When Aldo Bensadoun walks into a room, he lights it up with an electrifying smile and his infectious positive energy rubs off on everyone in his orbit. As the founder and executive chairman of the Aldo Group, a privately held footwear and accessories company with over 2,000 stores across the globe in 95 countries, who can blame Bensadoun for his cheerful disposition? He’s a much admired self-made businessman and philanthropist who is also humble and unaffected and has his two well-shod feet securely planted on terra firma.
Dressed in a natty monochromatic navy get up, Bensadoun was in town recently for the opening of Aldo’s latest store in Suria KLCC, its 16th one in Malaysia. When I ask him how he built a worldwide shoe empire from Montreal, Canada, he looks at me quizzically and replies in a calm and unhurried tone.