Saboor Chatoor

Wazir Saboor Chatoor

Honorary Titles

• MUKHI

Town of birth

• Bombay

Country of birth

• India

Place of Death

• Colombo

Place of longest stay

• Colombo

Profession or occupation carriedout for the longest period in life

• Exporter-Tea

Where-City or Country

• Sri Lanka

Family tree

Parents

Chatoor Bhanji

Partners

Fatmabai S Chatoor

Children

Alimohamed Saboor Chatoor

Gulamhusein Saboor Chatoor

Born in Bombay

Chatoor Bhanji(Born in).

According to a written account prepared by Mr. G.S Chatoor, the first Khoja Ismaili to set up a business in Sri Lanka was Mr. Saboor Chatoor, who migrated from Bombay in 1915 to open a local importing house.

The company he registered “Saboor Chatoor and Company” has continued for over 100 years. Initially, it was importing commodities from India. With gradual growth over the 1920s and ’30s, exports to India and European markets commenced. Due to the Second World War, business operations were disrupted. With the war ending in 1945, the company concentrated on the export of spices. By the late 1940s, Saboor Chatoor & Co. became large exporters of all types of agricultural products, especially spices. Today, it is known as Saboor Chatoor (Private) Ltd and is run by his son, Gulamhusein Saboor Chatoor from its own building and warehouses, appropriately called “Spice House”.

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  Mukhi & Mrs S. Chatoor, together with other Jamat members, during a visit of Agakhan III, to Colombo 1934.(courtesy of the Colombo Khoja Ismaili Jamatkhana, where this photo still hangs)

At this time, Saboor Chatoor was appointed as the first Ismaili Mukhi from 1934 to 1966.

Other members of the Saboor Chatoor family also run separate & diverse businesses.