Syed Qaisar Madad: A Legend and an Inspiration
A Pakistan Link Report
Syed Qaisar Madad
Syed Qaisar Madad grew up in a small village near Sahiwal (Montgomery), Pakistan. He came to the United States in 1972 to pursue higher education. Today he embodies the zenith of the American Dream: he is the owner and CEO of TTM, Inc., and manages a substantial investment portfolio.
In 1996 he was deservedly honored for his distinguished services by the California State Assembly and the US Senate.
Despite being a role model for entrepreneurial excellence and laudable philanthropic undertakings, Syed Qaisar Madad remains a modest and unassuming person,
Here is the life story of this most successful and amazing Pakistani-American businessman and generous philanthropist.
Education
Born in Khamla, UP, India, Madad received his primary education in the small village of Chak 78-5/R near Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan. He completed grades 6 to 10 at the Government High School in Sahiwal, which was an 8-mile walk from his home. After completing his FSC pre-engineering at Emerson College in Multan, he went on to West Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan, where he completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1968.
Madad came to the United States in 1972 for higher education. He completed a two-year Master’s Degree in Operations Research in merely two semesters or 8-month time, a record for an American University. He then completed a second master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnic University of New York in three semesters. Both the Masters were completed in five semesters, i.e. 1 year and 8 months, quite a remarkable achievement.
Career in Oil and Gas Industry
Madad’s career in oil and gas industry spans over 25 years. During this time he worked for many of the big names in the industry. He first joined the Engineering Division of Burmah Oil Company and was assigned the Sui Gas Transmission project where he wrote the design basis for the SUI-IDRB Gas Transmission Lines, which is used even today. He also developed the wartime contingency plan for the Gas Transmission Systems in 1971. After completing his higher education in USA, he worked for several companies in Canada and the U.S. including Exxon and Gulf Oil.
In his last assignment with Gulf Oil he managed international operations of the company from London. When Gulf Oil became an independent company known as Arabian Gulf, he oversaw the overall operations of the company.
Accomplished Wife
Madad is married to his wife of 27 years, Meher Fatima Tabatabai, M.D. They are the proud parents of two daughters, Mahvish, an attorney married to Faisal Rajput, and Mahrukh, a student at a local university.
As the daughter of a very well known Urdu poet, the late Brigadier Syed Mohammad Ali Tabatabai Raaz Lakhnavi, and with a very respectable family lineage, Dr. Mehar Tabatabai is a visionary and a legend in her own rights. She was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and graduated from Dow Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan with an M.B.B.S. Degree in 1976. She is a physician specializing in infectious disease and internal medicine. In addition to maintaining a private practice in infectious diseases, she currently serves as Chief of Staff of Promise Hospital of East Los Angeles.
In addition, Dr. Tabatabai has undertaken leadership positions on numerous committees and boards at local hospitals, where she provides leadership and education. She is an authority on infectious diseases and is among the most sought-after speakers at medical conferences. She has spoken at over 50 medical conferences, both nationally and internationally. She has been recognized as one of “ America’s Top Physicians” by the Consumer Research Council of America. Most recently, she received the prestigious ‘2009 Visionary of the Year Award’ from Coastline Community College and was honored by the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA) for her community service as a physician.
Notable Relatives
Madad belongs to the highly respected Naqvi (Syed) family of Amroha, India and is a descendant of Saiyid Hasan Sharfuddin Shah Wilayat Naqvi, who migrated from Wasit, Iraq to Multan and later settled in Amroha, India. He belongs to an eminent family of scholars, artists, architects and other very famous personalities of the Indo-Pak Subcontinent. Some of his distinguished relatives include:
a) Sadequain Naqqash, a world-renowned Pakistani artist, best known for his skills as a calligrapher and a painter. He is considered as one of the finest painters and calligraphers Pakistan has ever produced.
b) Rais Amrohvi, a noted scholar, Urdu poet and psychoanalyst of Pakistan. He was known for his unique style of Qatanigari and for his daily columns in Pakistan’s largest daily newspaper, Jang.
c) Jon Elia, a notable Pakistani Urdu poet, philosopher, biographer and scholar. He was widely praised for his unique style of writing. He was a man of letters, well versed in Arabic, English, Persian, Sanskrit and Hebrew.
Business Ventures
By early 1990, Madad’s life had become extremely busy. He traveled extensively all over the world for his job. Many times his travel to the Mediterranean and other parts of Europe or Africa kept him away from his family for months at a stretch.
Dr. Tabatabai was also very busy with her own medical profession. She had completed her fellowship in infectious disease at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center and was working as Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at USC.
Wanting to have more time with their family, both decided to take control of their lives – she left her job at L.A. County to establish her own practice, and he left the oil and gas industry and set up his own data communication and telecommunication company.
Thus came the founding in 1993 of Technology for Telecommunication & Multimedia, Inc. (TTM). The newly formed Company was able to secure very large orders for the supply of equipment to a videoconferencing company, PictureTEL Corporation of Massachusetts. Due to this account, TTM moved first in the direction of videoconferencing and later into the Internet-based information and data management.
It was then that Madad began to appreciate the magnitude of the unique opportunity before him. He realized that the conventional business structure of engineering, testing, marketing, receiving, manufacturing, warehousing and shipping was not necessary when one could carry out the same kind of work from one’s own computer without incurring any of the accompanying overheads. Also, key financial information on public companies was now available to the general public due to computerization. Thus, Madad transitioned TTM in 1999 to a primary focus on investments and trading.
He found this new direction very suitable to his background. Firstly, in the oil and gas industry the use of computer systems and automation is the key – the pipelines, oilfields, pumping stations and processing facilities cannot be run without automation, and the data gathering requirements are high due to the need to continuously monitor and control the equipment. Secondly, despite all the development in technology, the geological, geophysical and reservoir engineering sciences upon which the industry runs are imperfect sciences, and because of that strict risk management is essential. Exploring and developing oil and gas fields involves operation and investment risks that require an educated, calculated estimate regarding available reserves. And as an added buffer to the speculative nature of the business, Madad’s engineering background was very useful in predicting market movement with chart and trend analysis.
Investment/Trading Strategy
Madad employs short term investment strategies, or the day-trading strategies in the management of his investment portfolio. His account is 100% cash before the market opens and at the close of market each and every day. He strictly uses his own cash for trading and does not use margin trading.
Risk management is at the core of his trading and investment philosophy. He believes that the first priority of a trader must be the protection or preservation of their capitol.
His typical day starts early. The European markets open around 1:00 a.m. Los Angeles time. That is when he starts monitoring and analyzing the market trends to form an opinion as to what will happen when the markets open in US. During the trading hours he keeps looking for the right time to enter and exit the market. At any given time he never has more than 10-15% of his cash invested in the market.
He is a big believer in research and spends nearly 80% of his time every day studying various market sectors, money flows and businesses. He has eight full-time research analysts working out of an office in the basement of his home. He shares this research with the select family and friends who are members of his private investment pool.
Madad has maintained a truly remarkable rate of return year after year, even during these unpredictable times. He has achieved compounded annual returns of up to 65% and the lowest rate has been in the 30% range. As a result a large portion of his portfolio is capital gains.
Philanthropy
Madad and Dr. Tabatabai remain closely involved in the community through their participation in numerous causes in the areas of education, culture, religion, health, social welfare, politics, etc. The list of the beneficiaries of their charitable contributions is very long, for they do not limit their support to any group or individual based on ethnicity, religion, nationality or any other such criteria. A small sampling of the non-profit charitable organizations they have consistently supported for many years, in no specific order, include the American Cancer Society, Red Cross, Relief International, Developments in Literacy International (DIL), Human Development Foundation (HDF), Islamic Relief, Islamic Center of Orange County, Al-Shifa Foundation/Al-Shifa Eye Hospitals, Salvation Army, SAHARA, NISWA, Los Angeles Mission, Aid Society, and many more.
The two have a distinct passion for supporting education and literature. Their contributions have been instrumental in the creation of several schools in Pakistan and United States, such as the New Horizon Schools in Irvine and Santa Monica, California. They recently established a five-year Fellowship for Pakistan at the Middle Eastern Institute in Washington, DC. Every year they give cash awards to outstanding literary figures through the Urdu Writers Society and Urdu Markaz.
Support for handicapped and elderly is also very dear to them. They sent 20,000 wheelchairs to Pakistan through Wheel Chair Mission and aided the handicapped children in Egypt through Islamic Relief International.
Their contributions to our society are numerous and invaluable and it would not be an exaggeration to say that this world is a better place because of them!
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