SL’s financial environment positive - Pestonjee

Cassandra ABEYNAIKE

“Sri Lanka’s a financial environment after the end of the conflict is showing positive signs and to meet this growth, we must also grow with the nation,” said Aban Pestonjee; founder and chairperson of Abans Pvt Ltd. For this IT and English is specifically needed to meet business and international standards.

Abans Pvt Ltd is one of the market leaders in Sri Lanka, offering a variety of products and services. Through human resources and with technological advancement, the company has been able to surpass expectations and bring growth to the nation.

Companies under the Abans Group belong to one of the five strategic business units which includes retail, services, manufacturing, logistics, real estate and infrastructure development and with this they are beginning to expand island-wide and in the overseas market as well.

“People at Abans are not employed to be in the same position for the rest of their careers, instead we want them to be able to fulfil their potential and for that, we need them to have knowledge in IT and English,” she said.

To achieve this, an academy has been created for those that are not familiar with these two main subjects. They can learn it from accredited foreign teachers.

Whilst fulfilling the academic purposes, this plan also acts as a CSR project with the Jaffna challenge. As most people in that area are only familiar with Tamil language, a programme has been created where employees from the Western province exchange places with those in the Jaffna area, giving them the chance to learn English and Sinhalese.

This not only provides more jobs but also unifies the Sri Lankan community by breaking down the language barrier.

“It’s healthy to have competition, without it, a business doesn’t seek to improve the standard of their products,” she exclaimed.

With over 350 outlets and 15,000 employees across the nation, the business is continuing to prosper further. Plans are underway to flourish Abans’ stance in the tourism sector including the construction of a mall in the Colombo region which will provide a family friendly environment with food, shopping and entertainment, all in one destination. They are also looking into the hotel industry outside of Colombo with land already being bought in Nuwara Eliya and Bentota. “We’re looking at partnering with an international hotel chain but talks are still in discussion,” she said.

Pestonjee began Abans in the mid-seventies as a small shop in Bambalapitiya. She had envisioned to free housewives from the constraints of having to do everything by hand and began to attend auctions of household appliances in countries such as Australia. After 1978 when the import tax was introduced she partnered with Swedish brand, Electrolux and from there the making of Abans as a market leader was set, “I could never have imagined that this is where my small business would end up. I could not have done it without the support that I had received from my family and workers,” she expressed gratefully.