Veyseloğlu Group

Veyseloğlu Group of Companies is Azerbaijan's largest fast-moving consumer goods group, founded on 5 November 1994 by entrepreneur Aydin Talibov and headquartered in Baku. The group combines nationwide import and distribution of food and consumer goods with the country's two biggest grocery retail networks, its own food manufacturing plants and a large logistics operation, making it one of the largest employers in Azerbaijan's non-oil sector with more than 25,000 employees. Its operations cover Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The group's original core business is distribution: Veyseloğlu represents and distributes leading international brands such as Nestlé, Mars and LEGO across Azerbaijan, with a logistics fleet reported to cover more than 64,000 kilometres daily and to reach retail outlets in every region of the country. This makes the group a key route-to-market partner for international FMCG suppliers entering the Azerbaijani market.

In retail, Veyseloğlu operates the Araz supermarket chain, with roughly 400 stores and over 12,000 employees, and the OBA discount chain, launched in 2016, which has grown to more than 1,600 locations employing around 10,000 people — OBA reports having expanded its scale 16-fold over ten years. The group also runs 41 Rossmann drugstores in Azerbaijan under partnership with the German chain, and the Entrée café-bakery chain in food service. Combined, the group's own store network exceeds 2,000 selling points spanning supermarket, discount/proximity and drugstore formats.

In manufacturing, the group owns the Ulduz Chocolate Factory in Baku's Keshla district — one of the largest confectionery producers in the Caucasus, with an annual capacity of around 15,000 tonnes of chocolates, caramels, dragees, waffles and jellies, the first BRC Grade A certification in Azerbaijan (plus IFS, ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and Halal), and exports to more than 20 countries including Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It also operates the Khoncha bakery/confectionery factory and bottled-water production, supported by EBRD-backed investments of 22 million manats in modernisation.

As buyer, the group sources a very broad FMCG assortment — ambient grocery, confectionery, beverages, dairy, household and personal care (including drugstore assortment for Rossmann) — both for its distribution portfolio and for its Araz and OBA retail banners, which carry private-label and imported ranges. In 2025 Veyseloğlu became the first Azerbaijani FMCG group to join the UN Global Compact.