Knowledge can help a lot to avoid mistakes but nothing beats the practical hands on experience of seeing what works for ‘you’, according to Nahil Wijesuriya, Chairman Hotel Services (Ceylon) Ltd, who was sharing his experiences at a business forum recently.
At the 30th LBR-LBO CEO Forum on ‘Opportunity never knocks twice’ last week Mr. Wijesuriya said that in his career as an energetic businessman he has made it a point to dish out ‘very little’ delegation. “I want to be hands on with whatever I do, because others don’t do a job as I want them to and I love it (being hands on),” he said.
When asked about the political environment to do business, Mr. Wijesuriya said that there’s too much state interference in private businesses. “They need to be left alone and state interference should come down,” he said.
He also said that people should feel safe. “I don’t want to be locked up if I miss a step,” he said.
Mr. Wijesuriya, who has been involved in a range of businesses including real estate, shipping, bunkering, information technology, electronic media and financial services, noted that there should be ‘freedom’ to get on with business.
He said that Sri Lanka is too expensive for business. “One reason for this is that we haven’t got the infrastructure in place. We need to get it right."
He also noted that starting a business to running it smoothly requires a lot of dedication and sacrifice, but he does get bored doing the same thing over and over again. “That is when I sell my businesses,” he added.
Mr. Wijesuriya, a marine engineer by profession bought 97% of Ceylon Continental Hotel under the Hotel Services Ltd in April 2008 from U.K. Sharma, an Indian businessman. He said that tourism will be bullish in Sri Lanka now that the war is over but noted that the floor prices in Colombo’s five star hotels are not far sighted.
"In the long term it will not work,” he said, adding that "You have to let market forces determine the price on the long term. And it's against World Trade Organization rules." Speaking about the CPC bunkering monopoly, he said, “It is only for 11 miles into the sea, so I parked my bunkering barges 11.25 miles into the sea and beat the system."
The bunkering which was later handed over to John Keells Holdings (JKH), saw competitors waging court battles against the private monopoly. “An opportunity came around where the price of steel went up and the price of my ship went up. So I had to deliver this ship for breaking. It was a lovely ship, but they wanted the ship clean without any oil, but I had 6,000 tonnes of oil on it. So I phoned Susantha (Chairman, JKH) and said: 'Buy my oil and I take the case off and I'm no longer in bunkering'. He bought the oil and I sold the ship. I took my case off and made sure that I gave all the relevant files to Vasudeva Nanayakkara (who went to Supreme Court against JKH on the bunkering privatization),” he said, draining laughter from the audience.
Noting his fondness and penchant for legal battles, Mr. Wijesuriya said that he fights with the big sharks. “I just like to take on the big guys. There’s no point in bullying the small boys on the road.”
He also said that he was the main financial backer for Jathika Hela Urumaya, a political party. He said that contributions for political campaigns should be transparent. When asked about devolution of power, he said “It won’t happen.” |
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