Sri Lanka Memon Family Genealogy

FATANI- Family #283

The Fatani's of Sri Lanka trace their ancestry to two brothers, Tayoob and Abdul Ghany, both of whom hailed from the village of Wadasada near Kutiyana. Tayoob was married to Noorbhai and had a son named Abdul Latif. On Tayoobs death, his wife Noorbhai married his brother Abdul Ghany.

Abdul Latif arrived in Ceylon in 1939 and began trading in textiles between Kandy and Gampola. He subsequently opened a textile shop in Gampola which was named after himself. In 1942, with the Japanese bombing of the island, he returned home and three years later, came back to Ceylon, bringing his family along with him, which included his two sons Ibrahim and Abdul Karim. He opened a shop in Kandy, in 1942, which he named Abdul Latif Tayoob & Sons, and later, after having performed the Pilgrimage of Hajj, renamed it Haji Abdul Latif Tayoob & Sons or HALT.

Abdul Latif passed away in 1958. He left the business in the hands of his son Ibrahim, who continued with it till 1978 where he died in Madinah. Ibrahim married Mariyam Bhai Toofani and had three sons named, Abdul Hafiz, Farook, and Abdul Ghaffar, who jointly ran the business till 1987 when they moved to Second Cross Street Pettah in Colombo.

Haji Abdul Rahman, son of Abdul Ghani and Noorbhai, first worked at Abdul Latif Sulaiman, a leading textile company of the time located at Keyzer Street in the Pettah, of which he eventually became a partner. In 1952 he formed his own company, A R A Ghany & Sons, also at Keyzer Street.

Abdul Rahman, son of Abdul Ghany, worked in his fathers shop in his early years. Later he moved on to join M I Saleem, a fellow Memon, to start a small business dealing in fancy goods including costume jewelry from Hongkong which then had a big demand in Ceylon. He later went on to join Haji Anver at Bombay Stores in Dickoya near Hatton, of which he eventually became a partner. In 1980, he shifted back to Colombo starting AR Traders at Second Cross Street and later Sattar Text at Main Street, Pettah. He was assisted in his business by one of his sons, Ameen. His other son, Abdul Aziz is also involved in business, having an electronics store on Keyzer Street called Jumbo Electronics.

Ahamed, younger son of Abdul Rahman, like his brother Sattar, initially helped his father in the business before setting out on his own. Having mastered the art of textile printing he opened his first textile shop, Fresco Batik, in 1980, which is presently being run by his two sons, Aslam and Firoze.

Yet another Fatani family, who made Ceylon their home, comprises the progeny of Abdul Karim Ali Mohammed Fatani, who started his textile business named Fareeda Stores in Trincomalee Street Kandy, in 1943. He eventually settled in Kandy bringing his family down from India in 1947. He had three sons. He moved to Colombo in 1972 with Mohammed Iqbal and Abdul Majeed to pursue the textile trade in this booming capital.

It was in 1982, that Iqbal and Abdul Majeed, jointly formed a garment company called SPI Fashion (pvt) Ltd. with 50 machines. This factory is situated in the export processing zone in Mawathagama, presently has 600 employees and 275 machines producing quality garments for the export market. In 1966 they diversified into construction and in 2003 went their own ways with Abdul Majeed continuing the garment business and Iqbal managing his own construction company.

Haji Abdul Ghany Abdul Rahman Fatani joined VM Abba & Company in 1952 and served in it till 1967 when it was taken over by Haji Ahmed Bhaila and renamed Ameen Traders. He served here for a further 6 years until 1973 when he embarked on his own business, Basheer Brothers, in Main Street. He also served the Memon Association of Ceylon as an Elections Commissioner for several years. His sons, Basheer, Ashroff and Yaseen, have followed in the footsteps of their father, and in 1999, jointly set up FUJI Airconditioning (pvt) Ltd, which imports, supplies, installs and maintains airconditioners besides promoting a band of airconditions known as FUJICOOL. They have a customer list of over a 1,000 clients in both private and state sectors in their service agreements.

The brothers have also diversified into other areas and ave set up several companies including, World Trading Company (importers of textiles), Expo World Buttons (pvt) Ltd (manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of quality polyester buttons), and MyCo (manufacturers and exporters of narrow fabric tapes and draw cords).

ARM Yoonus, of the Fatani clan, made his mark in the field of insurance. He has been awarded the All Island Best Producer Award in General Insurance and also Colombo Regions best agent for General Insurance by the country's premier insurer, The Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, for several successive years. In fact he has won the award continuously from 1974 to 2005.

Shiraz, eldest son of Yoonus, followed his father in choosing Insurance as a career, and in 2001, was awarded first place for best life agent in the Colombo region. He also ventured into the jewelry business and having brought two craftsmen from India in 1998, started Shiraz Jewellers in Sea Street Pettah, which manufactures and exports hand made jewelry to France, Switzerland, Canada and the UK. He also set up a farmhouse in Ganewalpola, Kekirawa, in the Anuradhapura District of North Central Province by the name of SM Farms (pvt) Ltd., thus fulfilling a childhood dream of having a farm of his own. The cattle and goats bred here go to meet the Qurbani, Sadaqat, and Aqeeqah needs of Muslim customers.

Sameer, the youngest son of Yoonus, took to the lucrative business of printing and started in a small way with an A3 Davidson machine in 1999. He was just 26 years old at the time. He is the only Memon to pursuit professional training in printing and received his diploma in the management and supervision of offset printing from the Sri Lanka Institute of Printing. He soon expanded his press to include a German made Heidleberg Kord machine producing quality print products for some well known Indian names. The company known as TOP Printers, based in Maradana, handles a range of orders from visiting cards to corporate newsletters and annual reports. His clientele include some big time Memon Corporates and Indian Firms having operations in Sri Lanka, viz; Reliance Exports, Paras Industries, who export Vanaspati Oil.

1 Fatani

    2 Tayoob Fatani + Noorbhai*

        3 Abdul Latif Tayoob Fatani, d:1958

4 Ibrahim Abdul Latif Fatani, d:1978 + Mariyam Bhai Toofani

5 Abdul Hafiz Ibrahim Fatani

                5 Farook Ibrahim Fatani

                5 Abdul Ghaffar Ibrahim Fatani

4 Karim Abdul Latif Fatani

    2  Abdul Ghany Fatani + Noorbhai* (after Tayoobs death)

        3 Adam Abdul Ghany Fatani

        3 Abdul Rahman Abdul Ghany Fatani + Hawabhai

4 Ameen Abdul Rahman Fatani

4 Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Fatani

4 Ahamed Abdul Rahman Fatani

5 Aslam Ahmed Fatani

5 Firoze Ahmed Fatani

4 Abdul Ghany Abdul Rahman Fatani

5 Basheer Abdul Ghany Fatani

                5 Ashroff Abdul Ghany Fatani

                5 Yaseen Abdul Ghany Fatani

4 Abdul Rahman Mohammed Yoonus

5 Shiraz Yoonus

5 Sameer Yoonus, b:1973

second Fatani family in Ceylon

1 Fatani

    2  Abdul Karim Ali Mohammed Fatani

3 Mohammed Iqbal Abdul Karim Fatani

3 Abdul Majeed Abdul Karim Fatani

3 son

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