The Keswanis – Inside the Investment Portfolios of Top10 Int’l Family Investors in Nigeria

Mr. Haresh Keswani is chief executive officer, Artee Group Nigeria, a company that started as a wholesaler in 1998. Presently, the group has become one of the leading businesses in Nigeria, spanning across the consumer market space. While the group focuses mainly on the retail end of the market – which it runs with a revolutionary approach, it has subsidiaries engaged in shopping malls, manufacturing and real estate, among many others.

In 2014, the group launched its first shopping mall in Port Harcourt, the success of which has spurred other shopping mall projects across Nigeria. Its strategy is to maintain presence across the consumer market space and increase the value format in its retail brand portfolio. To this end, it launched dollarstore at the Port Harcourt Mall, and has joined hands with Landmark Group of Dubai to launch Babyshop. It has added lifestyle and splash store brands to feed the fashion and lifestyle demands in the marketplace.

The group’s SPAR Park n Shop, which operates in the hypermarket and supermarket retail format, is operating in Nigeria’s three major cities of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The group’s business philosophy is driven by listening and adapting, which empowers it to deliver exceptional value to customers.

The group’s brand portfolio includes SPAR Services, which offers home delivery services, providing a convenient way to make purchases at the stores and receive the goods at home. It also offers made to order furniture customized according to taste and need for home and office purposes. It makes cake to order and runs private catering services for big and small events.

Babyshop is another member of the group’s brand portfolio – a one-stop concept store for kids from newborns teens up to the age of 16. It also offers a range of products for mothers. Lifestyle, another brand in the portfolio, began operations in 1998. The Nigerian operation is part of a chain of over 200 stores across the Middle East, Africa & Pakistan, offering home & fashion accessories. It deals on a wide range of products from home furnishings, lighting and bath decor to makeup, perfumes, fashion bags & accessories, spa products and teen accessories.

Other members of the group’s brand portfolio include Splash – a large fashion retailer and one of the biggest retail conglomerates in the Middle East, India and Africa. Mydollarstore is a value format store for household items, which offers products at N399 and N499 only. KRS Investments Ltd, a member of the Artee Group, is a water processing and plastic injection-molding company operating in Lagos. Millenium International Ltd, another subsidiary of the group, is ranked one of the largest multi-faceted furniture manufacturing facilities in West Africa. Artee Group is a large employer of labour, providing opportunities for people to learn and grow by working with other people of other cultures across nations and continents.