The Company, MOHAMED MUSTAFA & SAMSUDDIN CO. PTE LTD, started rather modestly way back in 1971. At the time it was known as MUSTAQ AHMAD. It occupied a rented area that was less than three hundred square feet at Campbell Lane with a staff complement of six individuals. 

Two years later in 1973, due to the inevitable consequence of expansion from its mainly ready-made garment business, the concern shifted into larger premises along Serangoon Road and was re-named as MOHAMED MUSTAFA & SAMSUDDIN CO. PTE LTD partly to honour the founder’s father and his cousin.

Business expanded rapidly in terms of volume and product categories at the Serangoon shop houses with the attendant dramatic increase in staff members. The business swiftly redefined itself into a compact department store with an ever-growing number of regular customers. From its traditional rag trade diversification flowed into the business streams of footwear, small electrical appliances, electronics and confectionery items.

The next milestone was reached when it relocated for a second time in 1985 to Serangoon Plaza to accommodate the break-neck speed growth of its business. The operation witnessed a dramatic leap in the width of its clientele to a more international mix. By this time it was gaining a ‘must see’ reputation in the retail industry in Singapore for variety and good value and this in turn attracted many established and new vendors to move in their wares into MOHAMED MUSTAFA & SAMSUDDIN CO. PTE LTD.

It was always the strategic intent of the founder, Mustaq Ahmad to enable the Company to own its business premises to blunt the venerability of rented space and this aspiration was realized in 1996 when MUSTAFA CENTRE opened its doors to an enthusiastic crowd of fervent shoppers.

The Company, now more popularly called MUSTAFA’S is truly a retail icon in Southeast Asia with a reputation that has spread beyond the region to Australia, Europe, the Middle-east, South Africa and the entire Indian Subcontinent. It can boast of a product portfolio of over two hundred thousand items of every category of consumer goods from edibles to disposables, white goods, hardware, apparels, spices and aromatics, toiletries, confectioneries and the list seems to be unending. Its current retailing expanse of over three hundred thousand square feet of burgeoning space will by year-end increase by another eighty thousand square feet or 27 percent. Its present staff strength of over thirteen hundred would certainly see another leap by year end.

MUSTAFA’S spectacular growth and legendry success has sparked and stoked the vibrancy of Singapore’s “Little India” in many ways. From an area that was much regarded as a sleepy hollow and inert shanty district the precinct is now beaming with life and activity both day and night. It has become a major tourist haunt and a promising location for employment and business opportunities. Ask any taxi driver in Singapore about ‘Little India’ and it is almost certain that he or she would refer to the area’s unmistakeable landmark, MUSTAFA’S.

Many have wondered about the Company’s formula for success, which is quite difficult to pin-down but it should be found inside an enormous heap that is a mix of gifted imagination, keen perception of consumer needs, a good sense of fair pricing, a broad spectrum of choice, lots of foresight and commercial audacity. Ultimately, in sustaining any business it is largely about having adequate customer interest and support constantly. More than fifteen thousand shoppers troop into MUSTAFA’S daily.

The first thirty-nine years of the Company’s history has yielded spectacular achievement and prosperity, which Singaporeans can be proud of. It was a dramatic transformation of an innocuous retail entity to an internationally acclaimed icon. How is it going to fare in the long term is highly dependent on its ability to stay relevant and be undaunted by future challenges. Much is also allied to the prospects of the Nation and its crucial success. MUSTAFA’S management and staff are united in their firm resolve to continue the tradition of successful enterprise to better their lot as well as the Nation’s because the destinies of Company and Nation are inextricably intertwined and inseparable.