The Superior Holdings Group of companies was founded in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) in 1967 by Manuel Coelho da Costa, a recent immigrant from Portugal. The first company in the Group was Superior Footwear (Private) Limited, a manufacturing operation dedicated to ladies fashion footwear. By 1972 two additional companies had been formed, one to manufacture shoe components and the other, Imponente Tanning (Private) Limited, to produce finished leather.