Short-listing Pakistan's most influential business magnates or Groups has never been an easy task because there are the people who have been very powerful in nearly every regime that has held this country's reins since the last 60 years and then we have had those seasonal species that maneuvered their voice to be heard better than most within the power corridors, but later vanished into the oblivion for one reason or the other. We have selected only those tycoons who have made their presence felt for a better part of country's history, have earned consistently, have been setting up units at regular intervals or have been legends in stocks, currency or real estate business.
1 - Mian Muhammad Mansha Yaha Pakistan
Ranking: 1 Worth: £1.25b ($2.5billion) Industry: Businessman
Mansha has around 40 companies on board. Mansha, who owns the Muslim Commercial Bank is also setting up a $ 17m paper mill. He is one of the richest Pakistanis around. Nishat Group was country's 15th richest family in 1970, 6th in 1990 and Number 1 in 1997. Mansha is on the board of nearly 50 companies. He is deemed to have made investments in many bourses, currency and metal exchanges both within and outside Pakistan . He could have bought the United Bank too, but then who doesn't have adversaries. Nishat Group comprises of textiles, cement, leasing, insurance and management companies. If Mansha was bitten by Bhutto's nationalization stint of 1970, his friends think he was compensated by Nawaz Sharif's denationalization programme to a very good effect. There is no stopping Mansha and he is still on the move.
Nishat group assets are $4.4Billion. He is sometimes even regarded as the richest Pakistani around by his friends claiming he does not "show it off".
2 - Asif Ali Zardari Pakistan
Ranking: 2 Worth: £900m ($1.8billion) Industry: Politics
Asif Zardari dubbed "Mr 10%" (& now MR 50%) an unknown happy-go-lucky son of a small-time businessman who struck gold by marrying one of the worlds most glamorous women Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benzair Bhutto. Taking advantage of his wife's authority he is known to have taken kickbacks from many deals inside and outside of Pakistan . The most famous was a $4 billion deal to buy 32 Mirage jets from the French company Dassault. Documents, which include letters from Dassault executives, indicate an agreement was reached to pay a 5% "remuneration" - about $200m - to Marleton Business, a BVI company controlled by Zardari. Besides these many more kickback deals were taken with companies such as ARY Gold, Société Général de Surveillance (SGS), Cotecna, and ZPC Ursus, a Polish tractor company.
Zardari assets holding amount into hundreds of millions of dollars easily, Having 8 prime properties in the UK, of which once is the famous Rockwood Estate 365 acres in Surrey, worth £4.35m has now been sold and money sent back to the Govt. of Pakistan. Also 14 multi-million dollar mansions in the USA, including owning Holiday Inn hotel Houston, Texas Owned by "Mr 10%" and Iqbal Memon and Sadar-ud-Din Hashwani.
They (Zardari and B.Bhutto) also have huge business ventures in the Middle East running into hundreds of millions if not billion mark. Mr Zardari also has huge stakes in sugar mills all over Pakistan ,which include: Sakrand Sugar Mills, Nawabshah, Ansari Sugar Mills, Hyderabad , Mirza Sugar Mills, Badin, Pangrio Sugar Mills, Thatta and Bachani Sugar Mills, Sanghar.
3 - Sir Anwar Pervaiz UK
Ranking: 3 Worth: £750m ($1.5billion) Industry: Businessman
Chairman of Bestway Group. The Bestway Group started in 1976 with its first Bestway cash and carry warehouse opened in London . Today the have in total around 50 Cash and Carry's. Including their recent takeover of rival group Batleys for around £100m. Bestway Group ventured into Pakistan 's huge the cement business in 1995 and set up cement manufacturing plant in Pakistan at a cost of $120 million.
Taking Advantage of Pakistan growing economy they also acquired a 25.5% stake in United Bank Limited in 2002. Today, the Bestway Group has interests in cash & carry wholesale, property investments, retail outlets, milling of rice, lentils and pulses, cement production and more recently into banking. The group's total sales amounted to in excess of £ 2 billion. The group provides direct employment to thousands in the UK and Pakistan . The have many interests in Pakistan too. Sir Anwar Pervaiz and his his partners sheer hard work has bought them to outstanding international levels, which definitely makes him an ideal role model for many young Pakistanis today. He still on the move!
4 - Nawaz Sharif & Shahbaz Sharif family Saudi Arabia/Pakistan
Ranking: 4 Worth: £700m ($1.4billion) Industry: Politics/Businessma n
Mr Sharif Businessman turned politician the former Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was ousted in a military coup in 1999 and was forced to forfeit $9million dollars and some of his assets including his $5m Mansion is Raiwind near Lahore . Before becoming PM he was a major share holder along with his brother and cousins of Ittefaq Group, having assets well in excess of £50m in the 90's. However he got richer when he took commissions from foreign companies for construction in Pakistan . He build the first motorway and many new roads and took heavy kickbacks. He then also stole $100m from the Iqra funds, he started a new scheme "Ghar Apna" in which he again looted around $40m, the "Mulk swaaro" scheme involving public & govt. money collections to help pay pf Pakistan's debts also was pocketed. Today he lives in exile in Saudi Arabia where it is known he has a new huge business empire in various sectors.
5 - Saddaruddin Hashwani Pakistan
Ranking: 5 Worth: £550m ($1.1billion) Industry: Businessman
Saddaruddin Hashwani is Chairman Hashoo Group is known for his dominance in Pakistan 's hotel industry, though Hashwanis are have huge strength in real estate business too. Hashwanis are involved in trading of cotton, grain and steel and till the nationalization of cotton export in 1974, they were widely being dubbed as the Cotton Kings of Pakistan. Today, this group has excelled in export of rice, wheat, cotton and barley. It owns textile units, besides having invested billions in mines, minerals. hotels, insurance, batteries, tobacco, residential properties, construction, engineering and information technology. In 1984, Hashwani defeated the Lakhanis in the bid for Premier Tobacco but was arrested along with his brother Akbar in 1986 for allegedly evading customs duty on cigarettes. Sadarduddin' s brother Akbar and the children of another late brother Hassan Ali Hashwani together ma nage around 45 companies. Akbar runs the second Hashwani Group. He is one of the most well-known magnates in Pakistan who is a regular invitee at the Diplomatic Enclave. The list of local and international bigwigs known personally to Hashwani is unending.
6 - Nasir Schon & family U.A.E/Pakistan
Ranking: 6 (tied at 6) Worth: £500m ($1billion) Industry: Businessman
Nasir Schon is a prominent business leader of Pakistan and the CEO of Schon Group. Nasir Schon is the son of Captain Ather Schon Hussain, an ex-pilot of PIA. The Schon family is one of the few striving Muhajir Urdu business families in Pakistan . Starting off in Singapore in 1982, the peek of Schon group was in 1995 when they owned National Fibres, Schon Bank, Schon Textiles and Pak-China Fertizilers. Famous for the trend-setting roundabout, Schon Circle , Nasir Schon is also known to be one of the first people to have a Rolls-Royce in Pakistan . Directors of Schon group flew to Dubai in 1997 in exile after the dismissal of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The directors of Schon group were known to have close contacts with the husband of former Prime Minister, Asif Zardari. Many assets of the Schon group were auctioned by the Nawaz Sharif government. Schon Group is the only group in Pakistan who has paid the government over 3 billion rupees ($65m) in order to return from exile. Living in Dubai gave Nasir Schon an opportunity to start businesses there. Currently working on an $830 million real estate project known as Dubai lagoon, Schon group is also fighting to get back the assets they once lost. Currently, the Schon group operates a pilot training center in Pakistan known as Schon Air.
7 - Abdul Razzaq Yakoub & family U.A.E
Ranking: 6 (tied at 6) Worth: £500m ($1billion) Industry: Businessman
Mr Yakoub is a prominent Pakistani expatriate businessman based in Dubai . He is the president ARY group ($1.5Billion turnover) and World Memon Organization (WMO). He is one of Pakistan 's biggest media barons controlling around 7 channels. Besides this he has a huge property holdings in Karachi , Islamabad and Dubai amounting to over $200m. He is major in the gold market also having around 20 outlets in Asia . He has also been involved in paying Asif Zardari $5m in 1990's for allowing him to import/export gold. Which he denies and claim's is government forgeries.
8 - Rafiq Habib & Rasheed Habib Pakistan
Ranking: 7 Worth: £450m ($900) Industry: Businessman
Legend has it that the Goddess of Wealth has been in love with the seasoned Habibs more than anybody else in Pakistan . Most pundits believe that Habibs own at least 100 companies throughout the world, but these content mega-tycoons never boast off, something which has made it uphill for most to predict about their financial standing. This industrial group was founded by Seth Habib Mitha, born in 1878 to Esmail Ali-a factory owner in Bombay . The financial strength of the Habibs can be gauged from the fact that Muhammad Ali Habib gave a cheque of Rs 80 million to Quaid-e-Azam in 1948 at a time when Pakistan government was penniless owing to delay in transfer of Pakistan 's share of Rs. 750 million by the Reserve Bank of India . They had offices in Europe in 1912. They incorporated the Habib Bank in 1941. They own the Habib Bank A.G Zurich, Bank Al-Habib, Indus Motors assembling Coroll a cars and many dozens of units in sectors such as jute, paper sack, minerals, steel, tiles, synthetics sugar, glass, construction, concrete, farm autos, banking, oil, computers, music, paper, packages, leasing and capital management. Habibs today are headed by Rafiq Habib and Rashid Habib in two distinct groups. What makes them extremely influential players of all times is the fact that for dozens of top businessmen today, Habib were a myth once.
9 - Tariq Saigol & Nasim Saigol Pakistan
Ranking: 8 Worth: £425m ($850) Industry: Businessman
Hailing from Jhelum . The pioneer of the Saigol dynasty in 1890 was Amin Saigol who established a shoe shop that eventually transformed into Kohinoor Rubber Works. And then times saw them shining literally like the Kohinoor until their progress was halted by Nationalization in which they lost two-thirds of their wealth. Saigols got trifurcated in 1976 and 15 descendents of Amin Saigols four sons got a share. The name of the Saigols has been used in this part of the world as similes describing quantum of wealth. Yousaf Saigol, along with his brothers Sayeed Saigol, Bashir Saigol and Gul Saigol then nourished an excellent crop. In 1948, Saigols established the Kohinoor Textile Mills with a cost of Rs 8 million and this group happens to be the first to open an LC with the State Bank of Pakistan . They bought the United Bank in 1959 and then witnessed five of their units getting nationali zed. They lived in Saudi Arabia during the Bhutto regime. Today, cousins Tariq and Nasim are holding the family's fort together and have risen to unprecedented heights in individual capacities. NAB did haunt Nasim but Tariq spent more time either accepting or refusing prized slots everywhere. Tariq is the one of the finest business brains around.
10 - Dewan Yousaf Farooqui Pakistan
Ranking: 9 (tied at 9) Worth: £400m ($800) Industry: Businessman
Mr Farooqui. The mentor of this group has been the Sindh Minister for Local Bodies. Industries, Labour, Transport, Mines & Minerals. Dewan Mushtaq Group is one of the Pakistan 's largest industrial conglomerates in sectors like polyester acrylic fiber, manufacturing and automotives. Six of their companies are listed at the Karachi & stock Exchange and one at the Luxembourg bourse. Dewan Farooqui Motors assembles around 10,000 cars annually under technical license agreement with Hyundai and Kia Motors of Korea. The Dewan Salman Fiber is the pride of this empire as it ranks 11th in the world in total production capacity. The group owns three textile units, a motorcycle manufacturing concern and the largest sugar unit in the country. Dewans also have business interests in India . They possess dozens of millions of shares of Saudi Cement and Pak land Cement. They also have the fra nchise licence for BMW in Pakistan and now Rolls Royce showrooms.
11 - Sultan Ali Lakhani & family Pakistan
Ranking: 9 (tied at 9) Worth: £400m ($800) Industry: Businessman
The Lakhanis are currently having a hard time at the hands of NAB. Sultan Lakhani and his three brothers run this prestigious group and the chain of McDonald's restaurants in Pakistan . NAB has alleged the Lakhanis of having created phoney companies through worthless directors and raised massive loans from various banks and financial institutions. Sultan is currently abroad after having served a jail term with younger sibling Amin , though the latter was released much earlier. NAB had reportedly demanded Rs 7 billion from Lakhanis, but later agreed they pay only Rs 1.5 billion over a 10-year period. Lakhanis, like their arch-rivals Hashwanis, are the most well-known of all Ismaeli tycoons. Their stakes range from media, tobacco, paper, chemicals and surgical equipment to cotton, packaging, insurance, detergents and other house-hold items, many of which are joint ventures with leading i nternational conglomerates. Though Lakhanis are in turbulent waters currently, the success that greeted them during the last 25 years especially has been tremendous. They have rifts with large business empires despite being known fur their genteel nature. Whether it is any government in Sindh or at the Federal level, Lakhanis have had trusted friends everywhere, though the present era has proved a painful exception.
12 - Malik Riaz Hussain Pakistan
Ranking: 9 (tied at 9) Worth: £400m ($800) Industry: Businessman
Malik Riaz Hussain heads the massive project which is currently developing state-of-the- art schemes in Lahore , Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamaba d. Emerging out of the blue, this developer has reportedly developed tremendous connections where it matters in Pakistan-One of the few reasons why his constructed projects get completed in time without hindrance. Whether he has gifted bungalows free of cost of country's bigwigs or offered them at highly concessional rates, the reality on the ground is that Malik has managed to mesmerize most through his generous wallet. His land-holdings both within and outside Pakistan amounts to nearly a billion dollar. He is the man behind the Bahria Town . Irrespective of who is in power; he continues to build house after house-swelling his wealth. He is also the first man to drive a Bentley car on Pakistani soil.
13 - Sheikh Abid Hussain alias Seth Abid Pakistan
Ranking: 10 Worth: £390m ($780) Industry: Businessman
Sheikh Abid Hussain alias Seth Abid. He is one of the most resourceful developers/builders in the country owning vast stretches of land in major cities. On this land worth many billion of rupees, Seth has constructed residential schemes under the brand name of "Green Fort." Seth came into this business after decades of notoriety as being one of the spearheads in cross-border smuggling. While many remember Seth for his allegedly illegal trading stints, a lot of informed circles still say with conviction that he, along with Dr.Qadeer and former Premier Bhutto, was the brain behind the success of Pakistan 's nuclear programme. About three dozen of Seth's very close relatives, friends and nephews are members of country's bourses and for many years now, the Seth Abid group assumes the role of king-makers during the annual polls of these stock exchanges. He is a leading investor in stocks, metals and currency but what gives him immense pleasure is his philanthropic institution Hamza Foundation that he sponsors for the welfare of deaf and dumb children. Pakistan has not had a single ruler, politician, bureaucrat or Army General who doesn't know the Seth who is more of a myth for most. The Seth, throughout his life, has avoided publicity-a fact known to most journalists.
14 - Mian Mohammed Latif Pakistan
Ranking:11 Worth: £350m ($700) Industry: Businessman
Chenab Group Mian Muhammad Latif supervises this group along with his brother Mian Ashfaque- a legislator in the National Assembly of Pakistan. Founded in 1975, Chenab Limited set up its first fashion outlet "Chen One." Chen One has seven outlets throughout Pakistan . After establishing its retail chain stores in various cities of Saudi Arabia , the group is now planning to establish its new retail chains in Bahrain , UA.E, Qatar , Kuwait and Central Asian Republics . While Chenab Group is an eight-time Export Trophy winner, its Chief Mian Latif has won the 'Businessman of the Year award on four different occasions from various business bodies. Chenab is principally engaged in manufacture and distribution of clothing, furniture goods, including non-iron suit, quilt cover and curtains etc. Chenab processes 50 million square metres fabric weaving and 75 million square metres fabric dyei ng every year and has established a global sales network spanning across five continents. Chenab is licensed to the Swedish Texcote Technology in the manufacturing and sale of textile materials, garments and textile house-hold goods. The group's textile products have been awarded the Oekotex 100 accreditation.
15 - Haji Abdul Ghafoor & Haji Bashir Ahmed Pakistan
Ranking: 12 Worth: £330m ($660) Industry: Businessman
Sitara Group Started its activity with textile weaving as early as 1956, under brothers Haji Abdul Ghafoor and Haji Bashir Ahmed. It is now its textile cloth finishing and processing, textile spinning, chlor-alkali sector and in power generation. The units owned by this establishment include Sitara Chemicals, Sitara Chemicals (Textile Division 1) and Sitara Chemicals (Textile Division 11), Sitara Textiles, Sitara Energy and Yasir Spinning. The charities being managed under the aegis of Sitara group are Aziz Fatima Hospital , Ghafoor Bashir Children Hospital and Aziz Fatima Girls School . Sitara's name with the industrial City of Faisalabad is synonymous. They are the decades-old veterans in business, who have excelled in leaps and bounds. At their units, the owners of Sitara use technology imported from Japan , UK and Germany and are export leaders in bedding and fabric collection to South America , USA , Canada , New Zealand and Europe . Their textile divisions together operate at strength of 33,984 spindles. The Sitara (group, to a common man, is more famous for its lawn brands like Sitara Sapna and Mughal-e-Azam. The men at helm of affairs in Sitara hardly believe in setting up dozens of units, of which they are otherwise very much capable of.
16 - Sheikhani Family Pakistan
Ranking: 13 Worth: £300m ($600) Industry: Businessman
They are one of the most reputed land developers in the country. The Sheikhani, although not a very big industrial establishment by any means, are led by Abu Bakar Sheikhani. The Sheikhanis are famous for their construction and land development- related errands. Abu Bakar is deemed to be one of the largest investors in real estate trade at Gwadar Port. He has all the right connections that are required to be in such business. Despite being well known to the national political circles, the man in street knew more of him during March/April 1991 when he surfaced as the single largest contributor to then Premier Nawaz Sharif's Debt Retirement Fund with a donation of $ 8million. Today, his adversaries dub him a land mafia man, alleging him for selling his Gwadar land at only $ 4000 per acre only to senior Army officials while the same was being sold at $ 2,50,000 per acre to ordinary inves tors. But that is the way Sheikhani runs his vast land/construction empire. Accusations don't disturb Sheikhani, who according to many large developers is a man who has managed to create tremendous impression in land business. The rumours of his landing in any Pakistani City for land acquisition purposes, helps the price of real estate surge unprecedented overnight
17 - Razzaq Dawood Pakistan/UAE
Ranking: 14 (tied at 14) Worth: £250m ($500) Industry: Businessman
Razzaq presently heads one of Pakistan 's biggest construction and engineering conglomerate know as Dawood group/Descen group. With a roaster of impressive clients. His group has won many contracts in Dubai , Saudi Arabia and Iraq and employ's over 1,000 people directly. His name was more prominent among the top 22 richest families in 1970 until the Bhutto nationalization which then made him set up abroad, he returned to Pakistan in the early 90's and started from scratch and today makes it in the top easily. The group also has investment of $300m in Bangladesh in investments in fertiliser, energy and infrastructure and development sectors.
18 - Byram Dinshawji Avari Pakistan
Ranking: 14 (tied at 14) Worth: £250m ($500) Industry: Businessman
Byram Dinshawji Avari is a prominent Pakistani Parsi tycoon in Karachi , Sindh , Pakistan . Together with his sons Dinshaw and Xerxes and their direct families, he owns and operates the Avari Group of companies, of which he is the chairman. Hotel management is the Avari Group's core business. In Pakistan , the group owns and operates Avari Hotels which includes 5-star deluxe hotel in Lahore , the 5-star Avari Towers and the seafront Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi . The group is also actively pursuing opportunities for owning and/or managing 3 and 4-star properties elsewhere in Pakistan . The Avari Group is the first Pakistani company to have obtained international hotel management contracts: they operate the 200-room 4-star hotel in Dubai in United Arab Emirates and manage the 200-room Ramada Inn in Toronto at Pearson Airport in Canada .
19 - Rafiq Rangoonwala Pakistan
Ranking: 15 (tied at 14) Worth: £240m ($480) Industry: Businessman
Mr. Rafiq Rangoonwala, Chief Executive Officer Cupola Group of Companies, was born in Karachi, did BA (Hons.) from University of Karachi, went to United States of America in 1979, and did Executive Development Course from Whittemore School of Business, University of New Hampshire along with several management courses from U.K, U.S, Canada, Australia and Singapore. In 1980, he started his career in Fast Food restaurants from KFC in Houston . Since then he has managed several other brands alongside KFC like Pizza Hut, Harry Ramsden's, TGI Fridays, Pizza Express etc. e joined Artal Restaurants International as CEO in October 1999 and is currently heading Cupola Group of Companies who has franchise rights in Pakistan for KFC, Indulge, Freshens and Casa. The associate Investment Company of Cupola is AL ABRAJ, with approximately US $400 million under management.
20 - Shimmy Querishi USA
Ranking: 15 (tied at 15) Worth: £240m ($480) Industry: Businessman
A jet-setting international businessman who fly's by jet and swings a polo mallet with some of the world's top players, Qureshi seems a model of successful enterprise. Shimmys business interests are mainly property, which with the boom and his holidings has took his wealth to a new level. Although people may remember him for his stunt in the early 90's with George Lindemann, the billionaire founder of Cellular One, when Lindemann took him to court claiming he has cheated them in to a deal to buy their home on Hurlingham Drive in Wellington for $3.5 million. A year before the Lindemanns filed their suit, Qureshi bartered with another wealthy family - the al-Thanis, who rule the Arab country of Qatar - to buy Gulf Union Bank in the Cayman Islands .
In May 1997, the al-Thanis agreed to sell Gulf Union to International Business Holdings - a Cayman Islands company owned by Qureshi - fo r $4.5 million, according to court records.
While Cayman Islands officials were reviewing the deal, Qureshi named an associate, Kazmi, to run Gulf Union and a subsidiary, First Cayman Bank. Within three months, Kazmi, acting at Qureshi's direction, had shunted more than $5 million from First Cayman into his own account and into accounts held by Qureshi and the al-Thanis. Shimmy Qureshi also fully manages all the properties in the USA owned by Asif Zardari.
