Anastasios George Leventis

Anastasios George Leventis
Born	December 1902 Lemythou, Cyprus
Died	October 1978
Occupation	Entrepreneur, founder and owner of Leventis Group

Anastasios George Leventis (Greek: Αναστάσιος Γ. Λεβέντης; December 1902 – October 1978) was a Cypriot businessman who founded a major merchandise trading firm, A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) Plc, in West Africa.

He started trading at the age of 18, and rose to become the general manager of G. B. Ollivant in Ghana. In 1937, he left the firm after it was acquired by the United African Company. Leventis then formed his own company and started out as a produce buyer, partly financed by some British cotton manufacturers.

In the late 1940s, the UK authorities imposed a country by country quota on cotton imported from Africa, which was intended to influence textile and oil seed production in West Africa. The situation created the impetus for A.G. Leventis to establish a branch in Nigeria, called A.G. Leventis Nigeria Plc. Within a few years the company expanded its business line from cotton exports to merchandise trading. By the 1960s his firm had grown to become one of the largest distributors in Nigeria and one of the largest merchandise traders in the West African region. In Nigeria, he re-structured the business from general trading into a specialized trading firm and established various department stores. During this period, he thrived as a result of the nation's relatively open economy, as it was not until the 1970s that economic nationalism became a dominant initiative. His marketing style made the Leventis name familiar to many customers in Nigeria.

After his death in 1978, the A.G. Leventis Foundation was established in 1979. It has a primary focus on the cultural heritage of Cyprus and Greece, especially reflected in its collections of Cypriot antiquities displayed in several museums around the world, its restoration of cultural monuments, and its sponsorship of scholarships for postgraduate work in several fields including archeology and agriculture. The foundation also sponsors work in the areas of environmental protection and medical research.

In 1987 the A.G. Leventis Gallery was opened in the British Museum, to display Cypriot antiquities from the early Bronze Age to the Roman era. In 1997, a similar display was opened at the Fitzwilliam Museum, and in 2000 another at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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