This is Homegrown DXB, hosted by Omar Butti, the show taking you inside the lives of the people changing yours, right here in Dubai. Our guest today is the proud inheritor of a name that has been renowned across the Gulf for over 100 years. Rao Sahib Jashanmal first set up a bookshop and general store in Basra, Iraq in 1919, catering to British Armed Forces and expatriate residents. Jashanmal then expanded across the GCC, moving into Kuwait in 1934, Bahrain in 1935, and then landing here in Dubai in 1956, with another iconic store opening in Abu Dhabi in 1964. Shuja Jashanmal, Rao’s grandson, first joined the company in 1987 after graduating from USC in California, initially starting as a salesman, before becoming the cosmetics brand manager. He is now the Group CEO and has overseen the expansion of Jashanmal to cover more than 150 stores in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, and India.