Luciano Hang: Havan for shoppers

In 2024, retail magnate Luciano Hang is firmly entrenched in the club of the top 20 richest people in Brazil – and he’s not afraid to flaunt his wealth. The owner of a pilot’s license, Havan’s corporate headquarters in his hometown of Brusque boasts an airstrip and a hangar capable of accommodating his fleet of private jets and helicopters. With an estimated fortune of $2.1 billion the co-founder and CEO of the Havan chain of department stores has come a long way from his modest upbring in the 1970s.

Luciano Hang was born in 1962 in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. He inherited a strong work ethic from his factory-worker parents. His entrepreneurial desire exhibited itself at an early stage. Hang sold biscuits at school throughout his childhood, honing his skills as a salesman while most boys his age were kicking footballs against walls in their spare time. At the age of 17, he joined the company where his parents worked, the Carlos Renaux Fabric Factory.

Hang couldn’t read or write until he was 12. He found out much later in life that he suffered from dyslexia. After discovering this, he campaigned to improve public awareness of the disorder, which affects between 5% and 17% of Brazil’s population. He was a dedicated student, completing his compulsory education well enough to be able to continue his studies at the Regional University of Blumenau, where he graduated as a data-processing technician.

Entrepreneurial flair
At the age of 21, while he was still working in the shirt factory, he and his cousins bought Tecelagem Santa Cruz, a disused factory. Together, they got it up and running 24 hours a day. The experience gained during this period was pivotal to his entrepreneurial career, later giving rise to what would become Havan.

In the mid-1980s Hang and his then business partner, Vanderlei de Limas, realized Brazilians were spending more on clothes, and they decided to open a shop to feed this demand. So, in 1986, the duo set up Havan, whose name comes from two founder’s first names. Hang would later buy out Vanderlei’s share of the business, becoming Havan’s sole owner.

"Havan is one of the largest retail chains in Brazil, with 176 megastores spread across the country"

The success of the business and the need to sell new types of products led the company to move to larger premises in 1989. In 1995, the first Havan megastore was opened in the city of Curitiba, which now has largest concentration of Havan outlets in the country. The company soon expanded its operations to other cities in the south of the country, such as Balneário Camboriú, Criciúma, Curitiba, Florianópolis and Joinville.

Shopper's paradise
Today, Havan is one of the largest retail chains in Brazil, with 176 megastores spread across the country. Each one is built to the same template, with a White House-style facade and a replica of the Statue of Liberty at the entrance. The Havan concept is simple: provide vast array of products under one roof – including clothing, bed and bath items, appliances, food, toys, sports and leisure goods – at a price few competitors can match.

Hang’s entrepreneurial expertise and knack for identifying market trends played a pivotal role in ensuring Havan’s rapid growth. Indeed, his business acumen and strategic vision has extended beyond hypermarkets. The 61-year-old owns hydro-electric power plants, gas stations, has an extensive real-estate empire, and even his own investment fund.

Speaking of investment, Havan’s IPO was canceled twice. The first attempt occurred in 2020, during the pandemic, when Hang himself pulled the plug on it, as investors would not agree to value the company at around R$100 billion, as he desired. There was a second abortive IPO 2021, the company this time getting cold feet about going public altogether.

Aside from the aforementioned work with dyslexia awareness, Hang has contributed to a number of worthy causes in recent years, from church restorations to Covid and disaster relief. 

Havan’s corporate focus is on continuing to expand its presence in new cities. The company’s strength in the Brazilian market is particularly linked to its operations in smaller towns, where the stores also function as a sort of entertainment destination for the local population.