Yusuf joined Families of Lurucina in 2018 and built a new interactive website to connect more people across geographies.
Yusuf’s connection with Lurucina
Both of Yusuf’s grandparents were born in Lurucina and migrated to the UK in the early 1960’s. His grandfather Yusuf Mehmet Sistilli (born 1935), from the Yakula (Gaşaoli) & Muya family, initially left Cyprus around the age of 18 and spent approx. 10 years in Australia. On returning to Cyprus he married Şöhret Mehmetça (born 1940), from the Gatsura and Koca-Ismail family.
In 1963 shortly after their wedding they planned to make a trip to London by boat. It was at this life-changing moment that Yusuf said to his wife: “Londrada havasi bulut, Kibrisi unut” (The weather in London is cloudy, forget about Cyprus) and they both decided to start a new life together in the UK.
They arrived in the UK with literally nothing but an empty suitcase. Yusuf worked for a British based industrial gas company and Şöhret worked for a reputable shirt manufacturing company. Having only recently arrived in the UK, they were still adapting to the English language, but they both worked extremely hard to ensure they always delivered above and beyond employer expectations. As a result of their hard efforts, they soon managed to acquire their own restaurant, which proved to be very successful.
At this point they had three children: Mehmet (born 1964), Hayal (born 1965) and Rengin (born 1967), who helped run the family businesses from a young age and assisted their parents in acquiring other businesses including: additional restaurants, a wine bar, a hair salon and jewellery shops. It was the family’s dedication, entrepreneurialism and business acumen that led them to becoming successful business people.
Despite born and bred in the UK, Yusuf and Şöhret’s children held strong to their Cypriot identities. Their daughter Hayal left school to pursue her career and enrolled on a hairdressing course at Vidal Sassoon. She achieved the “Summer Student of the Year” award and obtained a place at the Sassoon Academy in London. After receiving her diploma from Vidal himself, she went on to open her own hair salon in South London.
In 1983, she married a Turkish Cypriot and had two children: Yeliz (born 1985) and Yusuf (born 1989). Unfortunately, when Yusuf was just 3 months old, her husband took off with their life savings and abandoned her at the age of 23 with two young children. With no financial support, this meant that she had to start her life again from scratch and bring up her children as a single mother. Due to the stress, Hayal then spent years’ battling with cancer, but she continued to work hard to provide her children with the opportunities she never had.
In 1999, Yusuf Mehmet Sistilli passed away due to an unexpected heart attack at the age of 64, before being able to retire. The news was a shock to many in the Turkish Cypriot community in London and was difficult for the family to accept.
Yusuf’s career
Following on from the success of his grandparents and seeing his mother struggle, Yusuf was always very ambitious and has a reputation amongst his friends and colleagues for constantly striving for success. With his mother’s support, he was accepted into University and received a performance based scholarship every year at University for his outstanding academic achievements, despite working every weekend to pay for his tuition and travel fees. Before his final year examinations, his mother was rushed to hospital due to a serious spinal condition that almost left her paralysed. He would sit by his mother all day long and revise by her side and still managed to obtain a first class degree.
After obtaining a first class degree in Accounting & Financial Management, he managed to secure a place in the Banking & Capital Markets practice at the prestigious Big Four professional services firm, Ernst & Young. Here he utilised his Turkish language skills and established a global Turkic network to connect clients and employees from Turkish background across borders. It was here that he met his fiancé, who is also Turkish Cypriot from Mehmetcik (Galatya).
Yusuf is now a managing consultant within the Investment Banking industry and has successfully initiated, managed and delivered several end-to-end programmes across multiple global banks. Yusuf is also a Chartered Accountant, currently serving as a member of the board at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and was nominated as a Top 100 Young CA in 2018.
Outside of work, he is a mentor for The Prince’s Trust, which was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2007 to create opportunities for young people growing up in the most deprived communities. He also delivers talks on societal and religious issues to the Turkish Cypriot community in London alongside his mentor Husayn El-Bakayi (more commonly known as Husayn Hoca).
Yusuf’s other hobbies include history, philosophy, religious studies, scuba diving, theatre, travelling and wing chun.