Hayel Saeed

Hayel Saeed An'am (هائل سعيد أنعم) (1902 – 23 April 1990) was a Yemeni businessman and the founder of Hayel Saeed Anam Group, a conglomerate that has a revenue turnover as large as US$10 billion. His group is fully owned by his family and runs over 87 companies around the world spread across various geographies: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, United Kingdom, Kenya, Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. He retired from the executive role in the business in 1970 to fully run the social welfare foundation he founded. He died on April 23, 1990, with an estimated net worth of $12 billion, of which 30% was pledged to the welfare foundation.

His Life
He was born in the village of Qaradh - Arouk - Hujaryyah - Taiz Governorate, Yemen. He was the third of four sons. At the beginning of his life, he worked in sewing clothes and selling what he made. His mother died when he was in his early adolescence. He left his village, Qaradh, heading towards the city of Aden. He immigrated to France where he stayed for almost ten years. Then he returned to Aden to start his own business which was a small grocery store in the district of Mualla, Aden. The business grew extensively after he moved to Taiz forced out by the communist party that confiscated his entire business and assets in Aden. During the 1970s he opened the first private sector factory in the country followed by other foreign expansion to the GCC and UK in the late 70's. The 80's witnessed the expansion to South East Asia which witnessed the group's venture into the palm oil industry.

Hayel Saeed was a very well respected man. Life as a philanthropist, he built schools, colleges, helped communities, lent money to the government of Yemen, & built 2,000 mosques.

He asked for his hand to be put outside the coffin as they transported him through the street to the graveyard when he dies. To show that as wealthy as he was, he did not take anything with him.