and US surroundings, inheriting an accent that is more trans-global than trans-Atlantic. He showed a slight rebellious streak when he left his expensive international boarding school, but when given the offer (some might say ultimatum) of a job in his father’s companies, he took it with both hands.
Asif admits that his relationship with his father wasn’t perfect or easy, but he acknowledges that it was an education beyond value. “I worked with him for 24 years,” he says. “Our relationship was 24/7, but I’ve sat in meetings you can’t imagine. Today, I see things most people can’t see because of the experience that I built up working with my father since the age of 17. You can’t buy that.”
In 1996, though, Asif decided to go it alone once again. Prompted by a call from an old business colleague, resurrecting an idea he’d had five years earlier, he founded Eurobuns – a baked goods specialist supplying numerous high-street chains that he developed over the next decade into a company with a sales turnover of £50m and a roster of over 400 employees.
He’s also a key player in the Swanbourne property business – a rapidly growing provider of student accommodation, with £200m portfolio already on the books, and plans to add another £700m of property to that over the next two years. And Asif shows no signs of slowing down over the next few years. “Business for me is a passion, because I grew up with it,” he says. “I love what I do.”
His most recent venture is the Powerboat P1 World Championship, but just as Asif’s mind is focused on expanding offshore racing’s fastest growing championship, there’s another future on his mind. And like so many successful businessmen today it’s not his own. Sharing his father’s philanthropic spirit, Asif is Chairman of the Rangoonwala Foundation, which provides vocational training, medical centres, libraries and other life-enhancing facilities for marginalised communities around the world. He’s also a fellow of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a trustee of the Whitefield Development Trust, Vice Chairman of the Indus Entrepreneurs UK and Chairman of the World Memon Foundation.
After a long and successful career, many high profile businessmen would think about slowing down when they enter their fifties. But not Asif Rangoonwala. When given the possibility of being involved in the – until then – relatively obscure world of offshore powerboat racing, he saw an opportunity to combine two of his passions: growing a new sport-based business and the oceans.
After an initial foray looking at the Class 1 championship, Asif was approached about investing in the Powerboat P1 championship. “When the concept was presented to me, my first thought was: ‘this is the third form of motorsport in the world; I can turn this round in two years’. Class 1 is a pure performance sport, but Powerboat P1 is an entertainment sport, and has the values of providing improvement in technology into the marine industry. “I didn’t realise how much depth I was getting myself into, though. It was a great concept – it still is and it always will be – and it has grown so much. It’s like a puzzle. There are so many pieces involved in P1, and the sport itself is just one part of it. To get the true value out of the championship, you have to put all the pieces together, and that’s what’s happening now.”
Asif admits that moving from a more conventional business background to the world of sports management has been an eye-opener. “I’ve never had so many doors closed on me, and so many disbelievers,” he admits. As has been shown by the introduction of a new P1 management team, Asif is more than prepared to acknowledge his own shortcomings and put the right people in the right place to do the right jobs. He remains focused on the big picture and long-term vision. Bringing in the vastly experienced Jim O’Toole as CEO, Robert Wicks as Commercial Director and Andy Hindley as Racing and Events Director has paid dividends over the last 12 months, with the championship going from strength to strength.
Asif is impressed with the progress made.” As organisers, we’re moving from being people who build to people who deliver the right product. There are still things that need to be completed, but that can only be done with additional money.” Like the evolution of car racing, the growth of the Powerboat P1 championship is now all about manufacturer involvement and sponsorship. “I, personally, cannot take this sport to the next level,” Asif openly admits. “In three years, I want every team sponsored. Without the teams and manufacturers, there isn’t a championship. And they are beginning to step up to that level. As for the future, I used to see a flicker at the end of the tunnel, but now it’s a big fat light.”
“Next year, we’ll have more Grand Prix events, and that means the teams will need to look at professional pilots. There’s only one Formula 1, one MotoGP and one Powerboat P1. This will always be the top of the ladder, and there’s huge potential for growth if teams, manufacturers and sponsors are prepared to invest. It’s growth for everyone.”
Asif also has a long-term vision of how Powerboat P1 can help the marine industry to evolve in a more environmentally conscious society, and have a positive effect on the world’s oceans. Just as Formula 1 and motor racing are moving to new, greener technologies that help accelerate car industry development, Asif wants the same to happen in Powerboat P1.
“In 10 to 15 years, there won’t be an ocean left, because big companies are destroying it with the amount of stuff they’re spewing into the water,” Asif says. “We’re the only testing platform for smarter engines. I want to set up a Powerboat P1 Foundation in which everyone coming on board will have to be involved to improve technology, encourage innovation and energy saving, and clean up the world’s oceans. If you don’t dream you’ll never arrive.”
Asif admits that, in five years time, he plans to take a more advisory – rather than hands on – role. But, ask him what he expects to see when that happens, and he’s brutally honest. “Five years from now,” he says. “Powerboat P1 will be the greatest show on water, ever. It will be a platform for performance and entertainment. And I will have played a big role in saving the oceans.” On present form, it would be a brave man who’d bet against him!
I got this from the p1 site. It is good to see that someone has a vision of a future for the sport.
pat W
