Meet Dubai shoe king who helped build Landmark empire while partying in his mansion's own nightclub

Dubai: As Manu Jeswani lounges in the lavish living room of his Dh170 million Emirates Hills mega-mansion — complete with a basement nightclub, a spa to rival any five-star resort, and interiors that scream quiet luxury — it’s not the bling that defines him.

Check out Manu Jeswani's incredible Dubai success story:

It’s the hustle that started in a cramped shared bedroom in Bahrain, the fire in his belly, and a refusal to settle for less.

“I landed in Bahrain in 1978 with just Dh900 and a sales job,” Jeswani says in an exclusive interview with Gulf News.

“My wife and I shared a tiny room. Staying grounded wasn’t a choice — it was survival. But even when life got big, we kept that mindset.”

When he moved to Dubai in 1990, he opened the first Shoe Mart multi-brand store under the Landmark Group — a move that would go on to shape the GCC’s retail landscape.

“I knew I needed at least a two-bedroom apartment by then,” he laughs. “But nothing came overnight. It took years of sacrifice, sleeping on floors, and sheer hard work.”

Jeswani is disarmingly candid about his relationship with money.

“It’s not how much you make, it’s how well you manage it,” he says. “We come from a middle-class background. Even today, we don’t throw money around."

And he warns all those who live life on credit and credit cards.

“There’s no such thing as free credit,” he warns. “Don’t live beyond your means — live well, but within your limits.”

He’s fiercely proud of building a business based on value for money.

“We always believed in creating exceptional value for consumers. You need to dirty your hands, go to the store, understand your customer. That’s how you grow.”

His wife, Sapna, plays a pivotal role in keeping him anchored. “She once gave me a card when I opened my first store — it said ‘Stay grounded.’ He lost that card during a fire in a mall, but he will never forget her words.

"Success must never go to your head and she keeps me happy, grounded.”

“Even today, I ask myself — how can I do better? That hunger has to stay alive,” he adds. Incidentally, at the end of this interview, he was off for a quick meeting in a Green Bentley.

Jeswani also credits his mentor Mickey Jagtiani for teaching him how to turn vision into action. “He was a visionary. But more importantly, he showed me how to execute that vision. Passion means nothing if you don’t act on it.”

As the eldest son in a large family, responsibility came early. “I had three sisters and two brothers. Supporting them gave me purpose,” he says. “I knew I had to become something.”

Family remains his anchor. “We take holidays together. My friends have become family, and my family are my best friends,” he says. “At the end of the day, what else really matters?”

And though his mansion may scream luxury, Jeswani’s approach to life remains strikingly humble. “You work for decades, and yes, you build something beautiful for your family,” he says, looking around his home. “But money comes and goes. Family stays. That’s your real wealth.”