The Billionaire Brothers — the thinking behind the thinking
Nowadays, we are constantly reminded of other people’s successes. However, the definition and parameters of “success” have changed, the media generally are not interested in average to middling success but super-duper uber success. The success that mentions the likes of Stephen Bartlett, Ben Francis are regularly mentioned as they have a somewhat a rags to riches and interesting story that we often are more than intrigued by. The level of intrigue leads to people often thinking about what drives the success and what is the thinking behind the thinking.
The success of the “Billionaire Issa brothers” from Lancashire, is one of those stories that is truly a “rags to riches’ one, and where the two brothers have been able to achieve incredible feats through, I would assume a lot of drive, determination and complete dedication.
I first came across the brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa back in 2015, when a friend at the time mentioned their names to me. Back then, I didn’t know anything at all about them and I only looked up the brothers briefly, but I was still extremely impressed by their success. To me, the brothers seemed like giants in their field. I thought they were at the top of their game then, and it was hard to imagine that they could go any further, little did I know that there had no ambition to stop, to slow down or steer their course of direction. They have continued to show that that there is no end to their ambitions, national and global.
Even after saying all this, I am often still utterly surprised to hear their names crop up again and again with continuous acquisitions, with the latest one being the Co-op Forecourts, and previously Leon food stores, Coopland Bakeries and even recently talks of them taking over Boots the Chemist.
A few years ago, when they hit the headlines for their £6.8bn deal to buy the UK supermarket chain Asda. That was massive news and of an astronomical level, with more and more of their ventures visible now on the global stage.
Anyone who buys a business buys it for its potential, but this never comes without risks despite one always seeking to mitigate and minimise as much as possible. The Issa brothers are businessmen who are intent on doing things differently, and its clear that reputation has received backing and close collaboration from the private equity world namely TDR Capital.
That backing I would assume is based on the ambition that the Issa brothers have and their ability to connect the dots, here connecting the dots means building ecosystems that work, creating and enhancing what they have with a bottom-up, top-down, and outside-in approach and of course those all-important verticals.
This is why It is so interesting to see what they will next and why what they are doing should be taught at every Entrepreneurship and business course at Colleges and Universities as these guys are relatable and are completely change the game one move at a time.
It is coming clear that focusing on brands is what this is about, they have been big in establishing franchised international names in their petrol outlets and this is something that could be done even in the supermarket stores. An example could be that the supermarket’s own brand café could be turned into a Starbucks, or the petrol station turned into a KFC, the bakery turning into a Coopland. It may come to a point where we see 3 or 4 different brands operating in an Asda store, allowing consumers to have a wider variety of products and the Asda real estate expanded. This could begin t change the very face of the British supermarket forever where the supermarkets moved to own brands and now they are moving back to co-opting, buying and placing of these brands in the supermarkets — a very much like a House of Fraser style concessions being operated but in the Supermarkets across the country and even globe.
The possibilities are endless, and I could be completely wrong or worse still in your eyes, stating the obvious but regardless of that — it’s a very interesting tale and a lesson for all with an interest in business and entrepreneurship.
Safaraz Ali
p.s see the below link for a youtube video telling you more about their journey.
