Yusuffali MA: From mere helper to owner of the $6B LuLu empire

synopsis

When Yusuffali MA arrived in the UAE in 1973 to help his uncle in his modest retail business, the 18 year old from Thrissur in Kerala was just another face among the countless Malayalees seeking a fortune in the desert. Four decades on, Forbes magazine calls him the “Middle East retail king” and his name is synonymous with the global Malayalee entrepreneur.

Yusuffali is considered to be the world’s richest Malayalee, having a net worth of close to $4 billion. His LuLu Group generated over $6 billion in revenue in 2016. The LuLu Group owns 132 retail stores, mostly malls and hypermarkets, in 21 countries in the world. The group operates in the GCC, India, the U.S. and some countries in Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe. While the group began operations in and continues to be focused on retail, it has expanded to numerous sectors such as imports and exports, trading, information technology, tourism and education.

Yusuffali still remembers his early days in the UAE. Before he set off for the UAE, Yusuffali had a very rosy perception of life in that country, which came crashing down immediately. The Abu Dhabi of 1973 was very different from the city it has become now: there were only two paved roads then and electricity supply was erratic.

Those who are personally acquainted with Yusuffali vouch for his humility and soft-spoken ways. Surprisingly, his business strategy has involved extensive risk-taking. He opened the first LuLu outlet in Abu Dhabi 1990 at a time of great turmoil — expatriate businessmen were fleeing the region as the Kuwait War was imminent. Yusuffali told Outlook Business in 2015, “I’ve always found swimming against the tide more rewarding. Instead of packing my bags and running, I decided to face the challenge.”

While the economic climate improved, affirming Yusuffali’s confidence, the UAE’s rulers were also impressed by his commitment and readily made concessions. His ability to network with governments has stood Yusuffali in good stead, particularly as he has sought to navigate the treacherous waters of Kerala politics to realise investment plans in his home state.

His first major project in Kerala was the Lulu International Convention Center in Thrissur in 2006. The group in 2013 opened the LuLu International Shopping Mall in Kochi, touted as the largest mall in Asia. It has more hospitality and IT projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. In July 2016, Yusuffali voiced LuLu’s support for PM Narendra Modi’s economic plans by announcing projects worth more than ₹7,000 crore that will be invested in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana.

In recent years, LuLu has turned its focus toward the hospitality sector. In 2015, Yusuffali made headlines when LuLu purchased the iconic Scotland Yard building in London, made immortal in Sherlock Holmes’ stories. The building is being converted to a luxury hotel called the Great Scotland Yard Hotel; it is being renovated currently and is slated to open in the third quarter of this year.

Yusuffali has placed a premium on employee satisfaction in his businesses. The LuLu Group is reputed to have a very low employee turnover. Noting that most of LuLu’s earliest senior executives remain with the company, Yusuffali claims that he has empowered them to make decisions.

Nearly half of LuLu’s total workforce of 40,000 is from Kerala, turning him into an icon in the state. He has given jobs to several people from his village, including people from fishing communities. Yusuffali told the Times of India that one of the perks of this has been that he gets free fish from the families of these employees.

Even though his rise has been meteoric, Yusuffali remains a nostalgic person. Recalling the difficult early days in the UAE, he told Outlook Business, “ACs were unheard of. We used to sleep on the terrace after pouring buckets of water around to make the floor cooler. Still those are the days I cherish the most.”