MILESTONES

The Great War caused Salim Louis and his brother Michel to emigrate from Lebanon to South Africa, where they purchased the 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.

Michel Louis imported an assortment of teas from Ceylon and when selecting a name for his brand of teas, he chose the first two letters of his first name - MI - and the first two letters of his surname - LO - and so the name 'MILO' was established, which Nestlé later purchased for their well known chocolate malt drink.

Michel Louis & Sons ordered four tons of rice from a supplier. The request was processed incorrectly and an order of 40 tons was recorded. The supplier further misunderstood the order and 400 tons of rice was actually delivered. Despite the confusion, the Louis brothers chose to honour the relationship with their supplier and the dispatch was accepted. Shortly thereafter, the company found itself in the fortunate position as the only wholesaler with rice available at a time when food was very scarce.

The Louis family business had grown into one of the largest wholesale merchants in South Africa.

The next Louis generation advanced the business when Colia Louis, Salim's son, bought his first building and began the re-direction of the family enterprise into a property investment and administration business.

Colia Louis sourced a landmark building at a bargain price and offered it to an established client. The client's response, "If it's such a bargain, why don't you buy it?" inspired the formation of the Group's property strategy, namely to jointly invest in the purchase and then maximise the investment by providing a comprehensive building management service. During the 1980s the Group was responsible for building more than 1,000 homes in Bloemfontein.

The Louis family, by then styled the 'Louis Group', relocated its headquarters to Cape Town and continued to apply the principles of Christian and family values upon which all their business interests are founded.

After serving in the Group for seven years, Alan Louis was invited to assume the role of CEO and he, along with other key leaders, continued to transform the Group into a global property, hotel, financial services and technology enterprise.

Colia and Elizabeth Louis celebrated fifty years of marriage and Colia celebrated sixty years of service in the family business.