The Great War of 1914 caused Salim Louis and his brother Michel to emigrate from Lebanon to South Africa, where they purchased a historic building at 80 Church Street, Bloemfontein and commenced trading as general wholesale merchants. This building is still owned by the Group and is regarded as the foundation of its property-based enterprise.

By 1950, the Louis family business had grown into one of the largest wholesale merchants in South Africa. In 1959, the next Louis generation advanced the business when Colia Louis, Salim’s son, bought his first building and thus commenced the transition into the property investment and administration business. As Colia’s five sons graduated in their various professions, they in turn all joined forces with their father in expanding the property enterprise.

In 1994, the Louis family, by then styled the ‘Louis Group’, relocated its headquarters to Cape Town. In 1997 Colia Louis appointed his son Alan, who had served in the business since 1984, as CEO while he retained the role of chairman. In 2002, Alan was released to fulfil a dual role and given the mandate to develop and establish several Louis Group companies in Europe, which have subsequently become member companies of Banque Louis, the first family-owned Swiss private bank with South African origins.

The establishment of the bank involved a strategic management transition – Alan assumed the role of chairing Banque Louis and Louis Group in Europe while his brothers Michael, Brian, Dean and Emile formed the core management team supporting their father in his continuing role as chairman of Louis Group (Africa).

Throughout nine decades in business, the Louis family have consistently applied the principles of Christian and family values upon which all their interests are founded. Although property-related activities and investments remain at the core of the business, their highly relationship-minded and solution-driven approach has led to the extension of the Group’s interests through strategic acquisitions into financial services, technology and hotels.

As Louis Group approaches the significant milestone of a century in business, it has also deliberately and successfully made the transition from a family business to a well developed corporate structure. As a result the Group has become one of the largest privately-owned property, hotel, financial services and technology companies in South Africa and its diverse enterprises continue to thrive.

The Group’s achievements have been recognised in South Africa and Louis Group (Africa) has appeared for several years in South Africa's Top National Companies. Over and above the recognition of its commercial achievement, the Group has also been featured in Best Companies to Work for in South Africa, which confirms that the ‘family feel’ of the Group has a consistently positive impact on its more than 400 employees.