M.A. Yusuff Ali

Middle East retail king M.A. Yusuff Ali presides over $8.1 billion (revenue) LuLu Group, with 152 stores in the Gulf region and elsewhere.Hailing from a village in Kerala state in south India, Yusuff Ali left for Abu Dhabi in 1973 to join his uncle's small distribution business.The group's hospitality arm's assets include the Caledonian, a former Victorian railway hotel, overlooking Edinburgh Castle.Yusuff Ali is investing back home in a big way, earmarking more than $2 billion to build hotels, malls and convention centers, among much else.After floods hit his native Kerala state in August 2018, he donated $2.6 million towards rehabilitation.