JS Group: An Eclectic Business Empire

    0

    Introduction: Four Decades of Excellence

    Established in 1971 by Jahangir Siddiqui, named after its founder’s initials, JS Group is a financial services group in Pakistan that is also one of the largest conglomerates in the country. Holding a considerable portion at the Karachi Stock Exchange, the company controls and operates financial services companies in Pakistan. Financial services of JS Group include asset management, commercial banking, company research, insurance, investment banking, Islamic banking, micro finance, and stock brokerage. JS Group also has investments throughout Pakistan’s economy, in the industrial sector, technology and media sectors, commercial real estate, energy and natural resources. With its headquarters in Karachi JS Group has six businesses: JS Industrial, JS Infocom, JS Property, JS Resources, JS Transportation, and JS Financial. The Group also has a bona fide trust for social enterprise and charity under Mahvash and Jahangir Siddiqui Foundation.

    With a mandate to ensure transparency, socially responsibility, integrity, equal opportunity for employees, entrepreneurship and team building, JS Group is recognized as the premier and best performing Investment Company in Pakistan. Throughout its subsidiaries the group holds a strong commitment to giving value for shareholders by providing competitive returns on a sustainable basis by employing best practices of Corporate Governance and Risk Management.

    History: From Humble Beginnings to Sky-high Success

    Born to a middle class family in Hyderabad in 1948 as the 9th child among 10 children, Jahangir Siddiqui didn’t have a lot of resources to build the business empire he was eventually destined for. However, an entrepreneurial spirit that manifested itself even as a young teenager helped him make the most of the opportunities he got and those that he carved for himself. At the tender age of fourteen years Jahangir Siddiqui started his first business selling coca cola and made an impressing profit for his time and age. He kept using the profits garnered from his endeavors and his education to keep diversifying his investments and challenging himself to learn more about business and finance.

    In 1967, the future billionaire started his training as chartered accountant as ad clerk in Gangat & Co. As his office was across Karachi Stock Exchange, he started frequenting KSE on his lunch breaks to learn more about the stock market and trading. This curiosity and desire to learn would prove Siddiqui invaluable as it became the basis of his entrance into the KSE and brokerage.

    Through selling stocks Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. was eventually established in 1970 as primarily a stock-centric firm. However, due to unrest and insecurity caused by the 1971 India-Pakistan war, Jahangir Siddiqui was forced to shift attention to brokerage of fixed income securities. This shift eventually paid off in the interest of the company as it opened many opportunities for the company and they were able to carve a niche working with institutional clients like Deutsche Bank and American Express. By 1981, 80% of the daily volume traded in fixed securities was handled by Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. After years of establishing un-parallel reputation as an apt businessman, Siddiqui brought his vision to the KSE by serving as President for two years in 1990. Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. becomes the first securities brokerage with a Wall Street Stamp and underwent a merger with Bear Stearns appointing Jahangir Siddiqui as Chairman and CEO in 1994. A year later, Abamco was established as a subsidiary of Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. and is noted as the second largest asset management company. In 2003, Jahangir Siddiqui launched another company and JS Global Capital Limited commercial operations began in earnest.

    Only a year later, JSGC was listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and today is a major finance and business player in the country. JS Group starting from the humble beginnings of its founder’s vision and determination is a part of Pakistan’s economic fabric now and is home to over 40,000 employees helping them achieve their dreams.

    Corporate Social Responsibility Beyond Charity

    JS Group is a company that has high regard for family values and giving back to the community. Thus, with the vision and support of his wife, Mahvash, Jahangir Siddiqui launched Mahvash and Jahangir Siddiqui Foundation in 2003 to not only ensure that the company’s corporate social responsibility is a core mandate but also to ensure bona fide support to the development areas in Pakistan.

    MJSF is a charitable, non-partisan, non-profit organization run by several board members and staff, operating as a trust. The primary focus areas are healthcare, education, youth empowerment, sustainable development through social enterprise, and disaster relief. The foundation takes great pride in equipping marginalized communities with more resources, especially in the way of healthcare and education that allows them a life of dignity and upward social mobility.

    Following is a list of activities and contributions made by MJSF in its core focus areas:

    Education

    • JS Academy for the Deaf partners with professionals in the field within Pakistan and abroad to enable best practices and enhanced standards of coaching
    • JS Academy for the Deaf hosts yearly cultural program for the special children
    • JS Academy for the Deaf celebrates graduation of its first B.A. batch
    • MJSF supports Fakhre Imdad Foundation to capacity build educational institutions in rural Sindh
    • Vocational classes are held for women
    • MJSF partnered with Progressive Education Network (PEN) to extend its educational support in Punjab and aiming to improve the quality of educational standards in the existing 23 adopted public schools of Pakistan.
    • MJSF has granted funds to LUMS (School of Science and Engineering), Karachi School for Business and Leadership (KSBL) and Institute of Business Administration, University of Karachi(IBA) for institutional development
    • MJSF granted PKR 30 million to LUMS to build the Jahangir Siddiqui Hostel, a dormitory for male students as part of the development of the School of Science and Engineering
    • Summer Program at the National University of Singapore
    • Chamalang Beneficiary Education Program
    • MJSF sponsors young professionals for European Academy of Diplomacy Program

    Health

    • MJSF sponsors students for the Global and Public Health program at Weill Cornell Medical College, Qatar.
    • The National Institute of Cardiovascular diseases (NICVD) has added 30 beds to its cardiac emergency ward. The cost of this project was Rs. 15 million. MJSF contributed Rs.11 million for the cause.
    • The foundation built a fistula unit at the Karachi National Hospital in 2008
    • Patients’ Behbud Society for the Aga Khan University Hospital
    • Grants to the Medical Aid Foundation
    • Established the Burhani Blood Bank and Thalessaemia Centre
    • MJSF collaborated with the Walkabout Foundation to distribute customized wheelchairs
    • Organizing several seminars on Autism Awareness was organized in Lahore by the Autism Spectrum Disorders Resource Centre was set up by MJSF

    Social Enterprise and Sustainable Development

    • MJSF has a 5-year commitment to the Acumen Fund in Pakistan, which is an affiliate of the Acumen Fund, a leading global sustainable development organization and Ali Jahangir Siddiqui serves on its Board of Directors in Pakistan.
    • Acumen Fund and MJSF Host Selection Conference for Pakistan Fellows Program
    • MJSF has invested into Kashf Holdings, the parent company of Kashf Microfinance Bank

    Disaster relief

    • Relief goods were provided to the Pakistan Army for 250 families onwards distribution for the devastating earthquake of October 26, 2015.
    • In 2014, MJSF joined hands with the Alumni Association of National Security Workshops (AAN) to raise funds for internally displaced persons in Pakistan due to the Zarb-e-Azb operation.
    • Flood Relief Campaign 2012 in Sindh
    • Flood Relief Campaign 2011
    • United for a Cause’ Conference
    • Flood Relief Campaign 2010
    • 2008 Swat IDP Conflict
    • 2005 earthquake relief and rehabilitation

    Subsidiaries of JS Group: The Whole is Greater than the Parts

    Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. and its subsidiary companies are involved in numerous financial services such as trading of securities, maintaining strategic investments, brokerage, investment advisory, asset management, commercial banking, power generation and other businesses.

    JS Bank Limited

    One of the most widely used services is that of JS Bank  that has become a home-grown name trusted by millions of Pakistanis and international investors alike. JS Bank is a majority-owned subsidiary of Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. and currently operates 277 branches in 138 cities.

    Founded in 2007, in less than a decade of operations, JS Bank has become a major service provider of Finance and Insurance, Asset management, Consumer Banking, Corporate Banking, Investment Banking, Investment Management, and Private Equity. Through its various branches and operations across the country JS Bank has proven a worthy job creator by giving employment and career opportunities to nearly 3000 employees and counting.

    With over 200 ATMs across Pakistan and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, locally JS Bank has a very strong footing. However, even globally JS Bank is one of Pakistan’s best known financial service providers.

    During 2012, JS Bank’s Treasury was rated by the State Bank of Pakistan as the No. 1 Primary Dealer of Pakistan. The Bank was also rated the No. 1 Primary Dealer of Pakistan in 2011. JS Bank is one of the 11 Primary Dealers in the country which act as underwriters and market makers for the secondary trading in Treasury Bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds. The Treasury also recorded a strong performance in its core Asset & Liability Management and Foreign Exchange activities, and efficiently capitalized on the interest rate volatility to earn handsome capital gains.JS Bank has won various CSR related awards over the years.

    JS Global Capital Limited

    JS Global Capital Limited (JSGCL) has won numerous awards as the Best Brokerage House, Research House, Best Equity House, Best Sales Execution, Best Bond House, to name a few, by esteemed business journals and associations such as Asia Money and CFA Association. JSGCL is the Brokerage and Investment Banking arm of JS Group providing Equities Brokerage, Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Brokerage, and Investment Banking services to a host of domestic and international clients. JS’s Global Investment House, based in Kuwait is one of the leading financial services companies with a growing footprint in the MENASA Region and with plans to expand in the coming decade.

    JS Investments Limited

    JS Investments Limited is one of the oldest and largest private sector asset management companies in Pakistan with assets under management, spread across various mutual funds, pension funds, and separately managed accounts.

    JS Infocom Limited

    JS Infocom Limited was established in 2003 to undertake telecommunication business or invest in companies engaged in providing telecommunication services. JS Infocom is presently seeking business ventures in the Telecommunication sector and to scale up.

    Energy Infrastructure Holding (Private) Limited

    Energy Infrastructure Holding (Private) Limited (the Company) was established in 2008 to design, construct, acquire, own, operate, and maintain power generation complexes and to carry on the business of electricity generation, power transmission and distribution services, over hauling and re-powering of power plants etc.

    JS International Limited

    The company was incorporated in 2005 with the primary objective for which the company has been established includes inward investment from non-resident Pakistanis and international institutional investors, financial advisory services to Pakistani companies expanding overseas and to foreign companies interested in investing or setting up joint ventures in Pakistan.

    JS International LLP

    JS International LLP was incorporated as limited liability partnership in the United Kingdom in 2006 as a wholly owned subsidiary of JS International Limited with the aim of setting up JS International LLP to develop international strategic alliances and joint ventures, developing business and JS brands awareness internationally and protecting the brand identity.

    JS Abamco Commodities Limited (JACL)

    JS ABAMCO Commodities Limited (JACL) was incorporated in 2007 to help carry on the business as brokers, dealers, and representatives of all kinds of commodity contracts and commodity backed securities.

    JS Group Today

    JS Group today is a home-grown business name with an international impact and connection. Time and again throughout all its companies and subsidiaries, the group has established itself as a pioneer in up keeping international standards and making Pakistan more innovative.

    JS Bank launched JS Mobile, Pakistan’s first Android application for mobile banking. The sleek and user friendly app allows customers easily find out their account balances, generate mini-statement, pay utility bills, and transfer funds to another JS Bank account or to any other bank through IBFT. Furthermore, customers can also pay mobile bills and load balances for all five service providers. JS Bank is also the first bank to digitize rapidly. The group has also launched apps through JS Global that help investors keep track of the market and make informed stock decisions.

    With a keen eye on entrepreneurship and capacity building of youth, using technology, JS Group is empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs and using tools to increase impact of innovations in the country.

     

    NO COMMENTS

    LEAVE A REPLY

    Please enter your comment!
    Please enter your name here

    Exit mobile version