A. Y. S. Gnanam

Last updated
A. Y. S. Gnanam
A. Y. S. Gnanam.png
Gnanam in 2000
Born(1922-05-05)5 May 1922
Soukyapuram, Tirunelveli District, Madras Presidency, British India
(present-day Tamil Nadu, India) [1]
DiedJanuary 3, 2007(2007-01-03) (aged 84)
Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore
Nationality Sri Lankan
Occupation(s)Founder of St. Anthony's Group
(Tokyo Cement Group, Sascon Knitting, St. Anthony’s Solar, Capital City Farms (Pvt) Limited and Rhino Roofing Products Limited)
Founder of Ceylon Synthetic Textile Mills (Cyntex)
Founder of Asian Cotton Mills
Chairperson of Express Newspapers (Ceylon) (Pvt) Limited.
Chairperson of the Textile Manufacturing Association [2]
SpouseAmy Gnanam
ChildrenRajaseelan Gnanam
Arul Gnanam
Jeyaseelan Gnanam
Awards[Deshabandu]] (1986)
Deshamanya (1994)
Vishwa Prasadini (1996) [2] [3]


Arulanandam Yesuvadiyan Samuel Gnanam popularly known as A. Y. S. Gnanam(5 May 1922 - 3 January 2007) was a successful Sri Lankan business tycoon who founded St. Anthony's Group among others. [1] [4] [5] [6] [2] [7] [8] [9] [10] [3] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Contents

Gnanam in his tender age ventured into selling scrap iron on the road and eventually built the multi-billion-worth St. Anthony's Group. [11]

Early life

Gnanam was born in a small village Soukyapuram in Tirunelveli District, Madras Presidency, British India(in the present-day Tamil Nadu, India) in a cristian Nadar Family. [10]

Gnanam went to a small school in Soukyapuram and did well in his studies. Since the school only had classes up to fourth grade, his mother sent him to a bigger school in a close-by town. He spent around one year at that school and returned back home due to accommodation issues. [10]

He reached British Ceylon when he was 9 years old and joined his father and brother who were working in a small town Horana. [10]

In the 1930s he attended a night school to learn English, whilst working with his brother in a shop in Kottawa, spending half of his monthly salary for his studies. [10]

Gnanam on his brother’s request used to go thrice a week with goods loaded on a bullock cart, to farmers markets around villages in Kottawa. He was given two rupees as his wage for each market; he used the wage to buy produce from Chena farms along the way sold them at the market, and made a profit for himself. [10]

Career

Gnanam started to sell scrap iron on the road at a very tender age. After the Second World War there were many British vessels abandoned in Trincomalee. He saw this as an opportunity and started to buy scrap from these vessels and export them to India. [3] [12]

Gnanam then started a hardware business - St. Anthony's Hardware, where he sold scrap iron. The British were nice to him and gave him a good price; the business started to grow gradually and he started to import a number of other hardware-related products. [12]

He went into trading reputed international brands Grundig and Sanyo in Sri Lanka in the 1950s.

Gnanam was invited by Sir Cyril De Zoysa to manage the ailing roofing manufacturing company Sri Lanka Asbestos Products (today known as Rhino Roofing). He turned to European manufacturers for equipment to upgrade the production line and to improve product quality. He eventually turned it into a successful venture. [10] [12]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Government discouraged imported items coming into the market and promoted local industry and nationalisation. Gnanam saw another opportunity to begin manufacturing in Sri Lanka. He invested in equipment from international sources including from Germany that were known to have the best technology for manufacturing and produced high-quality nuts, bolts hinges and later PVC pipes, fittings and others. [12] [10]

During the same period, Gnanam realised that there was a big shortage of textiles in Sri Lanka. Therefore, he formed a joint venture with Mitsui Company and established the Ceylon Synthetic Textile Mills or Cyntex which used high-quality machineries from Switzerland and produced quality fabrics. This was the first public company that was initiated with Japanese collaboration in Sri Lanka and he was one of the first entrepreneurs to get World Bank funding. [12] [2] [10]

Gnanam also initiated Asian Cotton Mills. During his time as Chairperson of the Textile Manufacturing Association, he campaigned for positive government policy changes in the local textile manufacturing industry. [2]

He exported gems under the scheme known as CRA (Convertible Rupee Account) to earn foreign exchange to fund the import of consumer goods. He sometimes did not make much margin on the export of gems, instead making more margin on the consumer goods he imported. [12] [10]

When markets opened in the 1970s, he diversified into apparel, employing as many as 5,000 people in an enterprise to manufacture and export sweaters to the West. [10]

Gnanam started Tokyo Cement as his second biggest public company in investment, expanding the manufacturing of building materials, anticipating a boom in the construction sector and this still lays the foundations for the building industry in Sri Lanka. [12] [10]

Charisma

When thugs robbed Gnanam’s house during the riots in 1983, they chased him out of his house. As he was just with a sarong and vest (his norm), the thugs sympathized and offered him a trouser and a shirt. Gnanam told them -

"Not to worry. I came like this from India and used to go from house to house buying old newspapers in this same attire. I am prepared to go with the same dress to the refugee camp." [11]


Gnanam was extremely resilient, not succumbing to pressure from friends and family when several enterprises started by him were affected by the riots in 1983; he stood firm, rebuilt and restarted. [10]

Philanthropist

Gnanam was a silent philanthropist who assisted schools, hospitals, orphanages and the needy people. [6]

Awards and recognition

Gnanam was bestowed with three national titles, Deshabandu in 1986, Deshamanya in 1994 and Vishwa Prasadini in 1996. [6] [2]

Legacy

Public image

Memorials

Bibliography

The author Jey Gnanam mentions, “I had the opportunity to visit my father’s place of birth Soukyapuram in 2011, and to see the little kudisai (hut) he spent his boyhood in. A feeling of awe and disbelief overwhelmed me at the sight of it.” [1]

Related Research Articles

The mixed economy of Sri Lanka was worth $84 billion by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and $296.959 billion by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country had experienced an annual growth of 6.4 percent from 2003 to 2012, well above its regional peers. This growth was driven by the growth of non-tradable sectors, which the World Bank warned to be both unsustainable and unequitable. Growth has slowed since then. In 2019 with an income per capita of 13,620 PPP Dollars or 3,852 (2019) nominal US dollars, Sri Lanka was re-classified as a lower middle income nation with the population around 22 million (2021) by the World Bank from a previous upper middle income status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport in Sri Lanka</span>

Transport in Sri Lanka is based on its road network, which is centred on the country's commercial capital Colombo. A rail network handles a portion of Sri Lanka's transport needs. There are navigable waterways, harbours and three international airports: in Katunayake, 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Colombo, in Hambantota, and in Jaffna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Sri Lanka</span> National flag of Sri Lanka

The flag of Sri Lanka, also called the Sinha Flag or Lion Flag, consists of a golden lion holding a kastane sword in its right fore-paw in a maroon background with four gold bo leaves, one in each corner. This is bordered by gold, and to its left are two vertical stripes of equal size in teal and orange, with the orange stripe closest to the lion. The lion and the maroon background represent the Sinhalese, while the saffron border and four bo leaves represent the concepts of meththa, karuṇā, muditā and upecka respectively. The stripes represent the country's two largest minorities, with the orange representing the Tamils living in Sri Lanka – both the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka – and the green stripe representing the Sri Lankan Moors. The golden yellow border represents the other minority communities of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon tea</span> Tea brand and historic term

Ceylon tea is both the brand of tea which is produced in Sri Lanka and a historic term describing tea from that land. Ceylon tea has been described as not only a geographical descriptor but also a pillar of Sri Lankan culture, heritage, and identity. The Sri Lanka Tea Board is the legal proprietor of the Lion Logo of Ceylon tea. In 2019, Sri Lanka was the fourth largest tea producer and the third largest tea exporter in the world. The Lion Logo has been registered in 98 countries as of 2016. Ceylon tea increasingly faces rising production costs, mainly due to increasing wages, fuel prices, and utility costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kottawa</span> Suburb in Western Province, Sri Lanka

Kottawa is one of the main suburbs in Colombo, Sri Lanka and is administered by the Maharagama Urban Council. It is located 21 km (13 mi) from the centre of Colombo. It is a five-way junction and lies as the epicenter for Maharagama road, Homagama road, Piliyandala road, Malabe road and Borella road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia–Sri Lanka relations</span> Bilateral relations

Foreign relations exist between Australia and Sri Lanka. Australia has a High Commission in Colombo, likewise, Sri Lanka has a High Commission in Canberra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maliban</span> Bakery product manufacturer in Sri Lanka

Maliban Biscuit Manufactories, is one of the largest manufacturers, distributors and marketers of bakery products in Sri Lanka. Maliban is a privately owned limited liability company.

Textile and clothing industries have been Sri Lanka's largest gross export earner since 1986 and accounted for more than 52% of the total export earnings of the country. It is also the country's largest net foreign exchange earner since 1992. The apparel industry of Sri Lanka employs about 15% of the country's workforce, accounting for about half of the country's total exports, and Sri Lanka is among the top apparel-producing countries in the world relative to its population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayleys</span> Sri Lankan conglomerate

Hayleys PLC, founded in 1878, is a multinational and diversified conglomerate company in Sri Lanka with business spanning over 16 sectors, catering to 70 markets worldwide. Hayleys accounts for approximately 4.2% of Sri Lanka's export income, and 3.9% of the country's tea and 4.5% of its rubber production. With over 30,000 employees, Hayley was also the first listed entity in the country to surpass annual revenue of US$1 billion in Fiscal Year 2017/18. The company operates over 16 business sectors: eco-solutions, hand protection, purification, agriculture, consumer and retail, leisure, textile manufacturing, construction materials, plantations, industrial solutions, power and energy, transportation and logistics, BPO, tea exports, projects and engineering, and investments and services. Hayleys comprises over 130 business units and subsidiaries, nine of which are publicly listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange. In addition to Sri Lanka, Hayleys today has manufacturing facilities in Indonesia and Thailand and marketing operations in Australia, India, Bangladesh, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, UK and USA and its products are sold in 80 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon Petroleum Corporation</span>

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as CEYPETCO (CPC), is a Sri Lankan oil and gas company. Established in 1962 and wholly owned by the Government of Sri Lanka, it is the largest oil company in Sri Lanka. It was formed in 1961 by nationalisation and expropriation of all private oil companies in Sri Lanka at the time of its formation. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development headquartered in Colombo. It is the largest government owned company in the country, with an operational profit of Rs. 33.9 billion for the financial year 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon Tobacco Company</span> Sri Lankan tobacco company

Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) is a Sri Lankan tobacco company engaged in the manufacture, marketing and export of cigarettes. It is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. CTC holds the monopoly of cigarette and tobacco sales in Sri Lanka. British Tobacco started selling cigarettes in 1904-1911. CTC has a primary listing on the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon Biscuits Limited</span> Sri Lankan food manufacturer

Ceylon Biscuits Limited is a Sri Lankan food manufacturer, the maker of Munchee biscuits and one of the oldest biscuit makers in Sri Lanka. The company owns 60% of the domestic market share in Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tea production in Sri Lanka</span> Production of tea in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a climate and varied elevation that allows for the production of both Camellia sinensis var. assamica and Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, with the assamica varietal holding the majority of production. Tea production is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka, and accounts for 2% of GDP, contributing over US$1.3 billion in 2021 to the economy of Sri Lanka. It employs, directly or indirectly, over 1 million people, and in 1995 directly employed 215,338 on tea plantations and estates. In addition, tea planting by smallholders is the source of employment for thousands whilst it is also the main form of livelihood for tens of thousands of families. Sri Lanka is the world's fourth-largest producer of tea. In 1995, it was the world's leading exporter of tea, with 23% of the total world export, and Sri Lanka ranked second on tea export earnings in 2020 after China. The highest production of 340 million kg was recorded in 2013, while the production in 2014 was slightly reduced to 338 million kg. India has additionally guaranteed Sri Lanka a shipment of 65,000 metric tons of urea. Sri Lanka's troubled execution of an organic agriculture initiative had pushed the country perilously close to an agricultural crisis. Given the surge in global fertilizer prices, it is improbable that Sri Lanka could procure fertilizer at prevailing market rates.

Cannabis in Sri Lanka is legally sold through Ayurveda herbal shops, and can be used for medical and scientific purposes if given a license by the Ministry of Health. For recreational usage cannabis is not legal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gunawardena</span> Sri Lankan politician and diplomat (1904-1971)

Don Benjamin Rupasinghe Gunawardena, popularly as Robert Gunawardena, was a Sri Lankan Marxist politician and diplomat. He was one of the founders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, which was the first political party in Sri Lanka, and served as the long time MP for Kotte. He was the leader of the Suriya-Mal Movement and served as ambassador to China between 1965 and 1970.

Tikiri Banda Tennekoon was a Sinhalese politician. He served as a member of Parliament, representing the Dambulla electorate for five consecutive terms (1956–1977).

St. Anthony's Group is a Sri Lankan conglomerate company headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka. St. Anthony's Group owns businesses across Sri Lanka engaged in hardware, textiles, cement, roofing, media, construction, hospitality, farms, manufacturing, retail, solar and hydropower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tokyo Cement</span>

Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) PLC is a Sri Lankan cement manufacturing company headquartered in Colombo. The company is engaged in manufacturing Portland cement, Pozzolana cement, tile adhesives and other cement products. Sri Lankan entrepreneur, A. Y. S. Gnanam founded the company in 1982. Tokyo Cement Company is a quoted company on the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1984. The company was one of the components of the S&P Sri Lanka 20 Index until June 2022. The company is ranked 29th amongst the LMD 100, an annual list of top 100 listed companies in Sri Lanka by revenue for the 2020/21 period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ACL Cables</span> Cable manufacturing company in Sri Lanka

ACL Cables PLC is a cable manufacturing company in Sri Lanka. ACL Cables manufactures and sells power cables, conductors, armoured cables and telephone cables. The company was established in 1962 as Associated Cables, a subsidiary of Associated Motorways. The company was publicly quoted in 1976. In 1980, the company moved out of Associated Motorways Group and was renamed ACL Cables in 1990. ACL Cables is one of the LMD 100 companies in Sri Lanka.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tokyo cement company". FindGlobal. March 3, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Gnanam Family". Media Ownership Monitor Sri Lanka. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "Legendary Gnanam no more". Daily News (Sri Lanka) . January 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Sri Lanka's Beloved Home-Grown Tycoon". Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) . 11 February 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Colombo's trams". The Island (Sri Lanka) . September 9, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "APPRECIATION:A.Y.S.Gnanam - A true Sri Lankan". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka) . January 7, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Tokyo Cement and Foundation of Goodness inaugurate A.Y.S. Gnanam Village Heartbeat Empowerment Centre in Dambulla". Ada Derana. April 5, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  8. ↑ "St. Anthony's goes global under the reins of the third generation". Ceylon-Ananda.com. January 29, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  9. ↑ "LIVING UP TO A LEGACY". Echelon Magazine. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "A. Y. S. Gnanam". Samuel Gnanam IT Centre. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 "Passing of Mr.A.Y.S.Gnanam". Association of Tamils of Sri Lanka in the USA. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Iron Strength Through The Ages". Business Today. December 2011. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  13. ↑ "A. Y. S. Gnanam — the living legend". The Island(via worldgenweb.com). May 30, 2002. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  14. 1 2 "A Y S GNANAM ELDERS HOME". StAnthonys.lk. Retrieved April 27, 2021.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.