JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - United Arab Emirates-based hypermarket chain Lulu Group, Lulu Store hypermarket has opened its first hypermarket in Cakung, east of Jakarta on May 31. The hypermarket will be the group’s first store in Indonesia.
Previously, the Abu Dhabi-based company announced that it will spend $500 million to open hypermarkets in Indonesia. The announcement came during the visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Abu Dhabi, the company’s headquarters since the early 1980s.
“With an initial investment of $300 million in the first phase, we plan to open 15 hypermarkets by the end of 2017,” said Yusuffali M.A., managing director and promoter of the group.
Lulu Group plans to open 15 hypermarkets by the end of next year, with an initial investment of $300 million. Its total investment would reach $500 million by 2021, as the company expands its network.
President Joko Widodo said when opening the hypermarket that Lulu Group’s early inroad into the Indonesian market would also offer an “entrance for Indonesian export products to the Middle East market.
Lulu Group has a strong presence in the Middle East and India with as many as 165 outlets. It operates in Indonesia through a local unit called Lulu Group Retail.
President Jokowi had met with Lulu Group’s owners during his visit to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in September, asking them to assist developing businesses for traditional craftsmen all over Indonesia.
Lulu hypermarkets and department stores has gained 32% share of the retail market in Gulf Cooperation Council countries—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates—Egypt and Yemen.
Yusuffali has also invested in India’s retail market, with a mall in Kochi, dubbed the country’s largest.
According to the 2015 Forbes listing, Yusuffali is the 30th wealthiest Indian and the 737th richest in the world, with a personal wealth estimated at $2.8 billion. His business interests span retail, export-import and food-processing in 31 countries with an annual turnover of $5.5 billion globally, according to details furnished on Yusuffali’s website.