Jashanmal Group

ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND FOUNDING STORY

Rao Sahib Jashanmal was born in Karachi, now in southern Pakistan, in 1895.^[7] At the time, Karachi was part of Britain’s Indian colony.^[8] After he finished school, he worked as a postmaster general in his hometown.^[9] After the Ottoman Empire fell following World War I, Britain took control of Iraq in 1917. Rao Sahib saw the British presence in Iraq as a potential business opportunity and anticipated political instability as India moved closer to gaining independence from the British Empire. In 1919, he headed to Basra, Iraq. Drawing on the connections he had established as a postmaster in India, together with his brother, he decided to open a retail store in the Al-Ashar neighborhood, called the Jashanmal Brothers, that stocked general consumer household items, clothing, stationery, books, and newspapers.^[10] Realizing that the British administrators in the Gulf would want the latest news from Europe, and seeing how the growth in sea travel was driving the demand for newspapers, magazines, and books among British servicemen, expatriates, and voyagers, Rao Sahib Jashanmal launched an import and distribution operation.^[11] With his business acumen and ability to perceive market needs, as well as his ability to integrate with the local culture, he thrived in his new home. Despite the success of their business, however, Rao Sahib’s brother left to become a police officer in 1922.^[12]

Around the age of 20, he married Rukhmani (Lily) Vaswani. Their first child, Naraindas Jashanmal, was born a year later, and their second son, Atma Jashanmal was born seven years later.^[13]

Growth Phase

The early 1930s marked the beginning of oil discovery in Kuwait and with it, British interest in the country. Driven by entrepreneurial ambition, Rao Sahib Jashanmal opened a department store in Kuwait in 1934, to serve British and American expat families in the nascent oil industry there. As the business grew rapidly and Rao’s sons — Naraindas, Atma, Hiro, and later Mohan — became integral to the family business, the company changed its name to Jashanmal and Sons. In 1935, Rao went to Bahrain to explore the launch of another branch, delegating the leadership of the operations in Kuwait to his eldest son, Naraindas, who had already been involved in the family business for three years.^[14]

Following the death of Rao’s wife, Rukhmani (Lily) Vaswani, in 1942, and the end of World War II, Rao decided to retire and move back to India to take care of his youngest children.^[15] In 1946, the family decided that Atma Jashanmal, who had recently graduated from college, would move to Bahrain to join the company’s operations there.^[16] His sons Naraindas and Atma were put in charge of the Iraq, Kuwait, and Bahrain operations, while Rao settled in western India. The presence of a family member in each country helped to consolidate the group’s brand and strengthen its business operations.^[17]

During the early 1950s, the Jashanmals restructured their portfolio and set up new divisions to provide an extended range of consumer goods and continue its steady growth. In 1953, Naraindas Jashanmal hired a new salesman for the family’s business in Kuwait — Gangu Batra, a young professional from Mumbai who would go on to play a major role in the company.^[18] In the same year, His Highness Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum from Dubai visited Bahrain’s marketplace. Impressed by the Jashanmal store there, he invited the brothers to open a store in Dubai. The brothers decided to seize the opportunity, delegating the leadership of this initiative to Hiro Jashanmal.^[19] The opening of the Dubai store in 1956 was followed eight years later by the establishment of another branch in Abu Dhabi, on what is now the Corniche, and was under the leadership of Mohan Jashanmal.^[20] Despite the growth in other parts of the Gulf, conducting business in and importing Western goods to Iraq became more difficult toward the end of the 1950s. After Iraq’s Hashemite monarchy was overthrown, the country fell victim to political instability and economic recession^[21], forcing the Jashanmal brothers to make a difficult decision and close their long-operating stores in Basra.^[22]In 1969, Rao Sahib Jashanmal passed away, and was succeeded by his sons, taking on different business operations.^[23]

In 1970, Bharat Jashanmal, son of Atma Jashanmal, joined the business in Bahrain after studying at Babson College in the United States. Two years later, in 1972, Naraindas Jashanmal passed away after leading the family business for many decades, and was succeeded by his son, Tony Jashanmal.^[24] Following the unification of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, the Jashanmal Group ventured into new business opportunities. When international oil prices soared in the 1970s, development in the Gulf countries assumed a faster pace. As both the population as a whole and the share of those with disposable incomes grew, new shops opened at an unprecedented rate. To capitalize on these developments, the Jashanmal business entered the wholesale and distribution business for many of the products that the business had previously handled only retailing. This strategy brought a surge in trade as the brands they now distributed were already popular among shoppers. The Jashanmals also entered the courier service business in partnership with the Japanese company Overseas Courier Services (OCS), accelerating the delivery of documents and products.^[25]In 1977 a new company structure was implemented, integrating the different operational units into a unified group. The Jashanmal Group was formally incorporated in 1980 with Gangu Batra as CEO, bringing the different aspects of the operation under one roof.^[26] In 1987, Shuja Jashanmal, the grandson of Rao Jashanmal and the son of Hiro Jashanmal, joined the family business in Dubai, after graduating from USC, California, initially starting as a salesman, before becoming the cosmetics brand manager.^[27]

The business experienced steady growth over the years. In 1999, Jashanmal acquired Carlton Cards Gulf, the regional franchisee of American Greetings Corp, the world’s largest greeting card company. In 2008, the company formed a joint venture with Burberry Group to establish Burberry Middle East LLC.^[28]

Today

Today, the Jashanmal Group operates as a retail and wholesale distribution business, with operations spanning over 150 stores across the Gulf region.^[29] The headquarters are located in Dubai, with offices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and India, employing over 5,000 people.^[30] The business is led by CEO Khaled Soliman and Group President Tony Jashanmal.^[31] While a professional management team runs day-to-day operations, the company is overseen by the third and fourth generations of the Jashanmal family.^[32]