History

Hameed Brothers traces its roots back to the early 1930's when Galle resident A.R.M Thasim, founded a rubber and coconut oil mill in Galle, naming it after his elder brother as "A.R. Abdul Hameed & Brothers". Thasim was a social worker and a philanthropist who received recognition for his services to the people of Galle by her Majesty the Queen of England with an Honorary Order of the British Empire (O.B.E). Thasim went on to become the longest serving mayor of Galle.

Under Thasim's leadership, A.R. Abdul Hameed & Brothers grew to be the largest rubber and coconut oil mill in Sri Lanka and was also known as Nugaduwa Mills. The company owned several rubber and coconut estates and manufactured everything from confectionary and textiles to plastics and printing machinery. At the height of its success, A.R. Abdul Hameed & Brothers set up purchasing and sales outlets all over the country including one in Karachi, Pakistan and began exporting coconut oil to Europe.

Al Haj A.R.M.Thassim

Al Haj M.M.Salie

Following Thasim's death in 1963, his children took over Nugaduwa Mills, while his nephews independently managed each of the sales and purchasing outlets that were set up by Thasim all over the country. However, the mill suffered in the hands of Thasim’s children and eventually ended up failing. His nephews were equally unsuccessful at managing the outlets and one by one each of them failed with the exception of one small outlet located in Grandpass and managed by his youngest nephew, Mohamed Salie.

Unscathed by the colossal failure of the entire conglomerate, Mohamed rebranded his outlet as "Hameed Brothers (Colombo) Limited" and resumed trading under its new name by buying commodities and spices from local suppliers and selling them back to exporters. Mohamed later began to export the commodities himself and benefitted from the government's Rice-Rubber pact in 1970 by being one of the exporters that shipped rubber directly to China in exchange for its rice.

In 1975, Mohamed Salie's eldest son Tufail joined the business and under the guidance of his father, expanded the business into many other areas with a particular focus towards the local market. He bought a factory in Wattala that manufactured Dolomite tiles in 1983 which was eventually shut down and turned into warehouses five years later. Tufail also bought a coconut oil mill called Mabola Mills in 1985 and this was subsequently converted into a melamine tableware factory in 1993 as Hameed Brothers entered the domestic consumer market by manufacturing and selling melamine tableware to major retailers throughout the Island. In 1995, Hameed Brothers also entered the truck rental businesses and most recently in 2008, the company ventured into the leisure and hospitality industry by opening its first low budget motel at Old Moor Street in Pettah under the name of CityRest Motels.

Hameed Brothers has grown from strength to strength over the past years and with the dawn of 2010; the company has no plans of slowing down its expansion into newer and more exciting areas of business. As a first resort, Hameed Brothers is shifting its corporate headquarters to a new location directly opposite its old offices in Grandpass Road, where the company has been based for over 60 years.