| An Introduction
Imran Anwar is a serial "parallel entrepreneur", media personality and published writer. He is frequently found on leading global TV news channels and popular radio talk shows, from New York to Los Angeles and abroad, as a syndicated journalist and media expert on global affairs, technology, politics and social affairs. He enjoys living, boating, flying and enjoying life on the South Shore of Suffolk, in Long Island, NY and on the Atlantic coast of Florida.
At Home
Born May 23, 1962, in Montgomery (now Sahiwal), Pakistan, Imran was educated at St. Paul's English High School in Karachi, where he took his Cambridge University O' Levels Exams in 1976. In 1978 he completed the A' Levels examinations at Aitchison College. After graduating from Aitchison College, Imran joined the University of Engineering & Technology in Lahore. After completing his BS in Electrical Engineering, Imran joined the largest Pakistani newspaper chain, Jang, as Business Manager and Business Editor.
In 1989 he went to Columbia University's gloabally respected Graduate School of Business for an MBA, on a full scholarship. During his time there, he also attended the prestigious Columbia Journalism School, and also continued to operate an entrepreneurial business. This included establishing South Asia's largest and most successful media syndication business, representing global media and intellectial property owners in 17 countries.
Using the technical services of a neighbor from Lahore he became the founder of internet email in Pakistan and started providing internet based services in Pakistan, with IMRAN.PK as the first Internet Service Provider thereI as co-owner and co-founder of the .PK Top Level Domain [TLD]. Imran continues to support the rights of Pakistani internet users to free or low cost domain registration and is opposed to the illegal and exploitative actions of the current TLD maangement that hijacked the domain without his permission. With the advent of higher speed satellite communications, and finding himself on the wrong side of the government's repressive and onerous policies regarding control of telecommunications and censorship, he decided being an ISP was not his calling anymore.
He then established what later became IMRAN INTERNETional, an international but small consulting firm, which helped bring various global financial and media organizations onto the Internet as well as providing strategy consulting. He used the success from his consulting and other new-media projects to focus on bringing new products and services to Pakistan. Among other projects, he was able to bring MasterCard and branded global credit cards to Pakistan, helping launch the great success of credit markets for Pakistan's growing middle and professional classes.
In 1996 Imran's Pakistani operations hit a serious bump based in part on his political and outspoken opinions. This included his IMRAN,NET Pakistan business being nearly squeezed shut by external forces. In 1997 Imran joined an elite team of consultants at Silicon Valley Internet Partners (then renamed to Viant), in NY City but three months of commuting made him beat a hasty retreat to Long Island. He did not enjoy walking away from a heft payout that could have been enjoyed after a Viant IPO (initial public offering), but quality of life has always been paramount to him.
When one of the world's largest software companies invited him to work just 20 minutes from home, he accepted, and was there from June, 1997 to December, 2003. After six and half years in that particular company, he found himself sidelined and marginalized in the public relations department, and facing an extremely hostile work environment. The company founder Charles Wang had already left CA, and the successor, Sanjay Kumar, was focused on avoiding prosecution for financial misdeeds.
Imran was advised to take legal action against his immediate supervisors for various blatant racist and bigoted statements they had made to him in front of others, but he chose to focus his energies elsewhere. Imran struck out on his own again and since then continues to enjoy consulting, professional services to clients around the nation and abroad, as well working on several of his new dot-com ventures. Who knows, he may become a Billionaire still - whether that happens in US$ or pesos/paisas, we don't know yet.
His current work spans monetization of content online (NetroDollars), including social networking (MySpaceTime), blogs, global TV (IMRAN TV) and web services (4DOC). Imran has also pioneered new ideas in the field of telematics and location-aware mobile eBusiness solutions, as CEO of EverTrac. At the same time Imran is working on an exciting aerospace and aviation related project which will impact Pakistan's technology presence in that field in the next 20 years. Imran also founded NETRETARY, a "Secretary On Demand™" service enabling busy people to get more done by using remote virtual personal assistants.
All Work (Photographer Unknown 1997)
Imran's various interests include flying, cruising/boating in his new 40' Sea Ray SunDancer 360 "IMRAN" (below) on the Great South Bay, in New York. Favorite haunts include Old Inlet, Watch Hill, Fire Island, as well as Manhattan, Shelter Island, etc. in New York
or his 23' Sea Ray SunDancer 230 (below, named "NARGIS" in memory of his late mother) from West Palm Beach to Miami, Florida (pictured below in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York).
All Play (Photographer Peter Ehatt)
He also enjoys photography, computer art, music composition, writing, reading, movies, travelling, and many other activities. Just some of Imran's media coverage is available at this site, but coverage and media exposure related to his professional life was never offered here - to keep his personal and public life and opinions separate from his work.
In addition, he is a frequent and popular media guest, including live interviews and appearances on CNN, and Fox News Channel, as an expert on global business strategy, sociopolitical affairs, the Middle East and South East Asia. In the last few years he did not appear on radio and TV on business or technology issues to avoid any conflict of interest issues but is now seen on CNN, Fox News Channel, GEO TV, Fox Business News, etc.
Click to see Imran's previous media coverage. More to be added as time permits
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