Pillay R Group’s commemorates foundation day |28 February 2023

Group COO Menon and guests at the event (Photo: Toule Box)

New executive director Visaaly Pillay’s aim is to grow the business activities

The Pillay R Group, one of Seychelles’ leading business conglomerates, chose the nice setting of the Espace Café and Bar owned by Ralph Estico for the commemoration of its foundation day in the presence of staff, invitees and winners of the Shop & Win raffle.

In fact, the foundation was laid many years ago when TMKR was opened as a provisional store. TMKR belonged to the father of Ramakrishnan ‘Ramu’ Pillay, the owner of Pillay R Group which started in 1990. A man with a business vision and a determination to succeed, Mr Pillay diversified the various business commercial activities in the years that followed and Pillay R Group is now not only known in Seychelles but also has a business presence in Uganda, United Arab Emirates and India.

In his keynote video address, Pillay R Group chairman and owner Ramakrishnan ‘Ramu’ Pillay, thanked the whole team for their hard work,

“I thank the whole team who have been part of the journey, lived both the dream and concept of doing things the right way,” said Mr Pillay who added that “now is the time to be recognised in the world”.

Following a corporate presentation of the group, Mr Pillay’s daughter, Visaaly Pillay, who wants to follow in the footsteps of the founders and grow the business activities in Seychelles as the new executive director, said she has to be “bold in my decisions” and “dream big like my dad”.

She noted that they began as a modest retail shop and grew into an organisation.

“We must not forget the devoted people who have worked for us and the customers who have been crucial to our success,” said Miss Pillay.

She also thanked all the staff for their hard work and loyalty before joining

group chief operation officer (COO) Menon, Ascent Project managing director Rajesh Pandya, Alliance Insurance chief executive Percy Quatre, and Cash Plus chief executive Audrey Rose for the cake cutting.

Miss Pillay then presented the long service award to Rose Mary Esparon who has stood the test of time, serving the company for more than 40 years since starting in the retail section to reach the position of sales manager.

Described as an active member of the group and whose presence has been felt across the various departments, Mrs Esparon said “I have grown with the company and for me Mr Pillay is like a brother”.

Talking about Mr Pillay’s vision for the company, Marc Waye Hive, head of human resource, administration and projects, said “all the businesses ‒ airline, insurance, money changer etc ‒ are connected. So let’s connect to continue to grow the business because Mr Pillay dreams big”.

Ascent Project managing director Rajesh Pandya said Mr Pillay always told him to “trust your employees” adding that he (Mr Pillay) has a knack for recruiting the right people to work for him.

“Mr Pillay is able to translate his vision to his people and is able to identify the strength of his staff,” added Mr Pandya.

For her part, Cash Plus chief executive Audrey Rose congratulated Mr Pillay and thanked him for “giving employment to and trusting not only Indians, but also Seychellois and other nationalities”.

Alliance Insurance chief executive Percy Quatre called on Miss Pillay to take the Pillay R Group to new heights, adding that “I was given the task of running a very complex business, but I am certain in the long run the Alliance Insurance will be very beneficial to the whole group as for Mr Pillay there is no failure”.

Ganesh of Travel Plus described Mr Pillay as “ambitious and willing to help others”.

“I remember very well during the time of Covid-19 business was down as there were travel restrictions. Mr Pillay came to me and said let’s hire an aircraft. I told him, it is going to cost us a lot of money. He said let’s do it. In the end we made 36 chartered flights,” said Mr Ganesh.

The night also saw Pillay R Group’s businesses in the wholesale, retail and financial services rewarded for the year 2022 based on growth and profitability generated.  

Mahé Industrial Arun Ice Cream won the prize for best business performance in the wholesale category, TMKR took the business performance award for the retail business, Cash Plus La Digue branch captured that for the financial services category.

The Pillay R Group management has said the best business performance award ceremony will be continued in 2023 and will be added to it, the best employee awards.

Meanwhile, winners of the Shop & Win raffle were given their prizes on the night and Nigel Sinon won the first prize ‒ a Renault Triber car.

A proud Sinon said he bought two items including a rice cooker which gave him the winning coupon.

There were 11 other interesting prizes – refrigerator, chest freezer, washing machine, 65’’ LED TV, and return tickets to Dubai.

Clients who shopped at certain shops of the group received a coupon to enter the draw.

Pillay R Group offers a variety of services and those include construction, importation of furniture and electronic products, currency exchange, retail chain of shopping, importation and warehousing, travel packages, IT equipment reseller, automobile, sales and service for Cummins parts and real estate.

Gerard Govinden