type public industry consumer electronics home appliances medicals supermarket products and range of other high quality products predecessor athireegemaafannu trading agency ata founded mal maldives 1964 headquarters boduthakurufaanu magu mal maldives key people ahmed niyaz chairman ahmed shaheer managing director products consumer electronics home appliances medicals supermarket products and other retail products revenue mvr 7.313 billion 2015 number of employees 1 263 1 subsidiaries allied insurance company of the maldives pvt ltd maldive gas pvt ltd fuel supplies maldives pvt ltd maldives national oil company sto maldives singapore pvt ltd website www.stomaldives.com a close up view of the sto building the state trading organization mse sto 1 or sto is a public company with 92.29 % of the shares owned by the maldivian government with the rest 7.71 % being held by the public after the ipo a couple of years ago . it is operated directly under the ministry of trade and industries and is controlled by a board of directors headed by a chairman . 2 3 contents 1 history 2 outlets 3 services 4 subsidiaries 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit when sto took root in 1964 the outlook for the maldives was grim to say the least . the population was a mere 100 000 . the only communication with the outside world was the morse code and the ham radio . the only airstrip was one put together by the british royal air force and inter atoll transport was limited to trips on the traditional sailing dhoni . 4 the only resource available was fish and consumers were at the mercy of importers . even the most basic food items were expensive . the country had no banks development was slow with no local fund for major investments and no commercial industry . the need for a central purchasing organization to raise living standards and encourage development was acute . the government responded with the establishment of the athireegemaafannu trading agency ata the beginning of sto and the catalyst of change in the maldives . ata financed the purchase and import of essential items in bulk ; sold them to the public at low mark up prices and also purchased supplies for the government . with proven success in contributing to national development 4 ata expanded into the state trading organization sto . the sto undertook all trading and commercial activity on behalf of the maldivian government . the nation was growing and so were the nation s demands . now the need was not just for staples like rice sugar and flow but also for quality merchandise improved construction material and for state of the art consumer goods . the winds of change were blowing across the nation 4 and sto responded by looking beyond its traditional role of state trader . it began to take up alternative enterprises to earn foreign exchange and broaden the nation s revenue sources . outlets edit sto people s choice electronics established in 1993 sto electronics deals with branded consumer electronics including home theater systems digital photography and video equipment stereo and hi fi systems and microsystems . sto people s choice home improvement established in may 1995 deals with home appliances paints power tools furniture and cooling systems . people s choice supermart established in 1991 supermart is reputed to be weasel words the largest supermarket in the country . it also introduced supermarkets to the nation which provided an inexpensive mode of shopping to the public . deals with merchandise ranging from toiletries stationeries canned and frozen foods household items and consumer goods . staple foods since the establishment of sto in the mid 60s it has been selling staple foods . people s choice construction established in 1988 deals with construction materials such as cement river sand deformed bars plywood timber and roofing materials . it also functions as the main distributor of locally packed international standard cement and roofing sheets with the aide of its subsidiaries maldives marine cement and maldives structural products . people s choce pharmacy provides pharmaceutical drugs and other medical items to public consumers and corporate clients such as indira gandhi memorial hospital local pharmaceutical companies and the regional hospitals . sto peoples choice fuel and lubricants operated from funadhoo island and dhoonidhoo island mal atoll deals with the supply and sale of a wide variety of petroleum products . in january 2001 fuel and lubricants diversified as a joint venture between fuel supplies maldives pvt. ltd. fsm plc. and vara maldives . pvt. ltd. to further extend their distribution network to the entire maldives . services edit sto specializes in both retail and wholesale businesses involving selling goods directly to end customers for personal use and providing quality products to wholesale customers at competitive prices . the company has its branches in the following islands locations nationwide eydhafushi sto 132 no . fihaara fonadhoo sto 134 no . fihaara fuvammulah sto 136 no . fihaara gan sto 141 no . theyo fihaara hithadhoo sto 137 no fihaara hoarafushi sto 122 no . fihaara maradhoo feydhoo sto 159 no . fihaara thinadhoo sto 138 no . fihaara hulhumeedhoo sto 164 no . fihaara kulhudhuffushi sto 165 no . fihaara sto established its credit scheme service in 1995 with the purpose of enabling all government employees to purchase goods from sto on installment basis . subsidiaries edit allied insurance company maldives pte ltd allied insurance company of the maldives was established in 1985 as a joint venture company between state trading organization and commercial union assurance company of the united kingdom . in its early years the state trading organization bought back the shares and the company continued operations with local ownership and management . allied has had tremendous growth over the past 20 years both in terms of the volume of business and profitability . fuel supplies maldives pvt ltd fsm fuel supplies maldives pvt ltd was established on january 1 2001 . fsm was founded as part of the scheme of sto to choose private companies to form partnerships in specialized lines of services . maldive gas pte ltd maldive gas natural gas distribution market delivering cooking gas to over 40 000 customers throughout the maldives . maldives structural products pvt. ltd msp maldives structural products pvt. ltd msp is a joint venture company of state trading organization plc & rainbow enterprises pvt. ltd. formed with the main objective of producing steel roofing products and related accessories and supply to the maldives market . maldives national oil company ltd. mnoc the maldives national oil company ltd. mnoc was incorporated by the government of the republic of maldives to complement the government s effort to diversify the national economy and thereby generate employment and foreign income through oil and gas exploration and production in the territory of the maldives and abroad . lafarge maldives cement pvt ltd with the rapid development of the tourism industry in the maldives the government of the republic of maldives embarked on its long term development of harbours airports housing and other infrastructure . the tourism industry continued to grow and many large resort projects with joint venture partnerships got off ground . all these development projects required large amounts of cement resulting in an increased price of cement in the maldives . this led to the introduction of marine cement limited a swiss based cement trading shipping outfit owned by lafarge of france and blue circle of united kingdom as a share holder to form a joint venture with the state trading organization plc. registered under the ministry of trade and industries in the maldives in establishing maldives island marine cement pvt. ltd. from january 2002 with the takeover of blue circle by lafarge of france . see also edit state trading enterprises references edit sto annual report 2013 pdf . organizational structure . male maldives sto . retrieved 18 november 2013 . adam azim appointed new md of sto . male maldives sun online . retrieved 18 november 2013 . a b c company overview . male maldives sto . retrieved 18 november 2013 . external links edit http www.stomaldives.com corporate information pages retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title state trading organization & oldid 740773660 categories companies of the maldiveshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with specifically marked weasel worded phrasesarticles with specifically marked weasel worded phrases from october 2009 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent 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