[6] With an annual turnover of US$8.4 billion, LuLu Group International employs the largest number of Indian diaspora.

[6] As per Forbes billionaires list published in October 2023, he was ranked 27th richest Indian with net worth of US$6.9 billion.

After his studies, he left India in 1973 to Abu Dhabi, where his paternal uncle, M. K. Abdullah, the chairman and the founder of the LuLu Group of Companies, was doing business.

He developed the import and wholesale distribution of the group and ventured into the supermarket business by launching the Lulu Hypermarket.

Retail business is the mainstay of the Group with operations in major Middle Eastern and African countries like UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and Kenya, having Retail Sourcing and manufacturing bases located in the Far East, India, Africa and Guangzhou in China.

[32][33][34][35][36] Yusuff Ali is very closely involved in many social, charitable and humanitarian activities both in India as well as in the Arab states of the Gulf.

As part of its Global CSR policy, the LuLu Group joined hands with Dubai Cares and adopted schools in Gaza and Nepal.

[37][38] Yusuff Ali contributed and took initiative to open a multi-faith funeral centre for the Indian community in Sharjah that spread across 8.3 acres.

[39] He also took initiative to sell and promote organic products grown by the special needs community in UAE through LuLu Hypermarkets[40][41] Yusuff Ali donated to the Gujarat earthquake, Tsunami Relief Fund in Asia, and Typhoon and flood relief in other parts of the world.

He is also actively involved in ensuring the social, economic and religious welfare of expatriate Indians in the Persian Gulf region.

[47][48] His second daughter Shafeena is married to Adeeb Ahamed who runs Lulu International Exchange and Twenty14 Holdings, the group's hospitality investments division.

The private helicopter owned by the businessman had suffered a technical glitch due to adverse weather.