Albert ABELA 1922 - 1998
(The Daily Star, December 19, 1998)
Albert Abela will be remembered as one of the great self-made business tycoons.
From a modest beginning 50 years ago in Tripoli (Lebanon), he and his two brothers Edwin and Joe laid the foundations for a catering and hotel business that today has a turnover in excess of $1 billion and employs 35,000 people in 40 countries, including 1,000 in Lebanon.
As the news of his sudden death in London spread through Lebanon, phrases like "commercial genius" and "legendary businessman" were typical descriptions by which family and friends paid their tributes.
Albert was the second brother but he was the undisputed head of the Abela Group, a company which various members of the family now help to manage. An Abela company has the management contract to run Casino du Liban, both as a gambling establishment and for catering. It provides the meals for most of the airlines using Beirut Airport, and it runs Abela's, the up-market supermarket in Achrafieh which opened last year with a $14 million investment in a partnership with two local companies, Fattal and Bocti.
Albert's first masterstroke in business came when he struck a deal with the Iraq Petroleum Company to provide catering to offshore oil establishments in the Gulf and to drilling stations in Saudi Arabia. This was a pioneering venture because outside the military, the idea of onsite catering was virtually unknown.
Not only that, the concept of providing food on an ever growing scale was untried in the region and in many ways the techniques and quality-control standards taken for granted today had to be developed without an established reference point by the Abelas.
Mario Abela, son of the youngest brother Joe, recalled his uncle as "a one-man show" still directing the daily affairs of the business until his sudden death. "He was a legendary businessman, always striking deals in an efficient and practical manner. He had an instinct and a vision that was never over-sophisticated or over-computerized," he said. "There were cases where competitors had been trying to work out a deal over a year or more and Albert could go in and get the contract in a couple of days with nothing more than a small calculator in his hand. He had brains. His talent was in his head and not in the size of his capital assets."
Albert moved to England almost 20 years ago and lived in Hampstead, north London. There he followed a routine which reflected his attention to detail and a business discipline.
He rose at 4:30 A.M. and spoke to his managers and colleagues in some of the 200 Abela companies around the world.
Then he would return to bed for two hours. He would swim every day before going to his office. For the king of a catering empire he would eat sparingly. Typically, cheese and grapes were all he would need for lunch.
And yet Albert Abela knew how to party. Friends remember how he exhausted the younger members of his family at a New Year's party by insisting on dancing until dawn.
Not surprisingly, a former executive described him as "an incredible powerhouse of a man."
Submitted by Nigel Hoar
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