Who We Are

Born in 1909 in Egypt, Loutfy Mansour founded and began building the family business empire. He was educated internationally and in 1933 was awarded a BA at St. John’s College, Cambridge.

After Cambridge, he returned to Egypt, held various government positions, including Under-Secretary for The Ministry of Agriculture, specialising in the export of Egyptian cotton. In 1948, he resigned from his senior government positions to transfer his expertise to the private sector. In 1952, he created a successful business in cotton exporting, and Loutfy Mansour and Sons was established. This company quickly became a very successful cotton exporting enterprise and gained international acclaim. Demand from global markets such as the USA, the Soviet Union, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Europe established Egyptian cotton as a luxury good.

In 1964, the Egyptian President Nasser and his government nationalised the major industries including cotton. The government totally confiscated the Mansour Family’s businesses and their assets sequestrated. In 1973, the new Egyptian government under President Sadat returned the cotton business and assets to the Mansour Family.

In 1968, the President of Sudan engaged Loutfy to upgrade his country’s cotton industry. In the early 1970s, Loutfy opened an office in Geneva, Switzerland, from which he expanded his cotton brokerage business internationally while continuing to develop Sudanese exports.

In 1975, Loutfy’s business character and values of integrity, hard work and confidence inspired him to return to Egypt and branch out into a new industry. He soon established a successful and powerful partnership with General Motors.

Loutfy Mansour died in 1976 and left his business empire to his four sons, Ismail, Youssef, Mohamed and Yasseen, and his daughter, Rawya.