For many people who grew up in Kuwait, KITCO crisps are a familiar part of childhood. The brand was built over more than half a century by Dhiraj Oberoi, one of the founders of the Kuwait Indo Trading Company (KITCO).
Oberoi co-founded KITCO in 1962. It began as a food trading warehouse and moved into manufacturing and distribution in 1976. The business was a partnership with the Al Wazzan family, the founders of Mezzan Holding, and together they later built other household brands, including Kuwait Biscuit Company and Gulf Pastry Manufacturing Company, known for Sara Cake.
The step into manufacturing marked a turning point. KITCO and the Al Wazzans had been importing crisps into Kuwait, and when shipments were disrupted, they decided to open a local factory.
It opened in 1976 using machinery imported from the Netherlands. The Indian Business Council in Kuwait has honoured Oberoi for opening the country’s first snack factory.
In a Times Kuwait interview, Oberoi recalled coming to Kuwait from New Delhi as a teenager. When his father, who ran a grocery shop there, fell ill, he gave up his education to take over the shop.
He described the move from trading into manufacturing as daunting, with a steep learning curve and tight finances, and credited the backing of the Al Wazzan family and his brother Sudhir, who later joined the business.
He also said the company’s first product, KITCO Rings, was the first of its kind in the region.
The business survived major setbacks. Oberoi has described how the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait halted the company’s factories and caused heavy losses, and said the company chose to rebuild rather than dwell on what had been lost.
In June 2014, Mezzan Holding bought the Oberoi family’s 49% stake in KITCO Group, making it a wholly owned subsidiary, while keeping the family on as operators. Mezzan now describes itself as one of the Gulf’s largest manufacturers and distributors of food, beverage, consumer and pharmaceutical products.
Oberoi’s link with the group has continued. In May 2024, Mezzan expanded its board from five to seven seats and appointed him a non-executive director. Shareholders re-elected him in April 2025 for a three-year term.
Beyond his own company, Oberoi was the first chairman of the Indian Business Council in Kuwait, working to strengthen business ties between India and Kuwait. In 2014, Forbes Middle East named him among the top 100 Indian leaders in the Arab world.
He has credited KITCO’s success to hard work, ethics and his staff rather than to himself. He has said he believes in promoting capable people from within, so that someone who starts as a salesman can become a sales manager.
His advice to young entrepreneurs is to find work they love, as he put it: “Without passion, there is nothing.”