Mr M.C. Jacob was the founder of the Anna Kitex Group and one of Kerala's pioneering industrialists. He founded the Anna Aluminium Company in 1968 with eight employees at Kizhakkambalam, then a sleepy village on the eastern side of Kochi.
In 1949, Shri V.C. Padmanabhan established Manappuram in the coastal village of Valapad where people mostly depended on fishing for a livelihood. The firm carried out money lending and pawn broking on a modest scale. In 1986, Shri V.C. Padmanabhan passed away.