GRI 2-22

As we mark the completion of yet another year of building a sustainable, equitable business for MAS, I am happy to share my thoughts on the MAS Plan for Change Impact Report of 2024.

With the external volatility and market environment caused by the ongoing economic downturn, 2024 continued to be a challenging year for the Organisation as well as the global apparel industry. MAS continued to focus on our long-term strategy, while moving forward with our efforts to consolidate and streamline operations to ensure the longevity, protection, and wellbeing of our people, planet, and communities.

Continued investment in sustainability

As an organisation committed to sustainable, equitable growth, MAS has continued to invest in our sustainable business initiatives despite the continuing challenges faced in the macro environment ranging from geopolitical instability to recessionary markets.

With sustainability engrained in our founding values, we believe that these efforts give us a competitive advantage and the license to operate, and motivate our employees by providing them a meaningful purpose to guide them.

Changing lives for good

Our focus on empowering our people also continues through training and development initiatives, while upholding our commitment to being an equal opportunity employer. We remain committed to engaging with the communities we operate in and investing to build capacity to create change agents who make their environments more resilient and sustainable.

An especially proud moment for MAS was supporting Sri Lanka’s national athletes and para-athletes at the Olympics and Paralympics, as well as our investment in future generations of athletes in Sri Lanka, through the newly launched MAS Athlete Training Academy.

Futureproofing our business

In the face of an evolving regulatory environment, we are proactively aligning our efforts with theincoming European Union regulation on product design, environmental performance and due diligence frameworks, in order to minimise potential impacts and futureproof our business.

MAS has worked hard to build on a strong foundation to address these changes and has built on this through a holistic approach to sustainability covering in depth aspects of product, social, and environment.

We have also taken strides to craft our strategy for 2030 and beyond, both for business and sustainability, continuing the Organisation’s commitment and foundational legacy of doing the right thing. We look forward to exploring these in further detail in 2025 as we prepare our Organisation and our people for the next chapter in our onward journey.

Acknowledging our wins

We were also humbled to be recognised at Sri Lanka’s 26th Presidential Export Awards for 2023/24, winning the coveted “Exporter of the Year” award, as well as being recognised our contribution to “Sustainable Development in Exports”. This is but one of the wins that our teams have secured for MAS for its commitment and achievement in sustainable business initiatives.

We look forward to this year as it brings us to the close of the last five years of strategic efforts, a significant milestone to mark the culmination of our 2025 strategy. As we move forward as an organisation, we are keen to move forward on our commitments to all stakeholders and work towards the fruition of the Plan for Change in 2025.

Inspired by the changemakers in our midst, we move forward with the commitment to realising the potential we see to drive positive change and transformation within our industry, and our world.

Suren Fernando
Group Chief Executive Officer
MAS Holdings