Born: 15 November 1955
in Nattika, Thrissur district
Awards: Padma Shri (2008)
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (2005)
Commander of the Syriac Orthodox Church (2004)
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Yusuffali was only 16 years old in 1973 when he embarked on a 14-day voyage to join his family members who were running a small trading establishment in the Abu Dhabi souk.
Yusuffali went on to become a regular supplier of frozen foods and other items to expatriates from Western countries. Soon he forayed into the wholesale distribution of frozen foods in poultry and meat.
The turning point came when he opened the first retail outlet in Abu Dhabi.
The Kuwait-Iraq war was under way when Yusuffali decided to take the risk of investing more money in the business.
His venture not only turned out to be successful but also won him the support of the rulers as he was one of the very few who stayed back and made investments, while others were leaving.
The big expansion came in 2000, when he opened the first hypermarket in Dubai. Soon, the LuLu brand spread all over the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
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Incidentally, MA Yusuffali has a number of other banking stocks in his portfolio such as Federal Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank and Catholic Syrian Bank. He holds a massive chunk of 315.77 lakh shares of Federal Bank (3.69%) worth a whopping Rs. 264 crore. He bought the shares in July 2013 and is its’ single largest shareholder. He has 52.90 lakh shares in Dhanlaxmi Bank (4.88%) worth Rs. 20 crore. He also has a 4.99% stake in the unlisted Catholic Syrian Bank
Politicians from his home state describe him as the 'unofficial ambassador' of Kerala in the Gulf region.
His role in settling disputes between Kerala and Dubai over the SmartCity project — an IT special economic zone being set up in Kochi in a joint venture between the Kerala government and a subsidiary of Dubai Holdings — or his role as facilitator of investment or as the provider of jobs to nearly 24,000 Malayalees have all contributed to this title.
In Kerala, the LuLu group's first investment was a convention centre in Thrissur at a cost of Rs 145 crore. The LuLu Shopping Mall and Marriott Hotel in Kochi have been built at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore.
The two other projects of the LuLu group in the state are a flight catering service at a cost of Rs 65 crore and the Airport Marriott Hotel in Kochi at a cost of Rs 150 crore.
In other words the group has so far invested Rs 1,960 crore in projects in Kerala.
Apart from this, the LuLu group is one of the leading investors in the equity of a local bank and Cochin International Airport Ltd.
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