“Success is a state of mind……”
He set rolling “Empower” – a premier HRD Institute in Hyderabad, servicing Corporates, MNCs, engineering colleges – envisioned to empower the human-mind discover their true-hidden potential. Concurring with the medical findings that humans barely use 5% of their brain’s capacity till their death, the CEO of ‘Empower’ Mr Syed Noor Muhammad Shakir seems the right person around to invigorate us tap our dormant mental capacities and capabilities.
His transcription of Holy Qur’an into English Braille crowns his array of achievements. He has developed amazing memory skills and can recall all the 600 names with respective contact numbers saved in his mobile phone.
His achievements have brought him laurels nationally and internationally. He is in the Limca Book of Records for the transcription of Holy Qur’an in Braille. These achievements which are not easily surmountable even for an able person stand out conspicuously in the case of Mr. Shakir who is visually-challenged. He was treated for glaucoma at the age of five to no avail. Today at 31, he is way ahead and inspiring us how to live awakened and enlightened to the needs of others putting in his own words ‘what I can do for my fellow-beings..?’
Incidentally Shakir is the first visually-challenged MBA from the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. He also holds a masters in English literature.
Mr. Shakir unfolds his plans of placing Empower on the global map by March 2011. He visualizes his company’s growth on a plank that encompasses the social and economic issues plaguing the society. In a nutshell he spells out what Empower’s growth and development would mean to the society, viz., creation of employment; transforming the thinking-structure into a preemptively positive one; sharing the firm’s revenue with needy-cum-deserving.
It’s absolutely fascinating about his 200-plus workshops that reverberate the need to inculcate in one’s self, skills to scour the positives out of the negative situations as well as to mould the mind to accept problems as challenges. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and the four metro cities are among the prominent places he conducted the workshops/seminars in. The participants ranged from managers, to technical and administrative staff, at Mitsubishi, ICICI-Prudential, Care Hospitals, Maxivisiion, City Cardiac, Ascendas(L&T), Bajaj, Netlife, LIC, Vilan, Keertilal Jewellers to name a few. Students of various engineering, management, post-graduate and graduate educational institutions constitute yet another sector who attend his seminars, where he visits on invitations.
Regarding his own memory skills he found in himself the budding and enabled it flower. Memory skills he encourages can be developed by any individual. He teaches the techniques towards memory development in his seminars as a key ingredient for success.
He shares further that lives of several personalities left a mark on this thought. The one he would like to make a mention of is Antony Robbins, Personal Development Trainer, who traveled from being a restaurant-waiter to becoming an island-owner. The generosity and philanthropy in Robbins also have influenced him he acknowledges.
Its awesome when he is breathlessly busy conducting personality development classes foraying into minds to set a trend to draw the true meaning of life viz, to live for others than for the insatiable self.
Computer savvy, Shakir browses internet and reads emails with the aid of a ‘Talking Computer’. An avid reader, Shakir considers ‘talking computer’ as a best invention. It disassociates him from crutches of having others read for him given their own time and will constraints. This software has aided him in reading more than a 100 hundred books on personality development. His latest being ‘Awaken the giant within’ by Anthony Robbins. He laments though that the software can read out only English language. Hence, loses independence reading vernacular languages, which include his mother-tongue urdu, also telugu and hindi.
His moments of air also include having a tete-a-tete with ex-prez. APJ Abdul Kalam.(picture enclosed)(caption: Shakir seen with ex-prez. APJ Abdul Kalam in the Hyderabad Airport lounge on February 1, 2007)
Shakir’s parents have been a rock as also his three siblings. He is a native of Tirupati, a southern Temple City of the state of Andhra Pradesh. He has a single copy of Holy Qur’an in Braille done manually by him with stylus. He is in the process of acquiring a Braille computer printer to service the requests and orders to receive in Braille the Holy Qur’an or academic material.
Well, what could have inspired Shakir to undertake the stupendous task of transcribing the English translation of holy qur’an page-to-page with introduction, commemntary, references(published by King Fahad, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). The 7th standard student of Shakir heard about Mrs Narayanamma transcribing the Bhagava Gita into Braille. His Dad Mr.Syed Ismail ignited the spark in him to try transcribing holy qur’an into Braille. Thus churned out the 4778 paged 60 volume holy qur’an in Braille over a span of 4 years 3 months 6 days. The project commenced when Shakir was in the 12th standard. Shakir reminiscences that the outcome of the project was subject to his own time-availability amidst his academics, as well as time and interest of those who read out to him. Those who read out to him included hindus, Christians and muslims.
Shakir was a keen and enthusiastic participant in elocutions, quiz, debates at his school and college levels. These practices he says contributed to development of oratory skills.
‘Success’ he underscores ‘is a state of mind’ and sets apart the physical challenges as those conquerable with undaunting will-power. He confides that he being taken as role-model by several does lend him a contended feeling. Yet, he sums it all up by attributing his ‘success’ to the mercy and blessings of Almighty Allah when he feels that ‘But for Him I would have been nowhere.’
For more details log on to www.mdshakir.in