Know Me

GREY,

BUT STILL GREEN
AT 81
REFUSING TO FADE

DR. J.M.I. SAIT

PhD, FBIM, FCMA, FCS,
DipMA, DIOMI, MAAA, MENSA

KNOW ME

1

SPECIALIZATION

Basically being a Management Accountant, in the early
part of the career concentration had been on Financial
Management of enterprises with special emphasis on
Performance Audits and Appraisals, Cost Control and
Reporting tools for financial monitoring and budgetary
exercises.

The second phase was heavy with advisory elements
on investment promotion, project development and
appraisal from financial and non-financial points of
view.

The next phase was oriented towards consultancy and
research for Enterprise Development, particularly the
MSME Sector at national, regional and local levels.

The national and international experience of 60 years
evolved into a unique specialization in the field of
MSME DEVELOPMENT covering all the aspects of
creating, managing, monitoring, appraising and
facilitating their national, regional and local evolution.

2

CAREER SPOTLIGHT

While the entire career offered wonderful experiences, where a
fund of knowledge was gained and expertise developed, the
most fulfilling episodes occurred while rendering service to the
under developed countries like Tanzania, Ghana, Gambia,
Egypt and Bangladesh in critical areas of their industrial and
economic development.
Identification of appropriate growth sectors and preparation of
project studies formed an integral part of those services, training
the national officers to undertake similar tasks efficiently and
effectively received great importance. Seeing them
independently working with dexterity was the most satisfying
result.

What enabled such useful services, rendered through various
United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO)
(1981-1993, Retired at Level-6 equal to Director II) and
Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (1976-1979)
programmes was the exposure to real life issues obtained from
the work in various fields in India for about 15 years.(1958-
1973).

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INDIA PRE 1974

The initial job as Statistical Compiler / investigator provided a
good exposure as an Economic Researcher and Statistical
Analyst. The sojourn with the Comptroller and Auditor
General of India, at the Kerala Accountant General's was
characterized by the Performance Audit process initiated as a
self-invented discipline, deviating from the conventional audit
procedures. The implementation of the new approach in the
audit of various major public sector undertakings
(Manufacturing and Road Transport) in Kerala and all the
hydroelectric power projects in the state, as Audit
Superintendent received official commendations.

It also provided the insights which later became handy in
assisting the Government of Tanzania in the framing of their
national construction and housing policies, and the
management of Kidatu Hydroelectric Power Project, besides
rehabilitation of the bankrupt parastatal, the Mwananchi
Engineering and Construction Company Ltd.

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The next five years as the Corporate Secretary of Aluminium
Industries Ltd. Kundara, Kerala, when the company had lost its
monopoly of two decades in cable and conductor business,
saw the toughest time needing corporate and financial
restructuring. Tough labour negotiations, discontented
shareholders and furious board of directors besides
mushrooming competition offered a real life business
environment to be dealt with and learned from. It brought to
light many of the follies in management when competition was
unknown and needed to be set right with the new situation. In
retrospect, it can be said that, it offered lessons for Start ups to
be taught, how not be zealous of their seemingly monopolistic
endeavours.

The following year and a half with the Administrative Staff
College of India, gave an opportunity to introduce a financial
discipline through self - imposed budgets by the faculty
members who ran training programmes without considering
the costs and revenues. Another landmark achievement was
proposing and developing the concept of a Technicians'
Cooperative Society for the State of Bihar, as part of the Bihar
Industrialization Study Report by the Consultancy wing of the
Staff College.

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CAREER OVERSEAS

MECCO was the sole public sector company
responsible for all civil construction work in Tanzania
after all private enterprises and houses were
nationalized following the Uhuru declaration of 1967.
The primary purpose of seeking overseas help through
the Commonwealth Fund For Technical Cooperation
(CFTC) was to rehabilitate MECCO and to devise a
national construction policy whereby the construction
activities could be shared with the private sector in due
course.

On successful completion of this exercise MECCO
joined an international consortium (Sweden, Norway,
Netherlands, Italy and the UK) for the construction of
Kidatu Hydroelectric Power Complex. MECCO also
joined as a partner in the construction of the Freedom
bridge between Tanzania and Mozambique.

Represented MECCO on the Board of both these
projects, besides representing MECCO on the Steering
Committee for the Construction Industry Study by
Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

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As sole representative of the government of Tanzania
visited USA, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and
Finland to prospect and negotiate for precast housing
as a possible solution for the acute housing shortage as
private initiative in the real estate sector had totally
vanished after housing sector nationalisation in 1967.
During the sojourn in Tanzania, (1974-1983) also
assisted the Registrar of Buildings, the sole agency for
the distribution and maintenance of the buildings
acquired by the1967 nationalization, in developing a
maintenance and development plan and the
Daressalaam Development Corporation in developing a
management and financial control system and MIS for
the dozen and odd small enterprises under it.

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UNITED NATIONS
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
ORGANIZATION (UNIDO)

As Chief Technical Adviser under the UNIDO,
assisted the Government of Bangladesh in organizing
ing a mega Investment promotion meet in 1981. More
than 650 overseas entrepreneurs and about 2,000
Bangladeshi aspirants participanted in the negotiations,
some 250 MoUs, mostly for small and medium sized
units, were signed, and a sizeable number was later
implemented. The project involved enabling of the
personnel of Bangladesh Shilpo Rin Sangstha
(Industrial Credit Corporation) to assist the prospective
entrepreneurs prepare detailed project reports and
project profiles and to evaluate the projects technically
as well as financially. My team consisted of about 40
short term subject consultants.

As part of this exercise, assisted the Bangladeshi team
of officers and local entrepreneurs in presentations and
negotiations with prospective investors, in their visits
to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, USSR, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

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The second spell of assistance was to develop a cost
management system for the Bangladesh Diesel Engine
factory and to train its officers. During this sojourn
acted intermittently as UNIDO's country representative
(Senior Industrial Development Field Adviser, SIDFA)

Assistance was provided to the Investment Bank of
Ghana to identify non-performing portfolios, train the
bank personnel to evaluate projects seeking assistance
and to financially reconstruct the sick units.
Assisted the Ground Nut Producers Cooperative in
Gambia to establish nut processing and oil extraction
units, besides grading and branding. Assistance to
Egypt involved developing educational toys for the
Saharan children, in conformity with the culture of the
tribes in Sahara and utilizing the plastic industry’s
capacity in the public sector units.

Fujian State in China had developed 40 mega industrial
projects to be offered for international cooperation and
funding. The assignment involved critical evaluation of
these projects which ranged from sophisticated
precision instruments to solar cells and equipment and
covered numerous chemical, electrical and mechanical
projects.

9

EDUCATION

o PhD in International Administration, Beverly
Hills University, IOWA, USA

o Diploma in Cost Accounting, Institute of Cost
and Management Accountants of India, Kolkata

o (Post Membership)Diploma in Management
Accounting, ICMAI, Kolkata

o Diploma in Company Secretaryship, Institute of
Company Secretaries of India New Delhi

o Diploma in Office Management, Institute of
Office Management of India, New Delhi

o Degree in Mathematics, Statistics and
Econometrics, University of Kerala,
Thiruvananthapuram

10

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

o Fellow, Institute of Cost and Management
Accountants of India

o Fellow, Institute of Company Secretaries of
India

o Fellow, British Institute of Management, UK
o Member, American Association of Accountants
o Member, MENSA International
o Senior Fellow, Institute of Small Enterprises and

Development, Kochi
o Director, Dr. Sait’s Institute of Management

Studies and Consultancy Services (SIMSACS)

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RESEARCH AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Actively engaged in economic research since 1993, with a view
to understanding the MSME scenario in India. The studies
involved analysis of contemporary data and the results were
made available as inputs for various reports, particularly the
Annual MSME Report by the Institute of Small Enterprises
and Development, ISED, Kochi.

The contents of research ranged from the MSME status in each
State and Union Territory vis-a-vis the global picture to sub
sectoral analysis of selected modern industry subsectors such as
Automobile parts Pharmaceuticals, Electronic Equipment etc.
which has an important relevance to the upcoming Start Ups.
Inputs were also provided for three regional MSME Reports
viz. Gujarat, Tamilnadu and Kerala.

Some of the exclusive Reports such as the UNIDO sponsored
study on Returning Migrants of Kerala were published by
ISED. A study on women in MSME is available free on the net
as an e-book.(http://e-book.wix.com/sheclimbstoconquer)

On the sideline were the R & D work done with respect to the
comparative Study of the major accounting softwares to guide

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the developers with Atlanta Software Company, Malappuram
over a period of two years in 2004-06. Yet another one was the
study report and development of a complete software on VB6
platform for the Cost Records of the Electronic Components
Factory of Kerala Electronic Corporation, KELTRON in
Kannur.
A project analysis tool, Project Analyst, was developed in 1990
with the then popular DBaseIII technology. later a more
specific MSME PROJECT ANALYST was developed on
VB6 platform. It is now being updated with a simpler design on
MS Excel.

13

CREATIONS

BOOKS ON ACCOUNTING AND
MANAGEMENT:

1. Text Book of Accountancy and Book
Keeping for College Students, 2
volumes, first ever work in Malayalam,
published by the Kerala State Institute of
Languages, (KSIL), Thiruvananthapuram.

2. Company Management, Malayalam, KSIL

3. Management Accounting, Malayalam
KSIL

4. Salesmanship and Front Office
Management, KSIL

5. Text Book of Book-keeping for
Tanzanian Students, with special
treatment of Ujaama Accounts, two
volumes

6. Monograph on Activity Based Cost
Accounting publishd by the Institute of
Cost and Manaement Accountants of
India, Kolkatta

14

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

Besides inputs provided for the Annual
India MSME Report, and Special Reports
on MSME in Gujarat,Tamilnadu and Kerala,
published by the Institute of Small
Enterprises and Development, ISED, Kochi

Rehabilitation of Returning Migrants
in Kerala, Sponsored by the UNIDO,
published by ISED

Renewable Energy, Case Study on
Banglads, India and Srilanka, ISED

Start-ups and Insurance,ISED

"She Climbs to Conquer -Woman in
the MSME", On-line, Weebly.com

FICTION

"Two Miraculous Drops", Personal
Experience, On-line, Weebly.com

15

"I'm Shena - A Synopsis of the
Autobioraphy of a Street Dog", the
atrocities faced by stray dogs, On-
line, Weebly.com

NON-FICTION

Teach Yourself Cutchi, Malayalam
English, Hindi, On-line Weebly.com

Qayado Cuthi Jo, on-line, Facebook

Cutchi Memon Digest, Multipart
treatise on Cutchi Memons in
Kerala.Facebook

The Forgotten Cutchi Memon Customs
of Bygone Years, Online :Wix.com &
anyflip.com

16

SOCIALCAUSES

The earliest involvement in social
service began at the age of 15 with
providing assistance to the Librarian
of the Allama Iqbal Memorial Library
and Reading Room to reorganize it
with technical books and dozens of
popular newspapers and periodicals,
among them the prestigious
Travancore (later Kerala) State
Government Gazette, which was
subscribed for by only one other
private library in the city of
Trivandrum. The library rose to
possess the second largest collection
of books and was given A-1 raking by
the Stat Library Association, the
Granthasala Sangham.

At the age of 18 took over as the
youngest President of the Young
Mens' Cutchi Muslim Association
(YMCMA) and constituted a new
governing body which until then was

17

all members past 60, to provide
youthful new direction. Held the
position for five years. One important
contribution to the clan was the
conceptualization and promotion of
group sacrificial slaughtering to
ensure better distribution of sacrificial
meat among those who deserved and
were entitled to receive it and to avoid
wastage and spoilage inherent in
individual offerings.

The next episode was enacted in
Tanzania in 1976 when a similar
overhaul was done to the Kerala
Kalamandalam, the Kerala Art Society
which had become dormant. Five years
as Secretary and President saw an
unprecedented rejuvenation of the
Kalamandalam with at least one
Cultural Programme every month
performed exclusively by the members
and their families.

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Services aimed at poorer sections of
the society began with joining the
Rotary movement in 1993. Major
contributions were in respect of
provision of ambulatory support to the
victims of Polio and amputees. Some
18000 people men, women and
children benefited from a series of
mega camps organized in Rotary
District 3210 in the southern most
peninsular area of Kerala and
Tamilnadu.

Another major area of involvement
was the advocacy work done in a few
districts of Uttar Pradesh that were the
worst affected owing to the
antagonistic attitudes of certain
communities arising out of ignorance,
misinformation and motivated
misguidance. Voluntary services
aimed at re-educating the revolting
communities, over a period of 3 years,
involving seven pulse polio cycles,
resulted in freeing the districts from

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polio absolutely. The efforts and the
positive outcome thereof were
recognized by the Rotary International
with the Polio-Plus Regional Award
(World Region 6) in 2002, in spite of
being not a Past District Governor.

Freemasonry was yet another area of
passion. The movement was served
with zeal as Assistant District Grand
Secretary for the United Grand Lodge
of England and District Grand
Secretary for all other District Grand
Lodges and Assemblages of English
jurisdiction working in South India,
which were recognized with
appropriate Grand Ranks.

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