Sutherland Edge is a privately held Sri Lankan company built on decades of entrepreneurial heritage — combining a pioneering family legacy with a disciplined, modern approach to asset investment and hospitality development.
Our story begins in the gem city of Kahawatte, some 28 kilometres from Ratnapura, where in the early 1970s our founder, M.H.M. Farook, established himself as one of Sri Lanka’s pioneering corundum traders — sourcing rough sapphires at a time when the trade was in its earliest form.
From those roots, he went on to found Farook Gems in 1991, building it into a respected name in the export market and sending some of the finest and largest sapphires ever polished in Sri Lanka to buyers around the world.
That same spirit of vision, patience, and long-term thinking now underpins Sutherland Edge. Today, the company focuses on identifying and developing high-value assets across Sri Lanka — from commercial property in Colombo to boutique leisure ventures in the hill country of Ella — always with the same commitment to quality and purpose that has defined this family’s work for over five decades.
“In the early 1970s, sourcing of corundum — rough sapphire — was the foundation of everything. Farook Gems was built on that, and from Kahawatte to the world export market, the principle was always the same: find value where others have not yet looked.”
M.H.M. Farook — Founder, Sutherland EdgeTo become a trusted name in Sri Lanka’s private asset management and hospitality landscape — recognised for disciplined investment, quality development, and a legacy built to last.
To identify, acquire, and develop strategic real estate and hospitality assets across Sri Lanka, managing each with transparency, operational rigour, and a long-term commitment to value creation for our principals, partners, and the communities we invest in.
Founded by M.H.M. Farook, Farook Gems grew from the sapphire fields of Ratnapura into a respected gemstone export business — one of the first to bring Sri Lanka’s finest corundum to international buyers. That heritage of trust and long-term relationships remains at the heart of everything we do today.