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Hanif's Yorkshire roots
Wednesday November 19th 2008. Posted: 14:55
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Hanif Lalani is interviewed in The Yorkshire Post
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After just nine days in his new job as chief executive of BT Global Services, Hanif Lalani had already cut spending by £20 million.
In an interview with The Yorkshire Post, Hanif says he immediately axed sponsorship of a jazz festival, a sales conference in Las Vegas and excessive consultancy spend. And, with plans to drive down the number of suppliers from thousands to hundreds, he says: "We need to take a much more aggressive step. I will streamline the business so that it has the right cost base." After asking for suggestions, Hanif says he's had 550 e-mails from BT employees “keen to play their part in the turnaround”. “This is a company where people want to be led and make a difference,” he says. And he says that for phase two - once 90 days of cost cutting are done - he may bring more fundamental changes to BT Global Services. As well as covering the demands of Hanif’s new job - he currently snatches only three hours’ sleep a night - the profile also focuses on his life as a Yokshireman and avid Leeds United football supporter. Hanif moved to Yorkshire from Uganda in 1972. He and his family fled Idi Amin's regime when he was ten to arrive in the UK with £5 and a suitcase. “Random acts of kindness” on the Wetherby council estate where he was brought up helped him to “integrate very quickly”, he says. Although only the second Asian family to arrive in the neighbourhood, they were met with open arms. "It's a very warm, welcoming community, and the majority of people understood the difficulties you were going through,” he says. Hanif was also profiled in The Sunday Times at the weekend.
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Last updated:
14:56