Saad Tamman

Early life and background

Tamman went to high school in Lahore. His father is a doctor who did not practise medicine, and his father was also a district chairman. His mother's family placed a high value on education. [1]

Education

Tamman wanted to do something different that he could not do in Pakistan. He studied actuarial sciences in Canada and finished his degree six months ahead of schedule. He graduated in 2009, the year the housing financial crisis set in. [1]

Tamman applied for a Fulbright scholarship. After receiving the scholarship, he said he would stay only five or six months. He studied economics for two years, at Vanderbilt in Tennessee. He also interned at the Planning Commission. [1]

Career

After graduating, Tamman did odd jobs, including work at an Egyptian restaurant. He worked at the company that founded BlackBerry. He also worked on an assembly line in a programme that hired university students, and his shifts on that job were 12 hours long. His dean suggested he think about going back, and he decided that he had to go back. [1]

Tameer Microfinance

Tamman joined Tameer Microfinance, which he describes as the back-end arm of EasyPaisa. He worked there in 2010. Working in microfinance made him think differently about business models. He describes his work then as a hybrid tech, finance and data role. [1]

Mobilink, now Jazz, approached his team, which then started a product for them. HBL then approached his team to do the same. The product launched for HBL as HBL Express is now called HBL Connect. [1]

McKinsey and after

Tamman worked for six or seven months before his McKinsey role began. He was told that McKinsey was opening an office in Pakistan and that he should apply there. He was the second hire at McKinsey's Pakistan office. He worked on an education reforms project of the Punjab government. [1]

Tamman left McKinsey after about a year, at the start of 2016. He did not want to move to Karachi, and his family was where he was. He was asked to come help out and told he could do whatever he wanted in the meantime. He worked with a venture capital fund. [1]

He then received work from the Gates Foundation, on a study concerning National Bank. He worked on a National Bank payments strategy for digital financial inclusion. [1]

Farming

Tamman's mother gave him her land. He began growing vegetables there in 2013 or 2014. He tried growing quinoa and says it grew well, but there was no market for it. He has started harvesting rainwater and says his yields have gone up 60 percent through the technique. [1]

Tamman says that a 20-kilo crate from his farm had been selling for 1,000 to 1,200 rupees a month earlier, and that the price then fell to 200 rupees. He says he received about 7 rupees a kilo at the farm gate and that his production cost was 12 rupees. [1]

Tamman had to dump 60,000 kilograms of tomatoes, in April and May. He left the farm because he had no incentive, since he could not predict prices. He leased the land to a friend, who now grows flowers there. [1]

Tamman says farming is not easy money. He says about 70 percent of farm technology lies in the seed, and that the biggest improvement has come in maize. He says Pakistan is food secure, but food mismanagement is a serious challenge. [1]

Tamman says a 100 kg bag of canola cost 2,500 rupees before the price rose. He says he sold canola himself, and a 100 kg bag now sells for 10,500 rupees. [1]

Policy work

In late 2017, Tamman learned that Taimur had joined PTI. Tamman began with two days a week of work, and at first he worked unpaid. He worked on the team that set the agenda for the first 100 days. He also worked on a manifesto that expanded on the 100-day agenda. [1]

Tamman says the PM office was active after the oath-taking, and that he was among the first few dozen people to enter the office. He says his team made a national agriculture programme. He says the programme was worth 300 billion rupees and covered all four provinces, and that it was among the largest a federal government had produced. He says he is placed in his position as a technocrat. [1]

Views on government

Tamman says the aim was not to build 5 million homes but to create a regulatory framework. He says the government should stop hiring and use task-based contract staff. He says the power ministry has about 150,000 staff, and that overstaffing exists, but for the wrong things. [1]

Tamman says the airport should be outsourced. He says the state should build assets and outsource their running, collecting dividends. He says he sees Pakistan with more provinces in 2050. He says he is not really driven by money. [1]

Performance agreements

Tamman says performance agreements are happening in Pakistan for the first time in this form. He describes them as having quarterly targets. He says they have already had some impact, reduce subjective bias in judging performance, and help map out dependencies. [1]

Tamman says he has worked on performance agreements for three years. He says his team has since disbanded. [1]

Timeline

2009

Graduated with a degree in actuarial sciences.[1]

2010

Worked at Tameer Microfinance.[1]

2013 or 2014

Began growing vegetables on land given by his mother.[1]

2016

Left McKinsey, at the start of the year.[1]

2017

Learned in late 2017 that Taimur had joined PTI.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Pakistan's farmland is a science problem, not a land problem . Thought Behind Things , 2021-12-24.