rki.news
Interviewed by Haroon Rashid Qureshi
Haroon Rashid Qureshi: Mr. Farid, I have interviewed many personalities, but today I feel particularly fortunate and honoured to be interviewing my mentor, Mr. M. I. Farid, Founder of QatarTalks. Please tell our readers how your public speaking journey began and how it eventually led you to establish QatarTalks.
M. I. Farid: Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
I go down memory lane as to how I got involved in leadership roles. When I was in college, elections used to be quite an event. Some seniors from my school who were in the same college were involved in electioneering and they inducted me into their group.
We became experts in electioneering. Anybody who wanted to get elected had to come to our group for support. Without our support, nobody could get elected. This continued for the first three years.
In the fourth year, our group decided that every year we were doing this for others, so why not do it for ourselves? They focused on me and made me stand for the election against my wishes.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I lost by a few votes. But that jolted me and since then I felt that if I was to do something, I had to be successful in it.
This attitude carried over to my Chartered Accountancy course. I had a BSc background in non-commerce and doing CA was a challenge. But Alhamdulillah, with the blessings of my parents, their prayers and the blessings of the Almighty, I completed the four-year course in three years and received a remission of one year.
I joined A.F. FERGUSON & CO. A senior of mine was leaving for Qatar for employment. After reaching Qatar, he sent me a letter asking me to send my CV so that he could forward it to a manager who was looking for Chartered Accountants.
Alhamdulillah, those were the days of letter writing. After three months, I received an employment contract without any interview. It was again the wish of the Almighty and the blessings of my parents. That is how I came to Qatar in 1977.
Here, I found that I was quite passionate about cricket. Our company had a cricket team with which I used to get involved. I found that the tournament prize distribution was not properly organised.
I told the organisers that if they wished I could arrange it for them. They were only too happy and that is how I started speaking before an audience.
The point I am making is that unless you practise and talk before an audience, you will never improve. Alhamdulillah, I have continued since that day.
In all the cricket tournaments with which I was involved, I became the chief coordinator for arranging the prizes and prize distributions. Our sponsors were very happy with the way the events were conducted. So event management became a part of my life.
During the same period, we started Ideal Indian School as a community school and I became the General Secretary. I had to conduct meetings and maintain the minutes. This was another learning experience and I found that I had a flair for it.
This gradually developed into event management and fundraising for the school. We started the Ideal Indian School Fiesta as a fundraising event during the two days of Eid. Alhamdulillah, it became a much-awaited event for the multinational community in Qatar.
We ran it for a number of years and I am proud to say that our maximum collection in any year was around half a million riyals. That was a significant amount for improving the facilities of the school.
After this, I gradually became involved in social service with the Indian community. From 2003 to 2005, I was the President of the Indian Cultural Center, the apex body under the Indian Embassy.
The Indian Ambassador at that time, Mr. Ranjan Mathai, asked me to open a Toastmasters club for the Indian Cultural Center. I did so as ICC1 in 2003. There was no looking back as far as communication was concerned.
In 2004, my daughter and I were visiting a district conference in Kuwait. My daughter asked why we could not have a similar contest in Doha for residents of Doha. Toastmasters allows only its paid members to participate in its contests.
I liked the idea and we came back and started it. We changed the rules to suit our requirements and Alhamdulillah, it became a talking point among residents of Qatar.
Initially, we organised it only for adults above 18. After about four years, we opened it up for students between the ages of 12 and 18.
The students were very eager to compete because competition brings out the best in a person. When you compete, you are not only competing with others but also with yourself and improving yourself.
We received so many entries that we had to restrict participation. Each school could send two participants in each of the two categories, making four participants per school.
However, this year our Chief Coordinator, Mr. Ameerudeen, has introduced a novel idea by digitising the whole process. Any number of students can directly enrol through our website.
There will be three phases. The first is the pre-qualifier. For the Inspirational category, we provide the topic, while for Tall Tales the youth choose their own topic.
The video has to be between two and three minutes. Our multinational and international judges will evaluate the entries and select the top 20 from each category for the semi-final.
The semi-final will again be evaluated through video presentations. The time limit will increase to three to five minutes and contestants can continue with the same subject or change it.
Once registered, contestants can continue improving and uploading their videos until the closing date. The final video submitted before the closing date will be considered for evaluation.
We hope this process will allow more people to participate. Alhamdulillah, QatarTalks 2026 is going to be a grand event.
I must appreciate the hard work of our Executive Committee, whose members work on an honorary basis. We have various subcommittees and I would also like to acknowledge the time and effort of our multinational and international judges.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge our ever-willing sponsors because without their support we cannot run an event of this magnitude.
Everybody knows QatarTalks. Besides the exquisite trophies crafted and brought from India, the winners receive gold, silver and bronze trophies, along with cash awards and a variety of gifts.
Gifts are also available for attendees who come to watch the finale at the Radisson Blu, which this year will be held on Friday, November 13.
I sincerely thank everyone for their support and look forward to continued cooperation from all.
Haroon Rashid Qureshi: Mr. Farid, while QatarTalks 2026 is our main subject today, you have also made important contributions to education in Qatar. Please tell our readers about your journey from Ideal Indian School to Delhi Public School and higher education.
M. I. Farid: After successfully running Ideal Indian School for 16 years, we realised that there was a requirement for a branded school. Parents were willing to pay higher fees but wanted better education, infrastructure and facilities.
Accordingly, the Delhi Public School Society was approached and they were happy to collaborate with us. In the year 2000, we opened Delhi Public School in Qatar. I am happy to say that I have been a Past President of this school.
Setting up a new school is definitely a difficult task, but once you have a good team, you can achieve the impossible.
After about 15 years, we opened DPS Monarch International School and now DPS Millennium School is due to open next year. So we have really gone into education in a big way.
Having established schools, we found that there was also a requirement for an Indian university. Getting permission for an Indian university was very difficult. Fortunately, with the proper contacts, we managed to get permission for Savitribai Phule Pune University and brought it to Qatar three years ago.
At present, more than 500 students are receiving quality university education at very affordable costs compared with European and American universities, which naturally charge much higher fees.
The advantage of having the university here is that parents have their grown-up children close to them while they receive quality education.
We have also tied up with a number of companies to provide our graduates with internships after completing their degrees. This gives them valuable experience and better opportunities for employment.
We have also introduced a Master of Business Administration programme at Pune University. So we are doing our best.
The point I am making is that one should never sit and simply be happy with what one has done. One should always be on the lookout for improvement and provide better facilities for the multinational community with whom we live here.
Editor’s Note
Mr. Farid’s journey is truly inspiring. From his student days in India to his early days in Qatar and later to QatarTalks, he has always believed in learning, speaking and improving.
Today, he is not only a public speaker and the Founder of QatarTalks but also a mentor to many people like me. I believe that being a mentor to many is one of his greatest achievements.
As the famous Chinese saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Interviewed by Haroon Rashid Qureshi
Editor-in-Chief, Rahbar Kisan International
