The federal government on Wednesday appointed eight members of the private sector to the board of directors of Sarmaya-i-Pakistan Limited (SPL), a holding company that will administer state-owned enterprises under an ambitious program to turn these enterprises around.

The people appointed to the board include:

Kamran Y. Mirza

Chairman of the government's Planning Commission, Chairman for Unilever Pakistan Foods and Chairman for Philip Morris (Pakistan). He is also also the Chairman of Education Fund for Sindh and a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

Musharaf Hai

Managing director of L'Oreal (Pakistan) and a former chairperson of Unilever Pakistan. She is the only woman and only the second Pakistani to lead the Unilever operations in the country.

Zubyr Soomro

Career banker and former chairman of Karachi Stock Exchange, former chairman & president of United Bank Ltd, former chairman of Pakistan Banks' Association, former chairman of Pakistan Banks' Association and former president of American Business Council.

Nadeem Babar

CEO of Orient Power Company and former head of Saba Power Company, Phoenix Energy Systems and Oursun Solar Power Limited.

Ehsan Malik

Chief Executive of Lever Chemical, Lever Associated Pakistan Trust, Unilever Birds Eye Foods Pakistan and Sadiq Limited. He is also the CEO of Pakistan Business Council.

Atif Aslam Bajwa

President of Abu Dhabi Group, former president and CEO of Bank Alfalah Limited.

Badar Badat

Waqar A. Malik

With the addition of these eight new members, the SPL board of directors now has a total of eleven members. The other three members include:

• Secretary Finance Division Arif Ahmed Khan

• Secretary Power Division Irfan Ali

• Secretary Industries and Production Azher All Choudhry

According to Minister of Finance Asad Umar, there will be five areas the board has been tasked to look after.

"They are power, oil and gas, manufacturing, financial services and logistics, and each 'vertical' will be responsible for developing the guidance and strategic direction of the entities under its control," the finance minister earlier told Dawn.

"Functional guidance as well as business guidance will come from the verticals. Decisions such as what to keep, what to shut down, hiring and firing decisions in individual companies will remain with their respective boards. Guidance on layoffs can come from the verticals but the power to do so will be with the board.”

Once the SPL is made functional, and enterprises begin to be clubbed under it, advice and guidance will come from the company verticals instead of the ministries.