Born in Lyallpur, India in 1920, Mr. Ashraf Riaz graduated from the prestigious Government College Lahore before starting his career as a clerk in a government office in Calcutta. He later joined Isphani and Co., a famous tea company. Following the partition of India in 1947, he moved to Karachi and remained with the Isphani group, managing their airline business, Orient Airways, which eventually became Pakistan International Airlines.
Despite having an entrepreneurial spirit, it wasn’t until 1949, encouraged by his colleagues and family, that Mr. Riaz laid the foundation for Imrooz. He set up a small office in Karachi, in what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), selling bicycle spare parts. Over the years, under his leadership, Imrooz expanded into industrial raw material agency representation, trading, and milk-food manufacturing in the early ‘70s.
Although Mr. Riaz’s untimely death in 1974 was a significant setback for the family, he left behind a strong legacy and values that his sons carried forward for future generations. The Ashraf Riaz family business is now recognized as a well-established and successful business endeavour, led with integrity and high values.
Currently, the business is entering its third generation, with Mr. Ashraf Riaz’s grandchildren being inducted into the company under a carefully managed programme supervised by his three sons and current directors, Mr. Naveed Riaz, Mr. Ateed Riaz, and Mr. Ameed Riaz, to carry on the family legacy.
Imrooz is the main driving force behind the formation of COMP (Collective Organization for Music Rights in Pakistan) under the guidance of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) and CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers).
Imrooz enters the FMCG distribution area with exclusive representation of prestigious international consumer product brands.
The Milk business decides to invest in a state-of-the-art milk powder factory under a technology agreement with Niro A.S. the Danish world leader in such plants.
The Directors of Imrooz become one of the founding directors of The Citizens Foundation (TCF), a not-for-profit civil society organization that wants to construct and manage purpose built schools in less privileged areas all across Pakistan.
Imrooz acquire over 90% shareholding of EMI (Pakistan) Limited, the country’s oldest and largest music company and a member of the EMI Music worldwide conglomerate. First Imrooz Modaraba, is floated on the Karachi Stock Exchange. It is one of the 500 companies quoted on the Exchange. Imrooz Modaraba is voted one of the top 25 companies of Karachi Stock Exchange, the first of several similar annual awards.
The Milk business is spun-off under a separate management structure, but still within the extended family.
A new business of the Import, Warehousing and Distribution of Industrial Raw Materials started by Imrooz: Industries serviced are Personal Care Household, Paints Coating, Food Pharmaceutical, Textiles, Agro Pesticides, Tobacco, Fishing and Leather.
A joint venture with Horlicks, UK, sees establishment of a factory to manufacture milk foods for the first time in Pakistan.
Imrooz acquire the Pakistan interest of G. Atherton & Co., a 100 year old Liverpool based company, which had offices in India and Pakistan. To merge both houses, a new entity Atherton & Imrooz is formed. This company then goes on to specialize in representing quality foreign Industrial Raw Material Manufacturers.
Imrooz starts as a small company shipping goods from West Pakistan to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
