Sri Lanka Memon Family Genealogy

LAKHANY- Family #284

The founder of the Lakhany in Ceylon, Ishaq Lakhany, wa a prominent personality in Kutiyana. He is said to have built Nawi Masjid, also known as Rasool Wari Masjid (in which he served as Mutawalli). A generous host, he is said to have had a house by the side of the Mosque which had a large portico. He would lay mattresses and large pillows where friends and VIP's would come in the mornings and evenings to enjoy some puffs of the Hookah.

Aboobucker, eldest son of Ishaq Lakhany, was popularly known as Bakar Lakhany, and had a business in Dalagoba, East Africa, to which he made voyages to Bombay in luxury steamers returning home from Africa once every five years. His son Ismail also had business connections with Africa, owning a factory in Laurenco-Marques in Portuguese East Africa. With the riots that followed the partition of India, in 1947, he arrived in Ceylon to move his family to Africa but died during the course of his short stay in the island. It was, thus, that his family came to reside in Sri Lanka.

Ismails son, Aboobucker, having lost his father, in 1948, was looked after by his maternal uncle, Abdullah Abba Lakhany, who, having only five daughters looked upon him as his own son. In the late 1960,s, Aboobucker, having lost both his mother and grandmother, took to music and had a local musical band known as Electronics Band. In 1971, he married into the well known Bhaila family. Two of his sons, Ismail and Ishaq, are successful businessmen dealing in textiles.

Abdul Karim's son, Yoosuf, started his own enterprise called Y A Karim & Company but closed it down when WWII broke out. He later joined Abdul Latif Sulaiman & Company, and during 1950, at a time of a threat of yet another war, when the state owned Ceylon Wholesale Establishment purchased textiles worth Rs 50 lakhs, Yoosuf alone supplied Rs 40 lakhs worth of it, solely imported by Abdul Latif Sulaiman & Company. He subsequently ran his own business, Multitraders, through which he imported textiles, dried fish, red chillies, and other commodities.

Abdul Sattar, eldest son of Yoosuf Lakhany, had two sons Na'eem and Rehan, both of whom excelled in the field of corporate management. Na'eem gathered a wealth of experience, having served in various companies, among them Ammirati Puris LDB LINTAS, one of the largest and fast growing advertising agencies, as Strategic Planner & Operations Specialist, and Phoenix Ogilvy & Mather, another front line ad agency as Account Manager. He is presently General Manager, Business development and Operations of Tradesmann SL (pvt) Ltd, a large local conglomerate involved in the manufacture and sale of hardware, tyres, and roofing sheets. The firm has manufacturing plants and sales offices in South East Asia, UAE & Africa.

Rehan also excelled in management. Having joined Timex Garments, a Memon Company, as a Management Trainee in 1996, he rose to the position of General Manager at the new Timex Plant in Nittambuwa. He later went on to join Hemas Garments as a General Manager for two of its plants. He was later promoted to Director, Operations, and thereafter joint Managing Director of Hemas Garments, now known as Hela Clothing (pvt) Ltd., and the Fielding Group of Sri Lanka.

Haleema Yasmin, daughter of Abdul Sattar Lakhany, passed out from the Kathleen School of bDress Making and the Institute of Western Music & Speech. A registered teacher of IWMS, she presently teaches at Colombo's premier school for Muslim Boys, Zahira College. She is married to Hafeez Bhutta, perhaps the only pharmacist of the Memon Community, who runs a pharmacy in Colombo.

Abdul Karim, a younger son of Yoosuf Lakhany, took to business. Having started as a Shroff/Clerk at M Haroon & Sons at Keyzer Street in the mid 1960's, he soon gathered a wealth of experience serving in various other Memon firms like K H Kassim, Sirrul Khadeer and before long embarked on his own going on to set up Mid City Marketing Private Ltd., which is into the importing of food commodities, viz dates, dry fish. He was, for many years, the Chief Organizer of the two Eid Prayers held at the Galle Face Green.

Aqeela, daughter of Abdul Karim Lakhany, is a Gold Medallist for Public Speaking and an Associate Diploma Holder from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Recital of Verse, Prose and Drama. She is also a qualified web developer working from home on various website projects.

Abdul Karim's younger daughters, Nusrath and Sakeena, both chose a career in teaching. Nusrath, who holds a Diploma in Pre-Primary education and a Certificate in Child Art & Equipment, is a teacher in the KIndergarten of Asian International School. Her sister Sakeena, who is studying for her Diploma in Speech and Drama at the LAMDA Institute, s a Speech and Drama Teacher at Royal Institute.

1 Lakhany

    2 Aboobucker Lakhany (Baker)

        3 Ismail Aboobucker Lakhany, b:1895, d:1948 + Name Not Known (sister of Abdullah Abba Lakhani, b:3 Mar 1906, who took charge of Aboobucker after Ismail's death)

            4 Aboobukcer Ismail Lakhany + Ms. Bhaila (278)

                5 Ismail Aboobucker Lakhany,

                5 Ishaq Aboobucker Lakhany

                    6  son

                    6 Abdul Karim Ishaq Lakhany

7 Yoosuf Abdul Karim Lakhany

8 Abdul Sattar Yoosuf Lakhany

9 Na'eem Abdul Sattar Lakhany

                                9 Rehan Abdul Sattar Lakhany

9 Haleema Yasmin Abdul Sattar Lakhany + Hafeez Bhutta

8 Abdul Karim Yoosuf Lakhany

9 Aqeela Abdul Karim Lakhany

9 Nusrath Abdul Karim Lakhany

9 Sakeena Abdul Karim Lakhany

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