Melcom founder Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani dies at 84

The Founder and Chairman of Melcom Group of Companies, Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani is dead.

The business mogul died on January 25, 2021, at the age of 84.

According to Daily Guide, he died at the Nyaho Medical Centre in Accra after suffering from COVID-19.

Recently, he was honoured as Ghana’s Greatest Entrepreneur of All Time at the  Ghana Entrepreneur and Corporate Executive Awards.

His father Ramchand Khubchandani arrived in the then Gold Coast in 1929 as a 14-year-old to work as a store boy.

After 17 years he started Glamour, a retail store, with his younger brother. In 1948, the brothers made huge losses during the Christianborg Crossroad Shootings.

In 1955 they managed to recoup and diversified in garment manufacturing that employed about 1200 Ghanaians. During “Operation Feed Yourself” under Colonel I.K. Acheampong’s regime, the brother started a poultry farm, Glamour Poultry as a condition to keep their business running.

Mr Khubchandani came to Ghana in the 60s at the invitation of his father and was well established as the then joint Managing Director of Glamour Stores.

He started Melcom in 1989 with his sons-in-law Ramesh Sadhwani and Mahesh Melwan.

Melcolm has evolved over the years to have six subsidiaries.

These include Melcom Limited, Century Industries Limited, Crown Star Electronic Industries Limited, Melcom Hospitality, Melcom Travels, and Melcom Care Foundation.

Melcom Group is best known for its retail superstores, Melcom Limited. As Ghana’s largest chain of retail department stores and counting, Melcom offers thousands of products and hundreds of well-known brands.

Godwin Avenorgbo, the Director of Communication of Melcom Group of Companies, who announced the death said Mr Khubchandani “was a leader who believed in work and service and has often told staff of Melcom that God willing he would work till the last day that God would call him”.

Malcolm’s history of challenges 

In 2012 Melcom suffered two major accidents. On November 7, 2012, a Melcom Limited shop in Achimota collapsed and trapped the people within.

NADMO organised a rescue mission which resulted in 82 including 14 dead persons, pulled out of the rubble.

Melcom had been operating in the building, which it said it had rented, only since January 2012. Reports suggested that the building had structural defects owing to lack of adherence to building codes and use of improper materials.

Efforts were made by the group to compensate the victims and their families including issuing scholarships for the wards of employees.

Melcom also fulfilled the required compensation payment as determined by the medical authorities and labour office as stated by the Workman’s Compensation Act.

On December 22, 2012, Melcom suffered another major accident when a Melcom Limited shop in Agona Swedru in the Central Region was burnt down.

There were no casualties but adjoining warehouses stocked with items for Christmas were also burnt down.