Jashanmal Group

ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND FOUNDING STORY

Rao Sahib Jashanmal was born in Karachi, now in southern Pakistan, in 1895.^[5] After he finished school, he worked as a postmaster general in his hometown.^[6] To escape India’s political and economic instability and take advantage of the entrepreneurial opportunities made possible by the British presence in Iraq, he headed to Basra in 1919.^[7] Together with his brother, he opened a retail store in the Al-Ashar neighborhood that stocked general consumer household items, clothing, stationery, books, and newspapers.^[8] 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 responded by launching an import and distribution operation.^[9] 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.^[10]

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 to serve British and American expat families in the nascent oil industry there. He then entered the market in Bahrain, a new, high-potential arena with substantial trade opportunities.^[11] As the business grew rapidly, Rao Sahib’s sons — Naraindas, Atma, Hiro, and later Mohan — joined what was now dubbed Jashanmal and Sons and expanded it into other parts of the Gulf region. The family decided that Atma Jashanmal would move to Bahrain to join the company’s operations there in 1946.^[12] The presence of a family member in each country helped to consolidate the group’s brand and strengthen its business operations.^[13]

Due to the death of his wife, Rao Sahib moved back to India to take care of his youngest children.^[14] 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.^[15] 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. Hiro Jashanmal was delegated to run the new retail operation in Dubai, launched at the invitation of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. When Sheikh Rashid questioned their choice of Deira as the location for their new store, Hiro Jashanmal explained that he envisioned Deira developing into a nexus for the petroleum companies’ employees because of its proximity to the airport in Sharjah.^[16] 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.^[17]

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^[18], forcing the Jashanmal brothers to make a difficult decision and close their two long-operating stores in Basra^[19] — the original one in Al-Ashar and a second in Al-Ma’aqal.^[20]

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 firm entered the wholesale and distribution business for many of the products that the business had previously handled only at the retail level. 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 crucial documents and products.^[21]

In 1970, Bharat Jashanmal, son of Atma Jashanmal, joined the business in Bahrain after studying at Babson College in the United States. Naraindas Jashanmal passed away two years later after leading the family business for many decades. Following his father’s death, Nairandas’s son Tony Jashanmal joined the company despite the fact that he had never planned to participate in the family business.^[22] 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.^[23]

TODAY

The Jashanmal Group’s broad geographical footprint has long been one of the company’s greatest strengths. Its multinational focus along with its strategy of diversification has helped the Jashanmal Group withstand waves of political instability in the region. In 2019, the family business celebrated 100 years of operations.^[24] While a professional management team runs day-to-day operations, the company is overseen by the third and fourth generations of the Jashanmal family.^[25]