Vision
. To build a world class emerging market focused company in the FMCG Energy and Infrastructure areas while growing and leveraging on the existing businesses

Mision :

. To establish the Tolaram brand as a responsible and reliable entity.

History

The late Khanchand Vaswani founded this family business in 1948. He was the son of a well-regarded physician, Seth Tolaram, whose primary motivation was the welfare of the poor and sickly.

Mr. Khanchand and his three older brothers ventured from their birthplace in Sind in Colonial India to trade in Indonesia and eventually set up their respective establishments in East Java.


The patriarch founder initially opened a small tailoring shop named Tolaram Tailor in Malang and effectively planted the first roots of the current Group. His wife, son and two daughters were always at hand to assist him. He also did much to encourage other relatives to play active roles in managing his rapidly growing clientele and suppliers.


Mohan, his only son and the current Chairman, joined his father in 1956 aged merely 18. He was instrumental in growing the business beyond tailoring into retail of a wider range of fabrics, home textiles and garments. The shop was renamed Toko Tolaram and gained fame as the choice retail outlet of the region.


The current Vice Chairman, Vishamkar Adnani, a cousin of Mohan, joined Tolaram in the early sixties and together the second-generation partnership created a formidable importation, wholesale, retail, manufacturing and exports of textiles business in Indonesia headquartered in Surabaya.


The early seventies was marked by regional expansion into Singapore which served as a procurement and financing hub led by Padma, the younger of the founder’s two daughters. Mohan relocated to Singapore to effectively make it his base for international ambitions in 1976.

Rapid international growth followed under his dynamic leadership with significant milestones:

1977 Nigeria where the Group began trading and eventually manufacturing
1980 USA where an ailing yarn mill was acquired and sold after successful turnaround
1995 Estonia where old textile and pulp & paper manufacturing plants were bought from the state

In between, there were several textile manufacturing units invested in and divested from in Malaysia, China, Thailand, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany and South Africa.

The mid-eighties were also marked by the introduction of the third generation of five family shareholders who are the children of Mohan and Padma and grandsons of the founder Khanchand
 

Ownership Structure

The Tolaram Group is co-owned by seven family related individuals.