IPN Spotlight: Ozod Davlatshoev (Director General at Tcell Tajikistan)
Ozod Davlatshoev currently serves as Global Executive Director for Accelerated Prosperity an AKDN initiative and Director General at Tcell a company recently (fully) acquired by AKFED. Enterprise Growth Accelerator (EGA) branded as Accelerated Prosperity functions in Central and South Asia- as a ‘vehicle’ to catalyze grass-root economic development, support early growth startups for small and growing enterprises to inspire entrepreneurial culture and job creation for economic opportunities.
For over two decades, Ozod has been actively engaged with Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) in Dushanbe and Central Asia region. He was responsible in leading implementation of the integrated energy project Pamir Power Project (Pamir Energy), a first Public-Private Partnership for power utility that has become an international benchmark for economic development providing not only for the mountainous regions of Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan but neighboring towns and villages of Afghanistan with power sustainability. Pamir Energy has been used as a profile by World Bank and by Harvard University as a case study.
As an investment analyst, Ozod was also part of the project team implementing the first GSM Mobile operator in Tajikistan (Tcell) and part of business development team for other high profile AKFED and AKDN projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. He is the founder of Shoh-sotoon LLC – manufacturer of energy efficient construction materials and Co-founder of Vantage Point Partners – a real estate development company.
Ozod has an astute cultural knowledge in corporate social responsibility and governance in Eurasian and Middle East region. He presently serves on the Board of Central Eurasian Alliance and American Chamber of Commerce in Tajikistan, Board of American-Chamber in Tajikistan, Alumni of Central Asia, Mongolia, Caucasus and Afghanistan (CAMCA) fellowship. Setting exemplary precedence for local Tajik, he was the first Tajik to be appointed to serve as Honorary Consul of Sweden to Tajikistan at the age of 35.
He is an affluent linguist in several languages including Tajik, English, Persian/Dari, and Russian with a good command of Arabic. Initially, Ozod’s academic pursuit began with a diploma in Arts, Designs, and Animation; diverged into BSc in Middle Eastern Studies and Journalism followed by BSc in Economics and Accounting. Ozod continued his academic studies and graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in strategic planning and strategic risk management from Edinburgh Business School of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. His hobbies include oil painting, digital arts, the creation of music, traveling and photography, reading, horses, and golf.
What skills have helped you in your career?
Believe it or not – my academic career has assisted me the most in various executive leadership roles. It has enabled me to practically apply strategic plans and business strategy well beyond conventional thinking, supporting me to think and perceive solutions that are unique to the organizations I serve. Sufi influence has shaped my skills for patience and my pragmatic thinking. I actively explore and learn from other cultures – practices involving inner contemplation and reflection.
Being a conscientious leader, the application of diverse cultures has enabled me to remain calm and passionate yet rational in stressful situations. The combination of traveling and my passion for arts and photography, has helped me to understand God’s creation in a context beyond time and conventional measures. Ozod said, “To truly appreciate God’s mercy, love, and magnificence, one has to learn the science behind life.”
What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
I prefer to assess my risks by a method of least regret. Given that the probability of success or failure beyond comprehensible uncertainty has equal weighting. One can only bet on the fact that every experience leaves you with something positive, be it a new friend, travel to a new place, new business venture or even any notion of ‘failure’ for an opportunity to learn and comprehend.
By the same token, what didn’t work equally makes you richer and smarter! As age goes by, it will have left you with thoughts and regrets of not giving a chance to an experience that would have made you richer, happier or wiser – hence the ‘theory” of least regret. This is a high but calculated risk approach albeit probably most fulfilling.
What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
I actively participate in business conferences, fellowships, summits and short trainings. I am also occasionally invited as guest speaker. I was the guest speaker at IDOimpact Summit 2017, an initiative by United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This platform provided collaborations between all key stakeholders- governments, business venture capitalist, and potential investors. By attending Summits, I can intellectually expand my horizon of strategic examination for novel solutions. Books are probably the best source of wisdom and learning, reflection, and affirmation.
When you gain new knowledge, you continue to appreciate how great God’s greatest creation – Life is, and how merciful and loving He is to have granted this to Humanity. The most significant wisdom comes from nature, the laws of Nature – the only fair and straightforward truth. When one applies simple rules of Nature to the dynamics of human behavior, most if not all things are predictable and calculable. So, I spend a lot of time learning and observing Nature and its laws.
What is next for you in your career?
Personally, I am genuinely content in my life – I look forward to all my personal and professional projects and find it a privilege to work for AKDN. I like to get engaged in various activities across a number of sectors as there is always a chance to learn something new, but my passion is with Clean Energy, IT and Telecom sectors where I would like to excel most.
My interest will remain to serve the purpose of humanity and impact lives for a better standard of living. I share my search for truth like Nasir Khusraw, the famous poet, philosopher, and theologian. I paraphrase a translation from one of his quotes “I am a very light traveler in this short travel- Safarnama.”
What advice would you offer to others?
Every individual can contribute to the cause of serving humanity in his/her unique way. The key is to identify and excel at what you are best as early as possible and use that to service humanity – what I call is Life with a Purpose – a rewarding and Satisfying Life. It applies to business equally – be unique at what you are and solve the problems of your customers and make their life easier, better and more satisfying with your product or services – is what I call a Business with Purpose.
My inspiration for excelling/specializing comes from the honey bee, which is meant and knows precisely how to extract nectar from the flower and deliver it as honey. If you were to ask honey bee to do something else that it is not good at, it will get depressed and die soon.
Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Assist Ismaili Entrepreneurship in local regions for any business or consulting endeavors
• Assist in Understanding local practices, socio-political dynamics and business and investment opportunities
• Provide risk mapping for a private project financing venture
Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Ozod Davlatshoev
Region:
Global- Tajikistan
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