Bestway Group has announced that its co-founder, Mohammed Younus Sheikh, has died.
The wholesale giant said it was making the announcement with “great sadness”.
Sheikh, who was 79, known in the industry as Younus, was a central architect of the Bestway business who “played a defining role in shaping the group into one of the UK’s most successful and values-led organisations”, said Bestway.
He originally moved to the UK from Pakistan as a student and went on to join Anwar Pervez in his convenience retail venture, which was founded in 1963. Sheikh is credited with coining the name ‘Bestway’.
He initially served a trading director before moving up to MD, a position he held for 20 years. After that he took up the role of chairman of Bestway Wholesale while continuing as a director of Bestway Cement and Bestway Group.
Bestway said that under his leadership the business “grew significantly in scale, capability and reputation, becoming the UK’s largest independent wholesaler” and that he “was widely admired across the industry for his commercial insight, quiet authority and deep understanding of both customers and colleagues”.
He was a founding trustee of the Bestway Foundation in both the UK and Pakistan, and supported a wide range of charitable causes throughout his life.
Speaking of his long-standing friend and colleague, Anway Pervez said: “Younus stood beside me from the very beginning of our journey. He believed deeply in hard work, fairness and looking after people, and those values helped shape Bestway into what it is today. I will always remember his loyalty, humility and quiet strength, and be grateful for the years we worked side by side.”
No comments yet