"On my 3rd last warning I was about to be sacked by the school (Royal College)"
Here the journey and story of the man who touched the hearts and lives of more than 70,000 employees through Brandix Lanka Limited.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Ashroff Omar grew up in a family steeped in business legacy. His father, M.H. Omar, co-founded Omar Brothers, a prominent trading company, and instilled in him the value of “earning trust through integrity.” Though the family enjoyed modest comforts, Ashroff’s upbringing was defined by high expectations.
At Royal College, Ashroff was an average student, often lingering near the bottom of his class. After Grade 8, a clerical error placed him in the Commerce stream, perceived as the “weaker” path. Yet, he chose to stay with peers rather than switch to science. This decision became a turning point. In Commerce, freed from rigid academic pressures, he soared to the top of his class. Leadership followed—he became a prefect, gaining confidence that would later define his entrepreneurial grit.
Ashroff’s teenage years revolved around rugby. As a wing forward for Royal College, he earned his colors until a humiliating photo in the Evening Observer captured him mid-game with his eyes closed. Coach Mr. Subramaniam Navaratnam roared, “How the hell can you jump for the bloody ball with your eyes closed?!” Ashroff was dropped from the team. Anger simmered he once fantasized about smashing the coach’s car windscreen but years later, resilience prevailed.
At the Ceylon Rugby & Football Club, fate intervened. Mr. Navaratnam approached Ashroff: “You do garments, right?” I have some buyers from Denmark—I’ll send them to you.” Seizing the moment, Ashroff replied, “Yes sure sir. That exchange landed his first export order. “If I’d acted on my teenage anger, this opportunity would’ve vanished,” he later mused. The coach who once humiliated him became his inaugural client.
Fresh out of school, Ashroff launched an export venture with little more than grit. He mentioned that we were in the pre-tech era. Those days we did not have a privilege of email, internet, fax and all these technological mediums right now we have for communication. So I wrote handwritten letters to embassies requesting for the list of importers in the respective countries saying I am ready to export “anything from brooms to clothing.” Months passed with no replies. Nothing worked out from those initiatives until Mr. Navaratnam’s request. To fulfill the order, Ashroff turned to his father’s factory which he kept for some tax reason, managed by an incompetent supervisor. He gave the orders to that company. The Supervisor that factory messed it up. When production failed, his father issued an ultimatum: “Cancel the order or run the factory yourself.” At 21, Ashroff partnered with friend Palitha, firing the manager and working 18-hour days to ship the order.
What was the drive behind the keen and curiosity of fulfilling the order? It was Sri Lanka’s CRA system: exporting goods earned credits to import cars, a rare privilege in the 1970s. He bought his first Mitsubishi car with his export earnings
Years later, they took over the Mayura Group. Ashroff faced union strikes after firing troublemakers. Workers jeered, hurling stones and curses as he entered the factory. The Royalist general manager quipped, “I hope you can handle this… these guys don’t know how to hold back.” The scene mirrored his rugby shame, public humiliation, pressure, and the resolve to stand firm. “Every punch builds resilience,” he said.
Ashroff joined the family business in the early 1980s. Recognizing the potential of apparel manufacturing, he spearheaded the company's shift from a trading entity to an integrated apparel giant. In 1993, Brandix (originally formed in 1969 as a trading entity) was restructured under his leadership to focus on apparel manufacturing, marking the start of a transformative journey.
Under his leadership, Brandix Group became multibillion dollar earning company by expanding into India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Haiti, establishing a global footprint employing over 70,000 people. His emphasis on sustainability led to initiatives like the "Green Factory" in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka’s first eco-friendly apparel facility.
“Life isn’t about avoiding punches. It’s about how you take them. You blink, you stumble, you get dropped but you don’t stay down. Every hoot, every strike, every ‘eyes closed’ moment? They’re not failures. They’re the bricks that build your backbone.”
Under Ashroff’s leadership, Brandix (restructured in 1993) became a global apparel giant. Yet he credits his success not to talent or luck, but to the punches each one a steppingstone.
Source: Maverics
. මුගේ මල්ලිගේ පුතා Hasib Omar ( moose clothing owner ) බැඳලා ඉන්නේ චාමික කරුණාරත්නගේ නෑදෑයෙක්. ඒකි මුස්ලින් ආගමට මාරුවෙලා.
