Interview with Abbas Akbarally, interviewed by Professor V. G. Narayanan, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abbas Akbarally, V. G. Narayanan, Harvard Business School

Abbas Akbarally is Chairman of Akbar Brothers, the worlds largest tea company. Based in Sri Lanka, the company also has diversified operations in cement, and wind and hydro power. The interview describes how Akbarallys career began in 1951 working in the tea department of Hebtulabhoy & Company, a family company founded by his grandfather. In 1969, Abbas and his brothers broke off to focus on tea manufacturing, forming Akbar Brothers. Working first as a tea exporting business, Akbar Brothers purchased tea from domestic sources and exported it internationally under various brands. Akbarally notes that one challenge to Akbar Brothers was the nationalization of Sri Lankan tea plantations in 1971-72. Due to political regime change and balance of payments problems, Sri Lanka began replacing its foreign imports with domestic production to lessen Sri Lankas dependency on imports from the...