Sri Lanka Memon Family Genealogy

SOMAR- Family #285

The Somar family traces its origins to Hassam Somar, whose son Aboobucker, a native of Ranavav, had two wives, Khadija and Mariyam, from whom he had three sons, Yusuf, Sulaiman (from Khadija) and Habib (from Mariyam).

Farook Somar, son of Yusuf, joined his family business, Noorani's at Wellawatte, after leaving Royal College in 1968. Thereafter he joined Fergasam Industries as Factory Manager in 1978 and was later made a partner. In 1999, he started his own garment factory, Nasna Impex Garment Industries, and in 2000, Tulip Apparel (pvt) Ltd., in partnership with Iqbal Habib.

Hanif, second son of Yusuf Somar, was a bright student at Colombo's prestigious Royal College, but left school at the age of 17 to pursue a compelling interest in "doing business" armed with only a GCE O Level Certificate and a gritty determination to make it big. Looking back, Hanif has no regrets, although it brought to a premature end a very promising academic career. His involvement with the Memon run Expolanka Group helped him realize what no laurels in the world of academia could have given him. He was soon giving his best to the Group and was responsible for many of Expolanka's ventures into Shipping and Aviation related activities, ranging from his core business of International Forwarding to airline operations, General Sales Agencies for Airlines and Courier Business. In fact he was the man behind the establishment of twelve companies, including among others, Expolanka Freight Ltd, which is the number IATA Agent in Sri Lanka, Classic Travels (pvt) Ltd, which is ranked among the top 5 travel and tour operators in Sri Lanka, and Expo Aviation (pvt) Ltd., one of the few local airline operators operating in Sri Lanka. He was also responsible for various overseas ventures such as Expo Express (pvt) Ltd., India, Expolanka Pakistan Ltd., and Expo Services, Maldives. Hanif serves as Managing Director of all the locally based companies and as Chairman in all the overseas subsidiaries. He also founded SkyCare (pvt) Ltd., and Globe Air (pvt) Ltd., who handle cargo for leading airlines of the world, viz; Royal Jordanian Airlines, and Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Aboobucker, third son of Yusuf Somar, received his bachelors degree in Business from Golden Gate University San Fransisco. Attached to the Expolanka Group of Companies, he is Managing Director Denshun Industries (pvt) Ltd., which manufactures childrens' garments and he also serves as Director Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT).

Habib Somar, son of Aboobukcer and Mariyam, moved to Sri Lanka at the age of 11 and attended Zahira College, Colombo. he soon distinguished himself as an able Table Tennis player and at the young age of 16 was ranked the #1 Table Tennis player in Sri Lanka. Habib subsequently moved into business and managed Somar Textiles, then based in Kollupitiya. He married Noor Jahan Omar at the age of 26 and together they had three wonderful kids, Azam, Zuleikha, and Moinuddin. Habib left this world on July 2 2005, leaving behind many loved ones who still remember him with much love.

1 Somar

    2  Hassam Somar

        3 Aboobucker Somar + Khadija

 4 Yusuf Aboobucker Somar

5 Farook Yusuf Somar

5 Hanif Yusuf Somar

5 Aboobucker Yusuf Somar

4 Sulaiman Aboobucker Somar

        3 2nd spouse of Aboobucker Somar + Mariyam

4 Habib Aboobucker Somar + Noor Jahan Omar

 5 Azam Habib Somar

5 Zuleikha Habib Somar

5 Moinuddin Habib Somar

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