k Kamran Mahmood · London
London terraces — Wimbledon-era residential streets
Vol. I    Chapter one — the personal story About Born Lahore · raised Wimbledon
About · the working life

About Kamran.

A short biography in five parts — birth in Lahore, childhood in Wimbledon, the years at Holy Trinity and Queen Mary, a quiet rise through City banking, and the sport that has always run alongside.

Kamran Mahmood was born in Lahore in late October 1968. A few weeks later the family flew to London — his father had been posted to the Pakistani Embassy. The family of seven shared two rooms in Southfields, then drifted through houseshares in Wimbledon. By 1972 they owned a house in Wimbledon Park, though they let the upper floor to make the numbers work.

It is, in retrospect, a fairly complete origin story. The household understanding of property — as shelter, as income, as a quiet way out of a tight spot — has stayed with him for the better part of fifty years.

A row of London terraces Southfields · 1968
Two rooms in a houseshare, then Wimbledon Park by 1972 — letting the upper floor.

Childhood, education and the years before MiNC.

1978
Wimbledon ·  loss & survival

His father died in 1978. He was nine.

Holy Trinity School near Sloane Square — admitted out of catchment because of his father's embassy role — would remain his school as the family moved between Wimbledon, Clapham and back. In 1977 his father bought a single investment property at auction in Wandsworth. A year later he was gone.

There was no income to speak of. His older brother had to petition the council for free school meals and rail passes. A family friend gave them a year of free groceries.

"After probate my mother reinvested the proceeds into more property. It was the decision that set the trajectory of everything that followed."
A quiet residential street South-west London · the 1970s
Old hardback books Queen Mary · Mile End Road

Bridge, mathematics, a 2:2 — and the seminars he ran for friends.

He performed adequately academically and prioritised cricket and the family's property dealings. He once skipped school to attend the 1979 World Cup semi-final at the Oval — West Indies vs Pakistan — to the considerable displeasure of the headmaster.

His mother insisted on university. Through clearing he read Mathematics at Queen Mary College, finishing with a 2:2. The seminars he ran for classmates, however, produced better results than his own — a useful preview of the day-job to come.

Beyond the syllabus he taught bridge to most of his A-level cohort at Holy Trinity, and at Chelsea Bridge Club he picked up youth world ranking points.

He met his future wife, Geti, in his first week at Queen Mary.

1986
London ·  Queen Mary
1992
The City ·  banking

GE Capital, Hill Samuel, Paribas, Industrial Bank of Japan.

His first job after university — at an accountancy firm — ended badly after six months and a failed exam. He worked back up: accounts clerk at GE Capital, then financial accountant at Hill Samuel Asset Finance, handling accounts and audits for 18 leasing companies during the firm's work supporting Tesco's expansion.

Where colleagues took long lunches in the 1990s drinking culture, Mahmood read computer system manuals. He worked out how to integrate Lotus 123 with Sun Accounts so journals posted automatically — a small, useful trick that, in 1994, was novel.

"At Paribas the same instinct solved a multi-currency reporting problem. At the Industrial Bank of Japan it gave me back enough afternoons to start MiNC."

Studying for the ACCA in parallel, he eventually left banking entirely when MiNC could no longer be run on stolen afternoons.

City of London skyscrapers The City · early 1990s

The other half of the working life.

"My biggest passion in life, outside of my family and the businesses, is sport. It's where most of what I know about teams I learned the hard way."

Cricket field

Cricket

Spencer CC · 1st & 2nd XI

The bug bit at six, watching the 1979 World Cup semi-final at The Oval. He played for Spencer CC's 1st and 2nd XI, captained the 2nd XI for a season, and holds a Level-One coaching certificate. Summers as a teenager were spent stewarding at Lord's and The Oval.

Football stadium under lights

Liverpool FC

Anfield · since childhood

One televised performance in childhood was enough; he has been at Anfield as a regular ever since. The team has changed several times over; the allegiance has not. There is, he notes, a separate but related management curriculum in supporting a football club for fifty years.

Forest path

Running

Wimbledon Common · most mornings

These days it is mostly running on Wimbledon Common — for the flexibility and independence, though he misses the dressing room. The research, he likes to point out, suggests fit men earn 14–17% more than less active counterparts. He has been on the right side of either reading.

"One management style doesn't work for every person. That is the lesson of a season as captain — and of every business since."
— Kamran Mahmood
Continue
Next — the forty-year history of MiNC Property.
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