Abans Group’s journey from a corner store to a corporate giant
Since 1968 Abans’ sphere of influence has been growing and far-reaching, extending to every corner of Sri Lanka. Its presence in key industries, including retail, commercial real estate, manufacturing, logistics, environmental management, finance and so forth, has had a transformative impact on the Sri Lankan economy as a whole. The Conglomerate enables Sri Lankans to fulfill their dreams for a better enhanced life.
The conception of Abans represents a seamless synergy between powerful insight and translation of it to a business opportunity. It all started when a young Sri Lankan home-maker and mother of three received a singular spark of inspiration as she conducted her household chores one day fifty years ago.
In the 1960’s, Sri Lanka was a closed economy and imports were banned. In this environment, Aban Pestonjee noted how difficult it was to complete household chores through manual labour, and chanced upon the business opportunity to resell gently used second hand home appliances sourced from embassy auctions. She opened a modest corner store in Bambalapitiya and offered after-sales services in her garage, which enhanced her popularity with Colombo customers.
Then when the economy opened in the late 1970’s, Pestonjee began writing letters to renowned British brands requesting distributor rights for the Sri Lankan region. After repeated attempts, Electrolux finally became the first brand to join hands with Abans and other British brands followed including Hoover, Belling and Russell Hobbs. With the help of her children Saroshi, Tito, and Rusi Pestonjee; they led Abans’ steady expansion into other industries and set an impressive benchmark for others to follow.
Abans became the first to launch the Korean giant electronic brand LG in Sri Lanka. They ventured onto become the first large- scale environmental solution provider with the establishment of Abans Environmental Services in 1981. Abans pioneered the entry of international food chains in Sri Lanka by spearheading the entry of McDonald’s into the Sri Lankan market in the late 1990’s.