Salim A. Gaffar Akbani

Memon who've served in *Indian Air Force* from Bangalore Karnataka India.

Salim A. Gaffar Akbani, is an ex-defence personnel (Indian Air Force Commissioned Officer) and a seasoned IT professional with close to 3 decades of overall professional work experience.

Salim A. Gaffar Akbani was born in a small village Lakhni, Maharashtra state in a reputed Memon family. His father, Mr. A Gaffar Akbani is a former president of Lakhni Memon Jamat and a highly respected gentleman in the society. He is one of the 5 siblings in his family of 4 brothers and 1 sister.

He did his schooling in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh where he studied until his 10th grade. He lived there with his uncles, aunts and cousins in pursuit of quality education. He returned to Lakhni and completed his XI and XII from Bhandara, a district place near Lakhni. He then went on to complete his Bachelor's degree in Computer engineering (B.E) in 1992 from Shegaon, Maharashtra.

While he was in his 2nd year of Engineering, he appeared for the Air Force Selection Board (AFSB) and was selected for the Indian Air Force. He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a ground duty technical officer in the Aeronautical Engineering (AEL) branch. He had the honour and privilege of serving the IAF as a Short Service Commissioned (SSC) Officer for 6 years (1992-98).

After 11 months of initial training in Bangalore, he was posted to Kharagpur(1993-96). His last posting in IAF was in Ahmedabad(1996-98). He was Officer-in-Charge of Radars, leading a team of airmen. After completing his 6 years tenure of service with the IAF, he quit defence services to explore a career in Information Technology (IT). The last rank he wore when he left IAF was that of Flight Lieutenant.

In 1998, he started a new chapter in his IT career by joining CMC Limited (a Govt of India enterprise at that time) in Ahmedabad. He worked on a Software implementation project for ONGC for 2 years.

He moved to Bangalore in December 2000 to join a US based Software product company called Oracle Inc. Oracle is a world leader in Database products. He started his Oracle career as a frontline technical support engineer supporting Database products. After 3 years, he moved into the management career path taking up several challenging positions and leading large teams of over 125 employees. The last position he held in Oracle was that of Director, Global Customer Support. After working for 18 years in Oracle, he has now moved to Atlassian (2019), another Software product development company as Head of Priority Support, EMEA region. As part of this new role, he is responsible to build a new support team in Bangalore to support Atlassian customers.

He loves to play table tennis, lawn tennis, cricket and badminton. He tries to maintain a short fitness routine like a daily brisk walk to help him stay fit.

Mr. Salim Akbani gives the credit of his success to the far sight and the duas of his parents, support of his brothers/sister and most importantly that of his uncles, aunts and cousins in Vizianagaram. His elder brothers taking care of the family business enabled him to focus on his education. While he was studying in Shegaon, he got huge support from Janab A Majeed Bhattiwala and family. His wife and daughters have been his pillar of strength throughout as he made progress in his corporate career and life.

He devotes whatever time he can to help with some social activities like guiding the young students and college fresh graduates start their new career. He is a member of the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) Bangalore chapter. He is also an executive member of the Halai Memon Jamat, Bangalore.

He strongly believes education is the need of the hour. Education helps youngsters open their minds and see diverse perspectives. Sadly, there is a lack of focus on education in the Memon community even in this modern age. It does not mean that education should always lead to people taking up jobs. Education benefits and is even mandatory for someone to be a successful entrepreneur. It also helps us be better parents, mutually respecting neighbours and responsible citizens. We must encourage our children to dream - dream big and then support them pursue their dreams. It is a collective responsibility we all carry as parents and a society (Jamat).

KYC (Know Your Community), is a series of stories on various Memon Individuals & Organizations established in India & abroad highlighting their contributions for welfare & upliftment of society & Memon community across the Globe.