A collaborative research project between New York University Abu Dhabi and Tharawat Family Business Forum

Spotlight

HSA Group

Information last updated on 04 June 2022

Snapshot

Founding

Family Name:

Saeed Anam

Founder’s Name:

Hayel Saeed Anam

Earliest Documented Business Name:

Hayel Saeed Anam & Brothers[1]

Founding Year:

1938

Founding Location:

Yemen

Today

Current Operating Status:

Operating

Family Business Name:

Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group

Headquarters Location:

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Key Industries:

Conglomerate

Number of Employees:

35,000+[2]

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Hayel Saeed Anam was born in the village of Hayfan in Yemen’s Taiz Governorate in 1902. As a child, Hayel attended Quranic school, where he memorized the Quran in four years. He later earned money by sewing simple clothes and selling them. In 1923, shortly after his mother’s death, Hayel left his village along with several cousins and friends to journey to the city of Aden. Aden Port, with its strategic location at the southern entrance of the Red Sea, the intersection of ancient and modern trade routes, made the city one of the most active trade hubs in the world. [3] During Hayel’s short stay there, he made connections with local merchants and began to establish a network.

 

Hayel subsequently moved to Marseilles, where he stayed for half a decade working various jobs such as coal lumper and sailor. In the 1930s, he relocated to Somalia to pursue his first entrepreneurial endeavor: working in animal husbandry to trade animal skins between Somalia and Aden.[4]

FOUNDING STORY

In 1938, Hayel settled back in Aden,[5] just after it became a British colony,[6] returning to Yemen now with years of experience in trade abroad. He opened a small retail store in the Aden Governorate’s Mu’alla District the help of his brothers Mohamed, Abdo, and Gazem. Their business steadily grew, and by 1943 they had set up a wholesale import and export business under the name Hayel Saeed Anam & Brothers.[7]  At an early stage, Hayel and his brothers involved their oldest sons — Ali Mohammed, Saeed Abdo, Ahmed Hayel, and Abdul Jabbar — in the business.[8]

 

In 1950, the brothers broadened their operations, opening new branches in Hodeidah, Al-Mocha, and then Taiz, expanding into the north of Yemen.[9] Two years later, the business — which exported agricultural and animal products[10] — was officially incorporated under the name of Hayel Saeed Anam and Co,[11] the name change following the eldest brother’s Mohammed passing away.[12] During this period, Hayel and his brothers were among the few Yemeni traders who managed to break the virtual monopoly held by British and foreign traders over imports into Yemen.[13]

 

At the onset of the Yemeni civil war in 1962,[14] Hayel was an avid supporter of the Yemeni Nationalist Movement and played an instrumental role in supporting the pacifist revolution against the regime and occupation, making him a beloved figure in Yemen.[15] British officials immediately issued a deportation order forcing Hayel to move to Northern Yemen.[16]  The same year, Hayel established the Middle East Shipping Company in Hodeidah as a shipping services provider, the first such company in Yemen. [17]

GROWTH PHASE

During the 1970s and 1980s, the company saw rapid growth and diversification into a number of other countries and sectors including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), industrial services, and manufacturing. In 1970, Hayel opened the first privately held factory in Yemen;[18] expansion into the GCC countries and the UK followed in the late 1970s, marking the group’s involvement in trade and industrial services across the Middle East and Europe.[19] The 1980s witnessed a new wave of expansion into Southeast Asia and the group’s venture into the palm oil industry and agricultural development.[20] In 1987, the family established a partnership with Saudi partners to set up the National Biscuits and Confectionery Company.[21] The next year saw the further extension of their global reach with the establishment of the  Pacific Inter-Link to promote trade from Malaysia and the Far East.[22] In 1992, the group established a cooking oil and ghee factory under the name Arma Food Industries in Cairo.[23] This was followed by the opening of the largest palm oil refinery in Indonesia: PT Pacific Palmindo Industry.[24] All of the family’s key business were consolidated under the Hayel Saeed Anam Group (also known as the HSA Group).

 

Founder Hayel passed away in 1990, at the age of 88; that same year, the charitable HSA Foundation was created. In the early 2000s, Ali Saeed, who served as chairman, Ahmed Hayel, who was vice chairman, and Abdulrahman Hayel Saeed collaborated on a five-year plan for the business that targeted additional growth and philanthropy, and the group continued to expand under their leadership.[25] In 2015, with the outbreak of the ongoing civil war in Yemen, the HSA Foundation provided much-needed aid to the country’s people.[26]

TODAY

Today, Abdul Jabbar Hayel, the founder’s son, serves as chairman and CEO of the Hayel Saeed Anam Group, alongside members of the second and third generation who are involved in leadership and managerial positions.[27] The group’s vision for the future focuses on sustainability, adaptation, and key social objectives while seeking to invest in Yemen’s people and infrastructure, even in the midst of war.[28]

 

With more than 35,000 employees and over 45 subsidiaries, the Hayel Saeed Anam Group is one of the biggest private sector employers and philanthropic organizations in Yemen and the Middle East, and Hayel Saeed Anam himself is considered a pioneer in the establishment of Yemen’s modern national economy.

Notes

Photo Credit: Illustration of historic Aden. Source: HSA Group website

[1] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[2] Mughal, Waqar. “Hayel Saeed Anam Group – Top 100 Arab Family Businesses in the Middle East 2021.” Forbes Lists, https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/lists/top-100-arab-family-businesses-in-the-middle-east-2021/hayel-saeed-anam-group/. 04 Jun. 2022

[3] Elie, Serge D. “Stephen W. Day, Regionalism and Rebellion in Yemen: A Troubled National Union.” Arabian Humanities. Revue Internationale d’archéologie et de Sciences Sociales Sur La Péninsule Arabique/International Journal of Archaeology and Social Sciences in the Arabian Peninsula, no. 2, 2, Sept. 2013. journals.openedition.org, https://journals.openedition.org/cy/2572. 04 Jun. 2022.

[4] رجل الأعمال هائل سعيد أنعم | وجوه يمنية. Directed by قناة المهرية الفضائية, 2020. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVdCqI2fsYQ. 04 Jun. 2022

[5]  Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group: The Power of Giving in the Pursuit of Sustainability. https://stories.tharawat-magazine.com/hsa-group-the-power-of-giving/. 04 Jun. 2022

[6] The Legal Status of Aden Colony and the Aden Protectorate on JSTOR. https://www-jstor-org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/2192881. 04 Jun. 2022

[7] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[8] Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group: The Power of Giving in the Pursuit of Sustainability. https://stories.tharawat-magazine.com/hsa-group-the-power-of-giving/. 04 Jun. 2022

[9] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[10] About the HSA Group. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/about-hsa.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[11] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[12] خيوط. “وجوه من اليمن: هائل سعيد أنعم ثري لم تلهه ‘تجارة ولا بيع.’” يمن فيوتشر, https://www.yemenfuture.net/yemeni-faces/8066. 04 Jun. 2022

[13] خيوط. “وجوه من اليمن: هائل سعيد أنعم ثري لم تلهه ‘تجارة ولا بيع.’” يمن فيوتشر, https://www.yemenfuture.net/yemeni-faces/8066. 04 Jun. 2022

[14] The International History of the Yemen Civil War, 1962-1968. https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/12269828. 04 Jun. 2022

[15] Aswadī, Muḥammad ʻAlī. حركة الاحرار اليمنيين والبحث عن الحقيقة. S.n.]،, 1987. Google Books, https://books.google.ae/books/about/%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86.html?id=XN3pkxwzizQC&redir_esc=y. 04 Jun. 2022

[16] خيوط. “وجوه من اليمن: هائل سعيد أنعم ثري لم تلهه ‘تجارة ولا بيع.’” يمن فيوتشر, https://www.yemenfuture.net/yemeni-faces/8066. 04 Jun. 2022

[17] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[18] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[19] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[20] Sorvino, Chloe. “Skirting Russian Black Sea Blockade To Feed The World’s Hungriest Is Mission Of Yemen’s Biggest Company.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2022/06/07/skirting-russian-black-sea-blockade-to-feed-the-worlds-hungriest-is-mission-of-yemens-biggest-company/. 04 Jun. 2022

[21]Our Companies: National Biscuits & Confectionery Company Ltd. (NBCC). https://www.hsagroup.com/our-companies/industrial-companies/national-biscuits-confectionery-company-ltd-nbcc.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[22] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[23] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[24] HSA Group History: From Local To Global. https://www.hsagroup.com/explore-hsa/our-history.aspx. 04 Jun. 2022

[25] Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group: The Power of Giving in the Pursuit of Sustainability. https://stories.tharawat-magazine.com/hsa-group-the-power-of-giving/. 04 Jun. 2022

[26] Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group: The Power of Giving in the Pursuit of Sustainability. https://stories.tharawat-magazine.com/hsa-group-the-power-of-giving/. 04 Jun. 2022

[27]Our Leadership and Executive Management | HSA Group Yemen. https://www.hsayemen.com/en/about-us/our-leadership/. 04 Jun. 2022

[28] Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group: The Power of Giving in the Pursuit of Sustainability. https://stories.tharawat-magazine.com/hsa-group-the-power-of-giving/. 04 Jun. 2022

To cite this article please use:

“HSA Group” Family Business Histories Research Project, New York University Abu Dhabi and Tharawat Family Business Forum, 20 Mar. 2023, familybusinesshistories.org/spotlights/hsa-group