Abans to expand with shopping malls, resorts

Indunil HEWAGE

Abans Ltd, one of the leading conglomerates in Sri Lanka intends to spread its wings locally and regionally. It is on the look out for more opportunities in the corporate world.

Abans will also expand its presence in India in the near future.

Aban Pestonjee

The company is into apparels, communication, trading, freight and logistics, advertising, car sales and is on the lookout to expand and improve existing sectors with more investments.

Abans Chairperson and Managing Director Aban Pestonjee said having understood the potential in the tourism industry, the company intends to tap post war opportunities by setting up several resorts in the country.

It is in the process of scouting for prime land while developing the present lands belonging to the company to fulfil this objective.

“Nevertheless, the country needs to look at the potential of the tourism sector seriously and has to promote Sri Lanka as a preferred destination on the world map,” he said.

In addition Abans is to build shopping malls within Colombo city limits to give more entertainment opportunities for the public. “We hardly have entertainment in Colombo. Our objective is to put up places with everything under one roof, where families can spend the day. We believe it is very necessary in Sri Lanka,” Pestonjee said.

Expressing personal thoughts on ongoing development initiatives here, she expressed satisfaction in the Colombo restructuring projects taking place in prime lands.

She said the on going development drive needs to be expedited to achieve set targets in every aspects in economy.

“When it comes to developing Sri Lanka, we cannot expect everything from the Government and peoples’ mind-set also needs to change at the same time,” she said.

Commenting on local consumer purchasing power and buying behaviour, Pestonjee says there are changes in consumer preferences. She is happy to note that local consumers’ purchasing power is better than it was last year. Factors influencing customer buying behaviour are advertising and affordable and quality products offered by us.

“In addition consumers are very brand, quality and price conscious when it comes to purchasing goods,” she said.

“We can see a positive approach with the dawn of peace. People tend to spend more than before. We are geared to fulfil customer needs with better service ethics”.

“Abans Ltd has teamed up with leading multinational brands and continuously gathers inputs from them,” she added.