Reflections on the Entrepreneurial and Servant Leadership

Qualities of Hadhramis (Yemen’s most successful class of

businessmen)

Dr. Nabil Sultan *

sultann@hope.ac.uk

Prof. David Weir **

weird@hope.ac.uk

Presented at Symposium Servant-Leadership: Higher Educational Needs and Challenges in

a Global Perspective

(Vrije University, Amsterdam)

________________________________________________________________________

Abstract

No one can doubt that many Arab organisations are run (to a large extent) on management

principles based on Western theories. After all, many of those organisations exist in Arab

countries which were under colonial rule (of one type or another) for a very long time and

consequently inherited the Western culture of running a business which is largely

influenced by Western theories and ethos of management and leadership.

However, there is emerging evidence that some of the leaders of such organisations also

employ business practices influenced largely by indigenous and religious motivations and

that many have proved to be very successful leaders. For example, many Arab business

leaders place great weight on personal relations and at times perform traditional

management practices in order to do business. Furthermore, some of the successes of those

leaders were also attributed to their conservative religious upbringing which placed great

value on honesty, trustworthiness and social and moral responsibility.

In this paper, we look at the subject of leadership from a different cultural perspective and

in doing so we examine the experience of the Hadhrami business leaders of Yemen.

The Leadership Debate

In the next section we review the research and thinking about leadership in Yemen as an

example of leadership in the region more generally. Of course there are differences between

countries, as well as between the rural and urban areas; but Yemen is of interest in its own

right as well as from a comparative perspective. Very little has been written on the subject

of leadership in modern Yemen. This is particularly more evident in the context of

entrepreneurial leadership. This situation could be due to a number of factors. Firstly, most

successful Yemeni entrepreneurs found success outside their own country, in places as far

afield as Southeast Asia and as near as Saudi Arabia and some parts of Africa. Secondly,

many of the successful large enterprises that currently exist in Yemen (especially in the

2

north) are relatively new. Only after the 1962 revolution of North Yemen did privately-held

enterprises started to grow and prosper. Thirdly, privately-owned enterprises (particularly

those of large and medium sizes that emerged and thrived during the British rule) in South

Yemen were nationalised (without any compensation) in 1969 by the country’s Marxist

regime which prohibited the establishment of any significant private enterprise. This state

of affair was to last until 1990, the year of the declared unity between South and North

Yemen.

However, there is enough anecdotal evidence that can form the basis for exploring

examples of Yemeni entrepreneurial leadership. To begin, it should be noted that the

definition of what leadership is has often been problematic for both practitioners and

academics (Ford, 2006, p237). Nevertheless, some generalisations seem to have emerged

from this body of literature. For example, one author (Joseph Rost), collected 221

definitions of leadership ranging from the 1920s to the 1990s which, according to Ciulla

(2005, p160) seem to say the same thing, that “leadership is about a person or persons

somehow moving other people to do something”. As such, some authors criticised the main

theories of leadership for being conceptualised primarily at the “dyadic” or “dualistic”

(leader-follower) level where the overriding concern is with managerial effectiveness

(Yukl, 1999, pp290, 295, 301; Collinson, 2005, p1420; Zoller and Fairhurst, 2007, p1333).

The main concern of mainstream researchers has focused on “what is it that makes an

effective leader?” However, persuasive answers have proved elusive and findings have

been inconclusive and inconsistent (Collinson, 2005, 1423). According to Ciulla (2005,

pp160-161), scholars who worry about constructing the ultimate definition of leadership are

asking the wrong question. The whole point about studying leadership, according to her, is

to answer this question: what is good leadership? The word ‘good’ here has two senses,

morally good leadership (i.e. guided by ethical principles) and technically good leadership

(i.e. effective at getting the job-at-hand done). According to her, a good leader is an ethical

and an effective leader who brings about good change.

Authors such as Alexander and Wilson (Alexander and Wilson, 2005, pp137-156), contend

that integrity and altruism are essential qualities of a “responsible” style of leadership. In

their experience with examining thousands of managers, Alexander and Wilson recognise

that the presence of integrity (at the core of which is honesty and trustworthiness) and

altruism (concern for the welfare of others) in an individual can be a source of strength for

addressing situations created by human behaviour (e.g. self-serving, negligence or

deliberate malevolence).

Greenleaf’s perception of a servant leader is one of a responsible and caring leader. Real

leaders, according to Greenleaf’s view, are those who emerge with a strong desire to serve

others. Conscious choice then may persuade those people to aspire to lead (Greenleaf,

1970). Servant leadership is based on strong altruistic ethical beliefs. It emphasizes that

leaders should be attentive to the concerns of their followers, empathize with them, take

care of them and nurture them (Northouse, 2007). If fact, the term servant leadership

predates Greenleaf by some 1400 years when the prophet Mohammad once made his stance

clear on what he thinks of a leader. He said (in an authenticated Hadith, ie., a saying or

3

statement): “The Leader of the people is their servant” (in Arabic: Sayyid Al-koam

Khadimohum).

Many of these theories and contentions that emphasise the ethical and altruistic credentials

of good leadership are influenced by ancient and traditional theories of deontology (the

duty to do good) and teleology (the consequences of one’s actions). This notion is clearly

emphasised by Ciulla (2005, p163) who argues that there is a need for both deontological

and teleological theories to account for the ethics of leaders.

Rost (1991, p176) argues that what is needed is a reconstruction of our understanding (as

leaders and followers) of the concept of “civic virtue” so that our self- and group interest

are bound up in the public interest.

Ethical and moral corporate leaders are more likely to engage in promoting corporate social

responsibility (CSR), defined as “using the firm’s resources to advance societal interests”,

Waldman and Siegel (2005, pp195-196).

Examination of some of the successes of entrepreneurial leaders in Yemen suggests that

ethics, altruism, and service to the people, as suggested by the aforementioned definitions

of “good”, “responsible” and “servant” leadership, might have been important factors

behind those successes. However, in the Yemeni context, we contend that those leadership

traits were likely to have been influenced by culture and a religiously conservative

upbringing.

Yemen as a Case Study

Considering the Yemeni case in point, Islam has played an important role in establishing a

long tradition of CSR and community cooperation in response to a historical heritage of

neglect of social duties on the part of the state. Social responsibility is an obligation that is

called for in the Quran and is in keeping with the conduct of the Prophet Mohammad

(originally a trader widely known for his honesty) and the few disciples who ruled after

him. According to Benthall (1999, p11) it is doubtful whether any other world religion has

an equivalent to the Islamic principle that a hungry person has the right to share in the meal

of one who is well fed. Moreover, Islam also places great importance on trust and honesty

in dealing with one another and in trade. The Quran, in more than one place, warns against

unfair trading.

Beekun and Badawi (1999, pp28-29, 39) argue that, from an Islamic perspective, Muslim

leaders should be honest, not because being so makes better leaders but also because they

are accountable for their deeds to a very high authority: Allah. They also argue that the

Quran explicitly links the concept of honesty (amanah) to leadership and quote the story of

the Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) in the Quran as evidence.1

1 The Quran reveals how Yusuf was placed, by the king of Egypt, in a responsible and leadership role (in charge of the

granaries and storehouses of the kingdom) due to his trustworthiness (Yusuf, 12:54-55). .

4

Many of Yemen’s entrepreneurial leaders are largely the product a conservative Islamic

upbringing which characterised many of Yemen’s rural areas where most of the country’s

entrepreneurial leaders during the first half of the 20th and before originated. Many of those

leaders saw it as their duty to provide vital public services denied to local communities by a

colonial regime (as was the case in South Yemen and parts of Southeast Asia and Africa)

and an autocratic and backward Imamic regime (as was the case in North Yemen before the

revolution).

One of the main salient characteristics of private sector Yemeni enterprises is that they

tended to be owned by families, often the founders and their family members e.g. brothers,

sons etc. This is by no means a Yemeni phenomenon. Almost 95 per cent of American

businesses are family-owned and in Asia family dynasties control 46.6 per cent of the GDP

in the Philippines, 84.2 per cent in Hong Kong and 76.2 per cent in Malaysia (Ciulla, 2005,

p176). This feature tends to provide the socially responsible leaders of such organisations

with the necessary flexibility and discretion needed in responding to the social obligations

that present themselves. According to Roper and Cheney (2005, p99) the relative autonomy

of privately-owned companies has allowed the consistent pursuit of social values,

sometimes against the prevailing wisdom of financial analysts and in marked contrast to

some competitors.

A close examination of some of the success stories of Yemeni entrepreneurs indicates that

culture, religion and the desire to address the inequalities of resource allocation and neglect

by the state played an important role in their emergence as successful entrepreneurs and as

leaders.

The Hadhrami Phenomenon

Yemenis, especially those who come from the region of Hadhramaut2 (known as

Hadhramis) had developed a reputation for being successful entrepreneurs. Hadhramis

made a name for themselves as successful business entrepreneurs, particularly in Southeast

Asia, Africa, Saudi Arabia and South Yemen. Sir Richard Burton, a 19th

century British

orientalist, once remarked “it is generally said that the sun does not rise upon a land that

does not contain a man from Hadramaut” (Burton, 1966, p58). Hadhramis were also

famously known for their integrity and altruistic credentials which may be ascribed to their

conservative Islamic upbringing. This is not surprising given that the region of Hadhramaut

was historically known as an Islamic teaching centre. Furthermore, Hadhrami businessmen

tended to help other emerging Hadhrami businessmen through the provision of seed capital

or credit. They were also famous for their ability to resolve business disputes between them

through mediation which often took place in the majlis (i.e., living room) of their

designated Hadhrami “sheikh” (a person which commands the respect of others). They had

very little need for police or courts (according to one observer in a programme about

Hadhrami migration aired by the famous Arab satellite channel “Al-Arabia” in 2008).

These meeting places also played an important role in ensuring that business was conducted

2 A vast region (historically famous and religiously conservative) that occupies a large part of South Yemen.

5

fairly. For example, people who behaved inappropriately (e.g. failed to pay their debts etc.)

could run the risk of being ostracised by other Hadhrami businessmen who could refuse to

do business with them. This arrangement ensured discipline and fair play.

Hadhramis are believed to have begun their journey (or diaspora as is often described) to

Southeast Asia in the early 18th century; a journey which lasted to the Second World War.

By the end of the 1930s, about 110,000 Hadhramis are thought to have lived in that part of

the world. Out of this number, the majority (90,000) lived in what was then known as the

Netherlands East Indies, present day Indonesia (Lukas, 2002, p5).

In Singapore, for example, during the 19th

century they formed a powerful and influential

economic elite who owned substantial swathes of land and traded in clothes and a wide

range of goods such as spices and tobacco. Most importantly, they were well respected

among the Malay/Muslim community for their religious piety and social responsibility

which manifested itself in the building of mosques, schools and the upkeep of poor families

(Bafana, 1996, p5). Such was the respect for those entrepreneurial leaders that gangsters in

Singapore had a code which forbade the bothering of Arabs, while other distinguished

figures ensured that they received due credit for their contributions (Albahar et al, 1996,

p4). In the 1940s, the famous Al-Kaf Hadhrami family in Singapore created bequests to

support the distribution of food to needy local families every Thursday or Friday (Carapico,

1998, p70).

When the Al-Kaf family eventually returned to Hadhramaut in the early 20th

century, they

continued their charitable behaviour such as making donations to the poor, bettering city

slums, constructing roads, introducing small English automobiles (transported by camel

across the plateau and assembled in the valley), building elaborate guesthouses equipped

with modern furniture, food and servants (Pike, 1940, p648). One particular Al-Kaf family

member (Sayyid Abubakr Al-Kaf) was the main engine for these activities. Indeed, he is

the epitome of a servant leader. He spent a great deal of his wealth and time in Hadramuat

trying to better the lives of communities that were neglected by the colonialists of Aden and

their subservient local sultans.

Sayyid Abubakr Al-Kaf, with support from Harold Ingrams, the first political officer in

Hadhramaut, succeeded in establishing peace among the warring tribal factions of

Hadhramaut which lasted for generations. According to Pike (1940, p648), this was the

greatest humanitarian achievement in the modernisation program of Hadhramaut. In 1938

Sayyid Abubakr Al-Kaf received the first recognition for his public services when he was

appointed Companion of the British Empire (CBE). The following quotation sums up the

admiration and respect held for this man by one British official (Ducker, 2003):

Sayyid Abubakr was a man of independent spirit who did not hesitate to speak his

mind. When he was advanced to KBE in 1953, he declined to give up his CBE, as

protocol required, remarking that what the British gave with one hand, they took

away with the other! Both decorations appeared in his letterhead. In 1954 he was

formally knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth during her one and only visit to Aden.

During the ceremony Sayyid Abubakr was exempted from the requirement to kneel

6

before the Sovereign; he had earlier made it clear that as a Muslim he could only

kneel before God.

Sayyid Abubakr was respected in his personal life as a devout Muslim and a man of

his word; and he was blessed with a wife who had an equally high reputation.

Ingrams wrote of him at some length in his book, Arabia and the Isles. From the

early 1930s until his death in 1965, Western travellers and many British officials,

myself included, benefited from his wisdom, help and unstinting hospitality….

Sayyid Abubakr was a great conciliator and public benefactor whose name will be

remembered with respect long into the future.

Hadhramis were equally influential in Indonesia and Malaysia, whether as successful

entrepreneurs, political, administrative or religious leaders. In Malaysia, the Arabs (largely

of Hadhrami descent) played a prominent role in ending the Thai occupation of the

sultanate of Kedah. One particular person of Hadhrami descent, Sayyid Jamal Al-Layl, was

awarded in 1843 by the Sultan of Kedah for his loyalty in the struggle against the Thai by

being made sultan of the newly created border state of Perlis. The Jamal Al-Layl was the

only Arab family to rule a Malay state and it remains the ruling family of Perlis to the

present day. Other personalities of Hadhrami descent were highly influential religious

scholars such as Sayyid Muhammad Al-Aydarus (the son of a grain merchant from Java)

who lived in Trengganu and Sayyid Ahmad Al-Attas who lived in Johore and was reputed

to have been the first person to be appointed as state mufti (Othman, 1997, pp85-89).

In Batavia (Jakarta) a group of wealthy Hadhrami entrepreneurs and property owners

established in 1901 Jamiyyat Al-Khayr (Benevolent Society) whose main aim was to lay

the foundation for a more modern type education styled on Western curriculum which

included subjects such as mathematics, history, geography and English alongside more

traditional Islamic subjects. The drive for education received a major boost in 1914 when

Hadhrami merchants established the Arab Society for Reform and Guidance (Jamiyyat Al-

Islah wa Al-Irshad Al-Arabiyya) which exists to this date. It comprises over one hundred

branches throughout Indonesia and has around fifty thousand members. Its activities

include the running of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and hospitals. The

founders of this organisation saw education in languages and modern science as key to

overcome the backwardness of the Islamic community and bring progress (Mobini-Kesheh,

1997, pp231-240).

The Hadhrami diaspora also extended to East Africa where they established successful

businesses in those regions, particularly in the retail industry which they controlled and, to

a lesser extent, the wholesale and resale of the cereal trade. However, their main influence

in East Africa was more in the educational, cultural and political spheres than commerce.

Saudi Arabia was another destination for the Hadhrami diaspora. In 1969 Hadhramis living

in Saudi Arabia were estimated to be numbering between 150,000 to 180,000 (Freitang,

1997, p320). Many of them rose to become powerful entrepreneurs such as Salim Ahmed

Ben Mahfouz, Abdullah Ahmed Baqshan, Bamawada, Bakhashab and Bin Laden. The

7

businesses established by these people employ thousands of people and continue the

socially responsible Hadhrami tradition. Many of them have charities such as the Awon

Foundation and Taybah Welfare Association (IRIN, 2007).

However, the Hadhrami entrepreneurial spirit lived on to create wealth and prosperity in

Yemen itself. After the Second World War, Aden, under British rule, underwent a rapid

economic development. In the late 1950s, its port ranked fourth in the number of ships it

handled after London, Liverpool and New York and its social services were more advanced

than those of many European countries (Bidwell, 1983, pp81, 82). As a consequence, trade

prospered and the city attracted many people from within South and North Yemen and

many other parts of the world.

In this vibrant economic environment, an elite of Hadhrami wealthy entrepreneurs

emerged. Like their fellow Hadhramis of the diaspora, many were devoutly religious. They

were highly regarded for their integrity and altruistic credentials. Hadhrami names such as

Bazaraah became household names in Aden during the 1950s. They were responsible for

the support of many poor Yemeni families and built mosques and schools (accessible to all

people irrespective of their ethnic or country of origin) throughout the country.

Conclusion

There is very little research on Arab entrepreneurial leaders in any depth or scale that could

give some insights into how such people lead their organisations and/or influence their

social environments. In this article, business success was our yardstick for selecting leaders.

The examples of Arab entrepreneurial leaders presented in this article were intended to

support the centrality of ethics and altruism in good, responsible, servant and successful

leadership. Furthermore, these examples have also demonstrated, in our view, factors

particular to the environment from which those leaders have originated which might have

played an important role in influencing their actions such as culture and a conservative

Islamic upbringing. We believe, however, that more research is needed to explore this

phenomenon in greater depth and this would be a worthwhile effort for a future study.

References

Albahar, A (1996), ‘A page from the past’, Al-Mahjar, Vol. 1, Issue 1 (November).

Alexander, J and Wilson, M, (2005), ‘Foundations of Responsible Leadership: from self-

insight to integrity and altruism’, in Doh, J and Stumpf, S (eds.), Handbook on Responsible

Leadership and Governance in Global Business, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA,

USA: Edward Elgar.

Bafana, H (1996),‘The Arab Identity: Dilemma or Non_Issue?’, Al-Mahjar, Vol. 1, Issue 1

(November).

8

Beekun, R. I and Badawi, J (1999), Leadership: An Islamic Perspective, Beltsville,

Maryland: Amana Publications.

Benthall, J (1999), “Financial Worship: The Quranic Injunction to Almsgiving”,

The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 27- 42.

Bidwell, R. (1983) The Two Yemens, Harlow, Essex (UK) and Colorado (USA): Longman-

Westview.

Burton, R. F (1966), First Footsteps in East Africa, 3rd

ed., London: Routledge and Kegan

Paul.

Carapico, S (1998), Civil Society in Yemen: The Political economy of activism in modern

Arabia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ciulla, J. B (2005), ‘Integrating leadership with ethics: is good leadership contrary to

human nature?’, in Doh, J and Stumpf, S (eds.), Handbook on Responsible Leadership and

Governance in Global Business, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward

Elgar.

Collinson, D (2005), Dialectics of leadership, Human Relations, Vol. 58, No. 11, pp1419-

1442.

Ducker, J (2003), Sayyid Abubakr bin Shaikh Al-Kaff KBE, The British Yemeni Society,

http://www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/ducker03.htm.

Ford. J (2006), ‘Examining leadership through critical feminist readings’, Journal of Health

Organisation and Management, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp236-251.

Freitang, U (1997), ‘Conclusion: The Diaspora Since the Age of Independence’, in Freitag,

U and Clarence-Smith, W (eds.), Hadrami Traders, Scholars, and Statesmen in the Indian

Ocean, 1750s – 1960s, Leiden: Brill.

Greenleaf, R. K (1970), The Servant As Leader, Newton Centre, MA: Robert K. Greenleaf

Center.

IRIN (2007), ‘YEMEN: Saudi charities boost health, education projects’, IRIN,

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/688f51bc1cb5cddec8cafff9d592985f.htm.

Le Guennnec-Coppens, F (1997), ‘Changing Patterns of Hadhrami Migration and Social

Integration in East Africa’, in Freitag, U and Clarence-Smith, W (eds.), Hadrami Traders,

Scholars, and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s – 1960s, Leiden: Brill.

Lukas, H, (2002), ‘The perception of Indonesia’s history and culture by Western historians

and social scientists’, A paper based on a one-day seminar organised by the Indonesian

Embassy in Brussels on 16 December 2002.

9

Mobini-Kesheh, N (1997), ‘Islamic Modernism in Colonial Java: The Al-Irshad

Movement’, in Freitag, U and Clarence-Smith, W (eds.), Hadrami Traders, Scholars, and

Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s – 1960s, Leiden: Brill.

Mohammed, J. A (2007), Corporate Social Responsibility in Islam, A PhD thesis

(unpublished) submitted to the Faculty of Business at the Auckland University of

Technology (New Zealand).

Northouse, P. G (2007), Leadership: Theory and Practice, 4th

edition, Sage Publications.

Othman, M. R (1997), ‘Hadhramis in the Politics and Adminsitration of the Malay States in

the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries’ in Freitag, U and Clarence-Smith, W (eds.),

Hadrami Traders, Scholars, and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s – 1960s, Leiden:

Brill.

Pike, R. W (1940), Land and People of the Hadhramaut, Aden Protectorate, Geographical

Review, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp627-648.

Roper, J and Cheney, G (2005), ‘Leadership, learning and human resource management:

The meanings of social entrepreneurship today’, Corporate Governance, Vol. 5, No. 3,

pp95-99.

Rost, J (1991), Leadership for the Twenty-First Century, New York: Praeger.

Shahin, A. I and Wright, P. L (2004), ‘Leadership in the context of culture: An Egyptian

perspective’, The Leadership and Organisation Development Journal, Vol. 25, No. 6,

pp499-511.

Waldman, D. A and Siegel, D (2005), ‘The Influence of CEO transformational leadership

on firm-level commitment to corporate social responsibility’, in Doh, J and Stumpf, S

(eds.), Handbook on Responsible Leadership and Governance in Global Business,

Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.

Yukl, G (1999), ‘An Evaluation of Conceptual Weaknesses in Transformational and

Charismatic Leadership Theories’, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp285-305.

Zoller, H. M and Fairhurst, G. T (2007), ‘Resistance leadership: The overlooked potential

in critical organization and leadership studies’, Human Relations, Vol. 60(9), pp1331-1360.

* Dr. Nabil Ahmed Sultan graduated from the University of Liverpool with a PhD in Management in 1992

and in 1996 he received his MSc in Information Systems from the same university. After a two-year working

period for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as Program Officer in Sanaa (Yemen) and

Regional Program Officer at the Arab Bureau in New York (USA) he moved on to work as a Program

Officer/Lecturer in IT and Business for the University of Liverpool’s Center for Continuing Education until

1998. From 1999 he worked as a Senior Lecturer at Liverpool Hope University’s Faculty of Business and

Computer Science where he developed and taught many successful modules and programs and published

10

many works. Dr. Sultan has a keen interest in Arab Gulf affairs and has provided consultancy work relating to

this region to a number of businesses.

** Prof. David Weir is an experienced and highly successful Business School Professor and for 25 years a

Dean, with outstanding career record in institutional leadership, teambuilding, professional leadership and

program development, in UK and internationally, special research and teaching expertise in Management in

the Arab Middle East, Strategic Management, Multicultural Management, Risk and Crisis management,

Poetry of Management, Strong public service profile and community recognition. He has substantial high-

level industry experience at board level and as strategic consultant. As well as having a large consulting

portfolio of private and public sector clients, he also considerable experience as mentor and advisor to

corporate leaders as well as younger faculty and consulting colleagues. He has an impressive record of

publications on the Arab Middle East and development issues.