Simply Abu Dhabi III

65 SIMPLY ABU DHABI MUKESH JAGTIANI CHAIRMAN, LANDMARK GROUP Affectionately known as ‘Micky’, Mukesh Jagtiani is a Dubai-based billionaire entrepreneur and self-made success story. He experienced a lot of struggle and hardship in his early days. At the age of 21, Micky lost his brother to leukemia. Two years later both his parents passed away as well. Initially tempted to return to his native India and devote his life to charity, he decided to invest his $6,000 inheritance and opened his first store – “Babyshop” in Bahrain. From these humble beginnings, billionaire ‘Micky’ is now head of the Landmark Group conglomerate and one of the most influential figures in the Middle East retail industry. Launched in 1973, it operates over 1000 outlets in fifteen countries and has a turnover of over US $3.8bn a year. This success has been born from Mr Jagtiani’s sheer hard work, determination and an understanding of the market he was catering for. At a time when an increasing demographic of South Asian expatriates were arriving with their families to the oil booming Gulf, looking for work, Mr Jagtiani saw an opportunity. He stocked his store with clothes, toys, prams and furniture to appeal to the middle class parents. With no money to spare to hire staff, he grafted himself to stock the shelves, run the till and even sweep the floor. And the hard work certainly paid off. Today, the Landmark Group sells clothes, furniture, shoes, homewares, snacks & confectionery, operates restaurants, entertainment centres, wellness clubs and hotels through a diverse portfolio of over 20 brands created in-house, and over 30 international franchise brands, across the GCC, Jordan, India, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Pakistan. Today, Micky continues to trust his instincts when it comes to business decisions. He also recognises his own limitations and by his admission he is not particularly financially savvy, so he employs a team of advisers and accountants to analyse his retail outlets and suggest ways to improve them. For Micky, research is an integral part of his business decisions, and he ensures that every choice is the result of a comprehensive research study. Despite his success, Mr Jagtiani hasn’t forgotten his roots he is strongly committed to charity, his main charitable cause being LIFE - Landmark International Foundation for Empowerment. LIFE focuses on rehabilitating the less fortunate through various programmes and initiatives such as delivering non-formal education in rural areas, setting up health centres in urban slums as well as training centres for the underprivileged youth and imparting life skills training. In 2009, the Landmark Group adopted diabetes awareness as part of its long term CSR initiative. A campaign that aims to increase awareness amongst people regarding the condition, Beat Diabetes was kicked off in the UAE and has extended into five new countries in 2010, namely Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and India. Walkathons were held across all 6 countries, where over 25,000 people walked with the Group for the cause and free blood glucose tests were conducted for over 30,000 people. In 2011, the campaign will be launched to 4 new countries - KSA, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. Micky’s major achievements and continued hard work are reflected in the fact that he won the Retail Personality of the Year at the third Annual Retail Middle East 2007 Awards, entered the Forbes list of billionaires in 2008, and is the 16th richest Indian – not bad for the 17 year old who dropped out of accountancy school. A committed family man with three children, this powerful entrepreneur is certainly testament to the power of hard work and sheer determination paying off. For more information please visit www.landmarkgroupme.com

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