Sri Lanka Memon Family Genealogy

SAYANI - Family #280

The progenitor of the Sayani Family in Sri Lanka, Abdul Karim Yoosuf, was an enterprising young man who would not even hesitate to travel to Africa in pursuit of his livelihood during the period of WWII, a risky undertaking which almost cost him his life.

It was at the height of the war in 1942 that Abdul Karim boarded a passenger liner named "Thakliwa", owned by the British India Steam & Navigation Company, bound for Mombasa. The purpose of his voyage was to travel to Iban, in Mombasa, where he was a partner along with his uncle, in a shop dealing with textiles and sundry items. He contended himself with travelling deck class, the fare at that time being around Rs. 60 - food provided. The ship, with 800 passengers, left Bollard Pier, from Bombay on 20 Oct 1942 destined for Mombasa. On the fourth day of the journey, 23 Oct night, a loud blast was heard - a torpedo apparently fired by some Japanese ship or Submarine had struck the liner. Although it is a norm of war that passenger ships should not be attacked, the attack was probably due to an error in the intelligence of the attackers.

Be it as it may, the attack caused considerable panic with people running helter-skelter to save their skins. Abdul Karim also lost no time in donning his life jacket and made his way to a lifeboat. There were seventeen survivors who made it to that boat but eight of them died due to lack of food and water. The first to go was a youth of seventeen years followed by a woman fully adorned with jewelry. Her corpse with all gold intact was thrown into the sea. Having survived for eighty hours under the hot blazing sun with sea water all around, the nine remaining survivors were rescued by a British warship and taken onboard. They were returned back to Bombay Port and kept in quarantine for a day. Abdul Karim, however, won his release after strong argument with the authorities concerned. They eventually released him with a warning not to mention anything about this unfortunate incident. This warning was also given to the other survivors. Some would have revealed it to their kith and kin as Abdul Karim, himself, did. But it never reached the masses until 56 years later when the Gujarati Newspaper, Chitralekha, of 25 May 1998 came out with the story. Such was the life and times of Abdul Karim.

He and his wife Ameena Dada, had between them four sons and three daughters. In 1946, after the end of WWII, the family migrated to Ceylon in search of a new life in the Island. They first settled in the predominantly Moor area of Moor Street in Hultsdorf, not far from Pettah, the commercial hub of Colombo. Their first son, Abdul Sattar, worked for Haji Mohammed & Sons, as a trainee salesman for a monthly salary of Rs. 15. He then moved to Sulaiman Vali Mohammed & Company as an Accountant and later to Vali Mohammed Abdul Rahman & Co as Manager. He became a partner of the firm in 1954 and married Zubeida, the daughter of Aboobucker Hashim Somar. The couple were blessed with four children.

In 1967 Abdul Sattar, popularly known as "Sattar Bhai", started Fergasam Garments, a small scale shirt manufacturing concern then based in Wolfendhal Street, Hultsdorf, with ten pedal operated machines. The venture initially manufactured garments for the local market, and, in 1972 began exporting shirts to Sweden. The Company, now, with heavy duty machines, soon expanded to serve the entire island with high quality shirts. It also captured the export market for readymade garments within a decade of its establishment. In 1983, Abdul Sattar, bought over Timex Garments, formerly owned by a fellow Memon, Sattar Gadit, making him one of the country's leading garment manufacturers. His two companies, now known as the Fergasam-Timex Group, expanded further, in the turn of the century, to cope with rapidly increasing orders placed by buyers from Europe and the USA. The Group, presently, runs ten factories and employs 5,000 employees, including 40 Memons whom it actively encourages to join. It specializes in dresses and lingerie doing business with up-market customers in Europe, like Marks & Spencer and Victoria Secret and earns an annual turnover of US $50 Million.

Abdul Sattars, three sons, Ashroff, Anis & Arshard, who had throughout supported the untiring efforts of their father in founding the Sayani Garment Empire, have now inherited their fathers legacy. Ashroff, as the eldest serves as the Chairman, while his brothers, Anis and Arshard and his mother Zubeida, serve as Directors of the Group. His daughter, Zaitoon, like her three brothers, is also involved in the garment business, and presently heads Asims Fashion. She began her first tailoring venture in 1987, turning out Shalwar Kameez and Saree Blouses, and later went on to establish a showroom for high fashion Sari's and Shalwar Kameez fabric sets at Havelock Road, near Police Park.

Abdul Karims second son, Abdul Ghaffar, joined his father in his textile business A K Yoosuf & Sons, and later, along with his younger brother Abdul Razzak, started Sigiri Weaving Mills. Abdul Ghaffar's eldest son, Aslam, is presently Managing Director of Sigiri Exports (pvt) Ltd. His youngest son, Altaf, is the Managing Director of Sigiri Weaving Mills. In March 2004, Abdul Razzak left Sigiri Weaving Mills to start Sigiri Textile Industries (pvt) Ltd. which took over the weaving, dyeing and finishing functions of Sigiri Weaving Mills, which now only deals in knitted fabric. He has also involved himself in social activities and is presently Vice President of the Memon Association of Sri Lanka.

Abdul Aziz, younger brother of Abdul Razzak, besides being a partner of Sigiri Weaving Mills, also has a stake in H A Dada & Company.

Another branch of the Sayani's traces its origins to Abdul Latif, who went on to form a well known local textile firm, A L Essack & Company. One of his sons, Mohammed Rafik, s the Director of Hawai & Company, which deals in electronic items. Abdul Latif's son, Abdullah, had a daughter Zaitoon, who qualified as a teacher, and has taught in several Government Schools in Colombo and the provinces including distant Pallivasalthurai in the Puttalam District.

1A  Sayani

    2  Abdul Karim Yoosuf Sayani + Ameena Dada

        3  Abdul Sattar Abdul Karim Sayani, d:1980 educated at Zahira College, Colombo, left school before he could attend University on account of his responsibilities towards his family. + Zubeida Somar d:1984 (285), m:1954

            4  Ashroff Abdul Sattar Sayani

            4  Anis Abdul Sattar Sayani

            4  Arshard Abdul Sattar Sayani

            4  Zaitoon Nissa Abdul Sattar Sayani

        3  Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Karim Sayani

            4  Aslam Abdul Ghaffar Sayani

            4  Altaf Abdul Ghaffar Sayani

        3  Abdul Razzak Abdul Karim Sayani

        3  Abdul Azeez Abdul Karim Sayani + Rashida Abdul Latif

            4  Mubeena Karim Sayani + Muneer
            4  Khatija Karim Sayani

        3  Zaiboon Nissa Abdul Karim Sayani + Hafeez Abdul Rahman Nagariya, b:1951 (287)

        3  daughter

        3  daughter

another branch of the Sayani family, where links of which to the former are not known.

1B  Sayani

    2  Abdul Latif Sayani

        3  Mohammed Rafik Abdul Latif Sayani

        3  Abdullah Abdul Latif Sayani

            4  Zaitoon Abdullah Sayani, teacher

Compiled by the Webmaster of the Sri Lanka Genealogy Website from available data in Sri Lankan archives together with data extracted from "Memons of Sri Lanka" - Men Memoirs Milestones, by Asiff Hussein & Hameed Karim Bhoja, May 2006, iSBN 955-1408-00-4, Published by The Memon Association of Sri Lanka