In 1936, after completing military service, he married Mah Soltan, a first cousin from his mother’s side, and opened a business in bazaar, importing watches and women’s hats. He and his brothers later opened a larger importing business. As oil revenues, and its middle class, grew, so did the demand for foreign-made products such as textiles, washing machines and kitchen appliances, and the Elghanians’ firm continued to expand. In 1948, Elghanian began manufacturing plastic items. He began simply, with combs and buttons. Petroleum was cheap and this business too flourished. By the early 1960s, Plascokar, as the company was called, was using between 60,000 and 70,000 tons of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, every day in its factories.
