In Afghanistan

I always wanted to work internationally, so after applying to various parts of the world for an year, I got my break in Afghanistan. Since I had committed myself to working outside India, I didn’t blink and took up this challenge of being the 1st Chief Executive Commercial Director of DCA VetServ (Dutch Committee for Afghanistan). So in June 2010 I arrived with a lot of hope and expectations. My first visit to Kabul was in April 2010, for the interview. In the interim period (Apr. to Jun.) I prepared for my Environmental Law & Management final exams and researched all possible information on veterinary science. It was a nice exercise discovering a topic in which I was completely naive.

In the past I had come closer to veterinary science, during my visits to our pet’s vet! In pursuance of veterinary knowledge I visited Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India. I developed contacts, gained tremendous exposure and bought few books to gain further knowledge on the subject. For this I shall be ever grateful to Dr. A.K. Garg. So my first encounter with diseases, medicines, vaccines & equipment started off there with him. Though all this was not required as my job was primarily to be of commercial in nature. But still on my own I thought, basic information was necessary to understand technical details that may emanate during the course of my new job. It did help a lot indeed.

After arriving at Kabul, I realised that the general situation was quite OK, as against what is generally portrayed by the media to us. My boss, whom I slowly learnt was a nice man. Being a veterinarian himself, it was incredible to see how he knew so much on commercial matters. His MS Excel skills were quite extra ordinary as compared to other veterinarians in the organisation! First few weeks of orientation were nice and enriching. Working with Afghans has been a joyous experience.

Working and learning along side the local language, DARI is quite invigorating. I had been told that Dari & Urdu have, lot of common words. So when ever there is a conversation between two people in Dari I listen very attentively. I try to catch as many words as possible and then make sense of the conversation observing their body language, stress on words, tone etc. In the end when they would translate the same for me, I would match my observation with the translation. Now a days I speak what I’ve understood and ask if that was what they were talking! It is quite challenging at times to understand because some have a different pronunciation, some speak fast etc.

But I really admire the professionalism I see here at DCA VetServ, quite contrary to what I thought. Being a small organisation as compared to others, everybody knows everybody. There are staff members and colleagues across all levels that have put in more than 20 years of work at DCA! I always knew that I will not get a second chance to make a first impression, so I started off on my agenda immediately. I made as many contacts and friends as possible in the first week. Very keenly I used to listen to them, their problems, what they think of the situation and in their opinion was the solution. Without commenting on the same, I used to head back to my laptop and summarily make minutes of the meeting. After a few weeks of this exercise I understood the problems and got to know most of the people and they too connected with me fairly well.

Armed with a database of problems and my job responsibility I set off for my task of moving things here and disturbing their peace for better efficiency, transparency and getting crucial data. What I felt was that I needed to explain them their own situation, make them realise and offer a solution in consultation with them which if implemented would get them xyz results. Now these xyz results are acceptable to them or not, I left to them. Most of this happens in consultation with my boss who due to his experience understands faster and is able to translate my ideas in Dari for the junior staff. In most cases people were open to change when they saw their own betterment and benefits.

I was lucky again to have a direct reporting to the Board of Directors of this organisation. It shortens the time lag in sending proposals for approval & implementation. I along with my boss developed and modified monthly reporting standards for the Board and outside agencies. The need for a smooth flow of information I felt was very important in the organisation. With the help of internet and some basic IT the task was made easier and convenient. We are integrating our commercial activities and the inventory control system.

It is interesting to share here, that I took my subordinates to a super market in Kabul to show an inventory system which I want for DCA VetServ. A complete state of the art system equipped with bar code readers and scanners. I’ve always tried to be as practical as possible. So during the first month we developed company policies too. Being a new entity and myself the first Chief Executive Commercial Director, the task to do something like this was exciting.

Since our main business is to import medicines, vaccines and equipments I started off making a list of these products. Along the way I picked up generic names of medicines and relations to various things related and unrelated. It is no mean task to understand and implement something of which you’ve heard for the first time and is as scientific as can be. I now understand why most people associated with science have a hard time understanding finance, marketing et. al.

Currently I am in the recruitment phase, looking at staffing a few positions for us. In the first month I developed a training module for my subordinates which I felt would give some insight on marketing, distribution etc. I feel so excited writing about my current job profile, that the reader may feel I am jumping from one point to another! It was a encouraging to see and understand overseas trade. Now I feel confident of dealing with shipment, air way bills, packing lists etc. which in the beginning sounded strange. Having understood the market through primary and secondary sources I am developing alternative vendors which can supply us medicines and vaccines at the best quality and best prices.

The work experience will continue for about an year more and I will soon write more on it.