What it does: Softlogic Holdings is a diverse company, with private hospitals, consumer electronics stores, ICT companies, car manufacturing, spas and more. It has over 11,000 employees across 1,850 outlets, with over 140 international brands.
Financials: Softlogic recently earned Rs 27.6 billion in gross profit, stemming from 75.1 billion in gross revenue. Dividends per share were at Rs 0.50, with a market price hovering around Rs 16.00 per share. Net asset value increased by Rs 12 billion to 130 billion total value, which is in line with previous years’ growth.
The good: High growth company with varied projects and opportunities.
The not so good: Long hours and six-day work weeks at some businesses.
Hiring grads with degrees in: accounting and finance; business and management; law; software engineering; computer science; medicine; medical science.
The company began when in 1991 when its ambitious founder Ashok Pathirage and his friends recruited 12 employees to start an IT company. Its first success in the sector occurred when it acquired a Dell-authorised distributorship, which it holds to this day.
In 1998 it began a lucrative partnership with Dialog Axiata, allowing it to offer individual and corporate telecom packages. Its foothold in the sector was strengthened two years later when it acquired the national distributorship for Nokia, putting its services into the hands of Sri Lankans across the island.
Having become an IT and telecom staple, Softlogic began planning for aggressive expansion in 2006 beginning with the acquisition of Uni Walkers, a retailer. It soon found itself acquiring consumer electronics outlets, furniture stores and more. By 2010 it had even consolidated its own line of hospitals through further judicious acquisitions.
The years to come saw further developments, from more branded apparel to acquiring financial services providers like Softlogic Stockbrokers and Arrenga Capital. The company seeks to continue playing a major role in Sri Lanka’s economy and now operates across the world.
Career paths can vary substantially between Softlogic businesses due to their diversity, but generally speaking, there’s a lot of opportunities. It’s a growing company with a constant need for skilled graduates in business and software. Challenging projects provide chances to stand out and earn promotions on merit rather than chance or tenure. If you’re a software developer, you can also expect lectures to help close skill deficits (like on writing in Java, for instance), which will help diversify your resume.
Freshers can sometimes have a hard time adapting due to the sheer amount of responsibility, but this is both a blessing and a curse. Those who succeed distinguish themselves.
It’s admittedly a stressful environment. While senior management and HR are usually happy to help, you’ll be expected to work ten hours or more each day and a six-day working week is common. Consider how much you value work-life balance versus career progression before committing.
Softlogic’s vision is to be the most trusted service provider in the country, regardless of what that service might be. Its unabashedly honest mission is to increase returns on money invested.
It has nine core values for attaining these ends.
Unfortunately, waste management and minimising their carbon footprint are Softlogic’s lowest priorities according to a recent financial statement, making them the only two material considerations that fall below ‘high priority’ out of the 16 specified. The report claims the assessment comes from stakeholder consideration.
Despite this, it plans to install rainwater harvesting equipment in the healthcare sector and has plans for using renewable energy throughout its leisure enterprises. It also aims to improve energy efficiency throughout its retail businesses.