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| Sunday, 15 February 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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The secret of success of woman German director by surekha galagoda
Commitment, responsibility, achievement of goals, the belief in God, care for others and their support are the main ingredients which have contributed for the success of Executive Director Tropical Leisure Management Company Ltd., Susanne Filippin. Family Susanne Filippin was born in an industrial town in Germany considered to be its heartbeat as the eldest girl of a family of four children, comprising two brothers and one sister. Her father worked with complicated youth while her mother was a housewife. "I appreciate all the work my mother did. She never grumbled, felt sick or annoyed. This lesson by her taught me to take whatever I do in life very seriously." "Since my father worked with complicated youth, he was concerned that we grew up well-mannered, and he also ensured that we never got into trouble. It was not easy when we were young because we did not have the freedom the other children of our age enjoyed since he was a strict disciplinarian. This has instilled a lot of patience and I am very tolerant towards my children," she said. "There were mountains and lakes but there was a quite a lot of pollution since nobody was concerned with the environment during that time," she said. Education In Germany every child starts his/her education at the primary school and at the secondary school there are three options and a child can select whether he/she is going to stop at O/Ls, A/Ls or combined school. She completed her education and started her own business. Career Filippin along with her Italian Artist-husband opened a restaurant and cafe combined with an art gallery. "We did everything by ourselves or else it would have been difficult for us to make profits due to high wages and strict labour laws. Therefore we worked very hard to make it a success." Germany Life in Germany is very systematic and Germans are considered to be square headed with everything prim and proper. Seychelles "We used to travel far on vacations and one such vacation to Seychelles changed our whole life. "We closed down the business run by our family for 45 years in Germany and settled down in Seychelles," she said. We bought a house, built a workshop and started to enjoy the art while living in Seychelles. "It was different since we could do whatever we liked. After some time I think I got a little bored." "I wanted to move on to the hospitality industry as most of the expensive hotels in the world were in Seychelles. I explored how I could get involved in tourism. I worked with a German tour operator as a "ground handler" and I enjoyed it very much while I also learnt what the guests want and expect during holidays. "Though Seychelles is sans violence, snakes etc., it did not have the depth of Sri Lanka". After some time the whole family moved on to Barley where the children had the occasion to realise the great respect the natives have for their elders and how the country function on religion and spiritualism. I also got an opportunity to see and work closely with boutique hotels in Barley. They are the forerunners and have a lot of it. Sri Lanka "My children were 11 and 8 years respectively when we came to Sri Lanka. I liked Asia for its rich culture and heritage. We started "Elephant Corridor" with our resources and the prospects of its future are good. Earlier, most of the tourists who visited Sri Lanka were backpackers, but now it is changing slowly as high spending tourists too are looking at Sri Lanka in a positive manner. "Sri Lanka has never been explored to its full potential, but we certainly can and are eager to do so and, I think the time is right, because of the peace process and the good publicity it has received. For example two million tourists visit Vietnam to see the war monuments per year and this is an area to be explored in Sri Lanka too, she added. Hotel Concept "Sri Lanka in our opinion is not a beach destination, it has much more to offer to the traveller who wants an experience. "When we set up a hotel in an area, we want to highlight the significance of that area be it the beauty, nature or culture which the area specialises in. "We are planning to set up at least 10 more "lifestyle" hotels in different areas as we want to satisfy the emotional needs of the traveller who wants an experience of that kind." Advice "Gain the confidence of the rest of the world and sort out the problems," she adviced. Fact File |
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