Anastasios George Leventis

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name = Anastasios George Leventis


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birth_date = December 1902
birth_place = Lemythou, Cyprus
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death_date = October 1978
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occupation = Businessman, Leventis Group
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Anastasios George Leventis was a prominent Cypriot businessman who owned a major merchandise trading firm in West Africa.

He started trading at the young age of 18, and rose to become the general manager of G.B. Ollivants in Ghana. [ cite web|url=http://www.agleventis.com/agleventis.shtml |title=Leventis Biography |accessdate=2007-04-26 |publisher=AG Leventis ] In 1937, he left the firm after it was acquired by the United African Company. A.G. Leventis then formed his own company, and started out as a produce buyer, he was partly financed by some Cotton manufacturers in Britain. In late 1940s, United Kingdom authorities imposed a country by country quota on Cotton imported from Africa, this was intended to influence textile and oil seed production in West Africa. The situation created the impetus for A.G. Leventis to establish a branch in Nigeria. In a few years, the company expanded from Cotton exports to merchandise trading. By the 1960s his firm had grown remarkably to become one of the largest distributors in Nigeria and rising to pre-eminence as one of the largest merchandise traders in the West African region. In Nigeria, he re-structured the business from general trading into a specialized trading firm and established various department stores in the country. During this period, he thrived in the country as a result of the nation's relatively open economy as it wasn't until the 1970s that economic nationalism became a dominant initiative. His marketing style also endeared the Leventis name to many customers in Nigeria.

External links

* [http://www.leventisfoundationnigeria.org]

References