The Villa Group is one of the largest business entities in the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

. The holding company Villa Shipping and Trading Company Pvt. Ltd is a private conglomerate which is amongst the largest private business in the Maldives with major operations in Shipping, Import and Export, General Trade and Tourism, fishing, media, communication, transport and education related Businesses. Foundation of Villa Group can be traced back to 1986 when

Qasim Ibrahim Qasim Ibrahim (born 30 August 1951), also known as Burumaa Qasim, is a Maldives, Maldivian politician, business magnate and Philanthropy, philanthropist. As the chairman and founder of the Villa Group, he is one of the country's wealthiest bus ...

registered a Shipping and Trading company named 'Villa', the common trade name.

History

In 1976

set up his own trading business and traded in commodities such as rice, tobacco, diesel and kerosene, which proved to be profitable, and the business experienced rapid growth. He later expanded his business with a small loan of USD 2,000 from

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Public sector undertakings in India, public sector bank and financial service body headquartered in Mumbai. It is the largest bank in India with a 23% market shar ...

(SBI), which is still his primary banker. After four years, Qasim was able to purchase his first shipping vessel, an old fishing vessel converted to carry cargo and oil, to facilitate oil imports. By April 14, 1986, Qasim's business was registered under the name of Villa Shipping and Trading Company Limited (Villa). Since then, the company has diversified its business with substantial national share in diverse industries such as tourism, transport, construction, manufacturing, Gas, Cement trade, Media and Communication, in addition to general trading, with Sole Distributorships of international products. Shell and Agfa are among the brand names represented by Villa in the

The shareholders of the holding company, Villa Shipping & Trading Company Private Limited (VSTC) are Qasim Ibrahim and his wife Rabia Hussain, holding 95% and 5% respectively. For strategic reasons, Villa Shipping (

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

) Pte Limited was incorporated in Singapore on December 19, 1991, a 100% subsidiary. The paid up capital by Villa Shipping (Singapore) now stands at S$500,000.{{when, date=April 2019 On 23 July 1997, with the primary objective of promoting Villa Resorts, opened in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Villa Holidays Touristik GmbH was incorporated with a paid-up capital of DM500,000,000. The company acts as a wholesaler for holiday packages to the Maldives, an agent for sales of hotel rooms, sale of air tickets, and a vehicle for acquiring and trading of tourism related properties and real estate such as hotels and resorts worldwide. It has since become a major subsidiary to promote the Group's own resorts, Fun Island, Paradise Island, Sun Island, Holiday Island and Royal Island Villa Hotels Maldives. Villa Hotels,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and Villa Hotels,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

were established in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Some of Qasim's recent achievements in business include the completion of the Maamigili International Airport in

Ari Atoll Ari Atoll (also called Alif or Alifu Atoll) is one of the natural atolls of the Maldives. It is one of the biggest atolls and is located in the west of the archipelago. The almost rectangular alignment spreads the islands over an area of about . I ...

, and the formation and operation of Villa Air (Flyme), a fully owned subsidiary of the Villa Group.

References

External links

Villa Projects
Companies of the Maldives Conglomerate companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in the Maldives

History

See also

References

External links