Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez OBE, HPk (Urdu: سر انور پرویز; born 15 March 1935) is a Pakistani-born British billionaire businessman.[2] He is the founder and chairman of Bestway Group.
Anwar Pervez | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 March 1935[1] Rawalpindi, British India (now Pakistan) |
| Nationality | British |
| Citizenship | British and Pakistani dual citizenship |
| Occupation(s) | Chairman, Bestway |
| Spouse | Sabiha Qasim |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Zameer Choudrey (nephew) |
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, in 2020 Pervez's net worth was £3.1 billion, and the richest Pakistan-born Briton in the UK.[3] The 2021 list gave his family's assets as £1.364 billion, placing them 125th on the list.[4]
Early life
Mohammed Anwar Pervez was born on 15 March 1935 to a subsistence farming family in Rawalpindi, then under British rule.[5] He did his matriculation in Pakistan. He studied at Forman Christian College. In 1956, he moved to the UK at the age of 21.[5][6]
Career
His first job was as a telephone operator in the state-owned telecommunication company PTCL.[5] There he used to work for Rs. 96 a month and most of them were spent on anti-malaria medications.[7]
In 1956, he emigrated to England. There he became a bus conductor and driver in Bradford.[5] He worked seven days a week on double shifts for about £16-£18 a week.[5]
In 1963, he established his first convenience store, Kashmir, in London's Earls Court for the Muslim community.[5][8] By the early seventies, he had changed the company's name to Bestway and was operating ten convenience stores in and around West London, mostly serving Asians, and specialised in Asian food.[5][6]
In 1976, Pervez opened Bestway's first wholesale warehouse in Acton, West London.[6] The company has since grown to a multibillion-pound enterprise, and as of 2014[update] Bestway is the second-largest independent wholesaler in the UK.[9] In 2014, his group bought 774 pharmacies from The Co-operative Group for £620 million.[10]
Personal life
He is currently married to his second wife Sabiha Qasim with whom he had four children. A son from his first marriage and another from his second are directors of Bestway.[11][12]
In 2012, their daughter married Syed Abid Hussain Imam, the son of Pakistani politicians Abida Hussain and Fakhar Imam.[12]
Honours
Pervez was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1992[13] and a Knight Bachelor in 1999.[14]
In March 2000, he was awarded Hilal-i-Pakistan by the Pakistani Government for his services to Pakistan.[15]