Sherkat Omana | |
Type: | Holding company |
Fate: | Dissolved |
Hq Location City: | No. 124, Flora Building, Elizabeth Boulevard, Tehran |
Area Served: | Iran |
Parent: | Baháʼí administration |
Sherkat Omana (or Omana Company, literally 'The Trustees’ Company') was a for-profit corporation in Iran that the Iranian Baháʼí community utilized to legally hold ownership of their communal assets. Incorporated in form of a holding company, it possessed over a thousand properties nationwide, which included shrines, cemeteries, community centers, and welfare facilities.
After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Iranian government confiscated all these assets, which were then taken over by the Mostazafan Foundation. The authorities defended their actions with official allegations that Baháʼís were Zionist agents working with Israel, a claim that Baháʼís view as a form of excuse for persecution.
One of Sherkat Omana's most important subsidiaries was Sherkat Nawnahalan (literally 'The Children’s Company'), an investment company founded in 1917. The latter had a capital of some $5 million in 1979 (amounting to $22.5 million in 2024), and was involved in importing, retailing, industrial projects and mortgage. It also provided student loans and assistance to the elderly of the Baháʼí community. Half of the company's equity was controlled by Sherkat Omana, and the rest was owned by some 15,000 individual Baháʼí shareholders.