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| Sunday, 21 December 2003 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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The great pioneer The story of N. Vaitilingam and Company is the story of a man who left the comparative security of an office job in a mercantile firm to launch out on his own in the competitive field of business. Business interests at that time were synonymous with European interests in the island. Few Ceylonese ventured into what was considered the exclusive preserve of Europeans. It took men like N. Vaitilingam to prove that the will and the determination to succeed would bring its own rewards. Today, the firm he founded, N. Vaitilingam and Company Ltd., commemorates his 125th birth anniversary. Responsibility and Integrity Nagamuttu Vaitilingam was born in 1878 in Navaly, Jaffna. His early years were spent at Jaffna College, Vaddukkodai, which was run by American missionaries. Thereafter, he passed the F.A. (Calcutta) and the General Clerical Service examination. However, Jaffna could not hold this young man. He looked for wider horizons and Colombo, the commercial hub of the island, beckoned him. At 18, he joined Brown and Company, a trading and engineering firm, which was under European management. The diligent worker that he was, he proved to his superiors that he was a young man of outstanding ability. They also saw in him a man of responsibility and integrity, a man who whatever the task assigned him could be trusted to do the best by the firm. So naturally, one promotion followed the other and he rose to the highest position a Ceylonese could aspire to at that time. Many Opportunities But Vaitilingam, like all men of vision, was not content to spend the rest of his years at somebody else's bidding. He felt himself marked out for bigger things. There were so many opportunities waiting to be grasped. So in 1922, he stepped out into the hurly burly of business and set up his own firm, N. Vaitilingam and Company, dealing in hardware, building materials and estate supplies at a time when only a few dared compete with foreigners. It is to his credit that from small beginnings, his business began to enlarge and if larger accommodation is any criterion of an expanding business, his was. From the first office at Third Cross Street, Pettah, it expanded into a sales office at Old Moor Street. In 1978, the company moved to its present head office at Bloemendhal Road, Colombo 13. Branching into New Fields In the late twenties, Vaitilingams opened a branch in Jaffna, which was, for many years, in charge of Mudaliyar V. Mahesan. About the same time, the company entered the field of building construction and also set up a steel and steel fabrication workshop. There was no one who came in contact with N. Vaitilingam who did not have a word of praise for him. He was always ready to lend a helping hand in a field where rivalry is more the rule than the exception. But many did come to him for advice and he was always ready to help. When he found that he was getting too old to care for the office, when he felt it needed new life, he brought his eldest son V. Balasubramaniam to help him. In 1952, when the firm was made into a limited liability company, Vaitilingam, still having a finger on the pulse of business, became its Chairman and Balasubramaniam became its Managing Director. A younger son, the late Mahendrarajah (popularly known as Mahinda), joined the business in 1952. Foreign Collaboration With a new impetus to industrial development in the island with the government's enlightened industrial policy, business interests were looking out for new fields of investment. The firm had come a long way from those early years and in the sixties found itself expanding into many fields. In 1960, a factory was opened for the production of barbed wire with machinery from West Germany and Japan. In 1964, the manufacturing programme was expanded to take in brass and wood screws. In 1967, approval was obtained from the Director of Industrial Development to set up a galvanised iron sheet factory with Japanese collaboration. Two leading trading and steel manufacturing firms, Marubani Ida Co. Ltd. and Kawasaki Steel Corporation, provided both capital and technical expertise and in 1969, the factory went into production of galvanised iron sheeting. The company has now expanded into the fabrication of Zinc Aluminium and colour bonded roofing sheets. In the mid-1970s, the company ventured into an entirely new field, by making substantial investments in the hospitality industry. Yala Safari Beach Hotel, which consisted of 50 rooms, was set up in 1978. Due to unfortunate circumstances in the 1980s, the hotel had to be disposed of. The company since then has diversified its activities into the metal decorating industry, housing and the manufacture of wooden products. It is still a family-owned and run business with 300 employees. V. Balasubramaniam is the Chairman, Dr. V. Ramachandra a Director while four grandchildren continue directing the organisation. |
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