Haji Hassan Group

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Hassan Bin Ali Al A’ali was born in A’ali, Bahrain, in 1921.^[9] His parents’ oldest child, Hassan started working on his father’s small farm located near the Bahraini island of Sitra when he was seven years old, for which he had to skip school. Two years later, he took on the responsibility of selling the family’s vegetables in his hometown and neighboring villages, using donkeys for transportation.^[10]

Expanding his youthful business, Hassan began selling fish from Sitra, which proved to be more profitable and enabled him to enter new markets in Jidhafs and Manama, the future capital and major trade center of Bahrain. He diversified further, joining the trade in noora, a cement made from a type of limestone indigenous to his hometown.^[11] By the age of 25, Hassan had accumulated sufficient profit to purchase land, and instead of relying on donkeys for transportation, he invested in a truck to help grow his cement trading business.^[12] Hassan had 11 children: one son and one daughter from his first marriage, and six sons and three daughters from his second.^[13]

FOUNDING STORY

As World War II ended in 1945, Hassan traveled to Beirut to purchase his first cement block-making machine. To save on expenses, he arranged to fly via cargo plane. During the journey, he struck up a friendship with two fellow passengers. One offered to assist with his business dealings in Lebanon, while the other, an Ethiopian man named Idrees, would become one of Hassan’s employees in Bahrain.^{[14] [15]}

In 1952, Hassan opened his first factory, a crushing plant located in Salmabad, Bahrain.^[16] Two years later, he founded a small stone-crushing business, which marked the humble beginning of the Haji Hassan Group.^[17] In 1955, the business relocated to Noaim.^[18] Hassan soon made a major advance in his operations when he installed a German-made electric-powered block-making machine.^[19]

GROWTH PHASE

Hassan established Bahrain Asphalt in 1965, unveiling the country’s first asphalt plant. The company completed its first asphalt paving project that same year — a new runway for Bahrain International Airport.^[20]

During the 1970s, Bahrain experienced a period of economic prosperity in the aftermath of the oil boom.^[21] Over the course of the decade, Hassan expanded and diversified his group’s business interests, venturing into Bahrain’s real estate market with the construction of the first stage of the Jalal Garden residential complex in 1972.^{[22] [23]} Rapid growth in the company’s asphalt production operations led to the construction of a larger facility in Sitra in 1972.^[24] In 1978, the group entered into a joint venture to establish Bahrain Precast Concrete Co.^[25]

The company’s operations continued to grow steadily throughout the next decade. In 1982, the group opened Hani Garden Housing Compound, followed two years later by Maitham Garden Housing Compound.^[26] In 1993, it entered the rubber industry, acquiring a stake in the Bahrain Rubber Company.^[27] The company began expanding into neighboring markets that same year, starting with Dubai, where it founded United Precast Concrete (UPC). Building on this momentum, the group established Bahrain Pipes Co in 1996.^[28] UPC subsequently became the vehicle for additional international expansion moves, including in Oman in 2000 and the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in 2002.^[29]

Hassan passed away at the age of 82 in 2003.^[30] Throughout the first two decades of the century, the Haji Hassan Group enjoyed sustained revenue growth as it continued to expand its business portfolio. In 2017, it became a sponsor of the Gulf Construction Expo in Bahrain.^[31]

TODAY

Today, the Haji Hassan Group is headquartered in Manama, Bahrain.^{[32] [33]} It has 14 subsidiary companies^[34] and operates mainly in Bahrain, as well as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar,^[35] with joint venture partnerships across the GCC.^[36] Its diverse portfolio includes the manufacturing of construction materials, real estate, and engineering,^[37] and it employs approximately 4,000 people.^[38] The founder’s eldest son, Adel Hassan Al A’Ali, is the group’s chairman,^[39] while his siblings Hana, Hani, and Jalal serve as directors.^[40]