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Started from a village in Kerala and built a 100,000 CR retail empire. 1. Born in the serene village of Nattika in Kerala, M.A. Yusuf had a challenging opportunity. After obtaining a diploma in Business Management, he moved to Abu Dhabi to work in his uncle's grocery business (EMKE). At 18, he left everything behind in India to load, unload and deliver goods. But he noticed something. 🤔 2. The UAE had no organised supermarkets for the diverse expatriate population. He wanted to solve this with an organised hypermart model offering a wide range of quality products under one roof. But he had no funds. He faced over 100 rejections until he finally found a green light. 👇 3. He secured a loan of Rs 5 Lakh from the British Bank and opened his first supermarket in Abu Dhabi in 1990. He named the company after pearl diving in the Gulf. LuLu Hypermarket was born. 🚀 4. During the 1990s, Abu Dhabi underwent rapid development following the oil boom. Yusuff opened the first LuLu supermarket store in Abu Dhabi in 1995. The store wasn't just another supermarket—it combined groceries, electronics, household goods, and even speciality services under one roof. ✅ 5. The model gained popularity, and within five years, he opened the second store at Al Wahda Mall in Abu Dhabi. Customers were offered air-conditioned comfort, uniformed staff, multilingual assistance, broad parking areas, and a 50% price advantage over competitors. 🙌 6. By 2013, he had launched over 100 stores. With a revenue of Rs 34,000 CR in 2013, Lulu had become the World's fastest-growing retailer. With a net worth of 12,000 CR, Yusuf had just debuted on Forbes Global Billionaire's list, but still, something was missing. 🤔 7. He wanted to give something back to his homeland, India. In 2013, he launched the first Indian mega-mall of 17 acres—LuLu International Mall in Kochi, Kerala. It had over 225 outlets, a multiplex with nine screens and a food court that could accommodate 3,500 people. Yusuff Ali had given India's biggest mall to his hometown. 🇮🇳 8. With the same playbook of the Gulf, he expanded to Bengaluru, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, and Coimbatore. He opened every mall himself and never gave any franchises to maintain quality. By 2023, revenue clocked 58,000 CrR. But the big news came next year. 👇 9. In October 2024, LuLu Retail Holdings launched its IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, raising Rs 14,000 CR. Its IPO was oversubscribed 25 times. 💪 10. Today, LuLu Group has expanded to over 259 hypermarkets and shopping malls across 23 countries. It Serves over 1.6 million customers daily and 600 million customers annually. 📈 ➡️Having won the Padma Shri in 2008 and the Padma Bhushan in 2018, M.A Yusuff Ali is India's 27th richest man worth 50,000 CR today. A boy from the small village of Nattika has built the World's fastest-growing retail chain worth 100,000 CR. 🙏