CHAIRMAN
Andreas Panyatiou
Group Chairman and CEO
CHAIRMAN
BORN IN THE EAST END OF LONDON IN 1966 TO GREEK CYPRIOT PARENTS, ANDREAS’S UPBRINGING CENTRED ON FAMILY, HARD WORK AND NEVER TAKING ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. THESE FAMILY VALUES ARE STILL AT THE CORE OF EVERY DECISION ANDREAS MAKES. FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, HE LEARNT FROM HIS PARENTS, THE FUNDAMENTALS OF EMBRACING LIFE; OF LOOKING AT CREATING OPPORTUNITIES TO ENHANCE THE WELL-BEING OF THOSE AROUND HIM; AND ENSURING RESPECT AND RELATIONSHIPS WERE THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PRINCIPALS HE WOULD LEARN AND ADOPT.
As first-generation immigrants in the UK, his parents worked tirelessly to provide for their sons. They founded a successful launderette business in the East end of London, with Andreas spotting the opportunity at a young age to offer a delivery service for those people on his estate. This quickly developed into a core revenue stream for the family business, which enabled his father to start a property business, The Ability Group. Andreas worked closely with his father, subsequently taking over the reins and becoming the Group Chairman and CEO.
The Group was established with the Panayiotou family dynasty in mind. Everything, Costas (Andreas’s father) aspired to was for the benefit of future Panayiotou generations, something Andreas is proud to have continued with. This has driven and enabled The Ability Group to succeed in the UK and European property investment markets through development and investment in residential, commercial and hotel assets.
His life experiences in East London, Andreas was able to identify at an early age that there was an increasing demand for residential housing in the area. Armed with this knowledge, Andreas turned his attention to the unwanted, dilapidated buildings in the areas where he knew residential housing would thrive. London was being regenerated and Andreas was in the eye of the storm, reshaping and renovating these areas of London into areas which have become the cornerstone of thriving, innovative communities.
It was this skill of spotting the potential and predicting future trends that made Andreas so successful and the Ability Group a property empire. From the residential sector where Andreas started, he broadened the presence of the Ability Group by carefully investing in other asset classes.