Lulu Group Chairman Yusuff Ali Completes 50 Years In The UAE (Photo on X Yusuffali M. A. @Yusuffali_MA)

Lulu Group International Chairman and one of UAE’s top business leaders MA Yusuff Ali on December 31 completed his 50th year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE-based Indian businessman took to social media platform X remembering the day he arrived in the UAE for the first time on December 31st 1973. “I happily remember that it was on 31st of December 1973, that I first landed in UAE. Today, 31st of December 2023, I am completing 50 years in UAE,” he reminisced.

I happily remember that it was on 31st of December 1973, that I first landed in UAE. Today, 31st of December 2023, I am completing 50 years in UAE. I take this opportunity to thank beloved @MohamedBinZayed, President of UAE, for leading this great country. I am also thankful to… pic.twitter.com/jKLYW5WSte

— Yusuffali M. A. (@Yusuffali_MA) December 31, 2023

Born in 1955 in Nattika, a small village in Kerala, India, Yusuff Ali came to Abu Dhabi in 1973 to work at his uncle’s small distribution shop. He started his supermarket chains in the mid-90s and then stepped up to become one of the leading businessmen there. Now, the group is one of the famous names and runs popular shopping malls and hypermarkets in the region. The group has given employment to over 65,000 people in 24 countries across the Middle East, Asia, the US, and Europe, and has a net worth of 7.1 billion dollars (Rs 5,91,06,68,35,000), according to Forbes.

After his stint at Gujarat with his father, helping to run his father’s grocery shop, Yusuff Ali left for UAE from Mumbai by ship. Recalling his journey from Dubai to Abu Dhabi that night, Yusuff Ali said: “Though the ship docked in the morning, it was around 10 pm when I came out of the port. I still remember it took almost four hours that night to reach Abu Dhabi [in a blue Toyota Stout pickup], as it was a single-track road those days.”

However, then onwards, he built one of the biggest retail conglomerates from nothing, which now has more than 260 hypermarkets and shopping malls across 24 countries. In his post on X (formerly Twitter), he also thanked UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the support he received in the country and added that he is “extremely proud to be a resident of Abu Dhabi, UAE in the last 50 years.”