The man steering Pakistan's economy isn't afraid to take risks

One of Umar's first steps since taking office was to set up advisory councils reporting directly to the prime minister where firms and economists can provide their input on policies

Asad Umar’s expertise in hazardous materials should come in handy for his new job: managing Pakistan’s economy.

When the nation’s new finance minister was told two decades ago he couldn’t import chemicals through a Karachi port because of its storage terminal’s weak safety standards, he just went and built a new unit himself. Back then, he was a senior official at Engro Corp., where he eventually worked his way up the ranks to chief executive officer and turned the company from largely a fertilizer maker into one of the nation’s biggest conglomerates.

Shamsuddin Shaikh, who heads up Engro’s energy arm and worked