ABANS

The Abans Group of Companies was founded on an entrepreneurial spirit and a genuine feeling of empathy for consumers. Aban Pestonjee began this adventure over 53 years ago and has since then developed the Group together with her family to operate in the retail, real estate development, environmental management and logistics sectors. Over 17,000 Group workers operate across Sri Lanka in various activities to deliver practical and innovative solutions to meet customers’ everyday requirements. Abans will continue to place a premium on health and the environment. Its primary goal is to empower and enable people’s way of life.

Q: How does workplace respect grow admiration for organisations to become employers of choice?
A: Abans fosters an inclusive and supportive culture where we collaborate to achieve common goals.

This promotes personal career advancement and company growth. Furthermore, our culture underpins everything we do from hiring to corporate activities.

We firmly believe that diversity promotes the individuality of an organisation while shaping its character. And we recognise that everyone in the organisation can contribute unique creative skills and ideas. Employees with different skills and backgrounds can bring diverse ideas and thoughts to the table, which will help organisations to deliver better.

Q: How important is brand strength and value in securing the trust of customers?
A: Our service is trustworthy. Abans offers over 100 international brands including LG, Philips, Apple and Elba. These brands help us meet changing client demands and innovate.

Abans’ principles are incorporated into its corporate culture and connected with Aban Pestonjee’s goal to ‘empower people with a better way to live.’ Our leadership team and employees have incorporated this into business strategy and activity.

Our organisational culture permeates all elements of our enterprise, and defines how we do business and engage with our people, customers and external stakeholders. Our culture of being ‘Visionary, Relentless, Empowering’ has helped us make Abans’ vision a reality, enabling all stakeholders to experience a better way of life.

Q: Innovation is the name of the game, particularly in the post-pandemic era… How is this reflected in your Group?
A: Abans employees know that new ideas are always welcome. They’re encouraged to share ideas at staff forums in which they participate.

The following are some of the programmes that encourage innovation in the team:

‘Employee Champions’ identifies and establishes facilitators from different departments to improve employee-human resources dialogue through a squad. This improves staff communication, cooperation and idea sharing, fostering a more collaborative atmosphere.

‘Innovation Hub’ encourages employees to contribute fresh ideas to enhance corporate operations, cutting expenses and digitalising – so the firm may achieve greater success and keep a competitive advantage.

The ‘Spotlight’ recognition programme was established in 2019 to make people feel their efforts and ideas are acknowledged on the spot. When awarding a ‘spot honour,’ new ideas, process improvements and cost reductions are examined.

Senior management follows an informal open-door policy where staff of any level can offer suggestions that cross functional teams – COO, Director of Operations, Digital Lead or IT – will investigate.

Q: How does your organisation view the concept of ‘responsible business’ in trying times such as the pandemic?
A: This year, a decision was taken by the senior leadership team not to impose any pay cuts – although there were many lockdowns – so that any financial setbacks would not impact employees despite uncertainty.

Two bonuses and annual increments were paid to the staff during the pandemic to ensure a majority were secure with adequate means to source their daily needs. These bold decisions to empower our team in the face of uncertainty demonstrate the true culture of Abans.

Realising the need of the hour, Abans quickly catered to the market’s demands, swiftly reformatting our back end infrastructure, enabling us to record growth in e-commerce sales. Today, Abans has become a formidable name in the digital sphere.

The Abans Group of Companies continues to expand with a far-reaching influence. Its presence is felt across Sri Lanka. For clients who come from all walks of life, Abans provides a wide range of product selections that meets every requirement. And Abans is devoted to enabling a better way of life.

QUICK-FIRE ROUND

Three recommendations to revive Sri Lanka’s economy
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka to be made independent.
Subsidies given for political gain to be discontinued.
All loss making government entities to be privatised.

Three most admired global business leaders
Steve Jobs (innovation)
Jack Ma (global marketplace)
Jeff Bezos (largest e-commerce entity)

Telephone 0777 387349  |  Email dinesh@abansgroup.com  |  Website www.abansgroup.com