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| Sunday, 15 January 2006 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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My time is
no longer mine, says Hayleys chief
by Aditha Dissanayake In this exclusive interview with the present Chairman, Rajan Yatawara, the Sunday Observer reveals how Hayleys has held on to a heritage, and a culture for over one-hundred-and-twenty-seven-years; of what they do (and don't).
It is not that they are unmindful of changing trends in business, not that they are ossified and do not adapt, not that they want to be different, it is simply how they have grown...why they are and what they are. Obstinacy? No. They like to think its tenacity! "What can be more rewarding than devoting a lifetime to a work that will far outlive you, a work that will see future generations come and go? What peace of mind work of this kind brings to a man! "Joan Maragall early 19th Century Catalan Poet/writer. Ask Rajan Yatawara, Chairman, Hayleys Limited and he will probably have the answer, for here is a person who has devoted a lifetime to a work (Heycarb Limited which instigated the transference of Hayleys from being a "kohu" company to what it is today that will far outlive him, a work that will see future generations come and go, a work that urges him to say to the generations ahead, "Hold fast to the heritage we leave you". Indeed, what peace of mind work of this kind would bring a man! Yet, seated in his spacious office room, cigarette in hand, tie askew, with twinkling eyes and an amused smile on his lips, Yatawara says when he joined the company then called Chas. P. Hayley at the age of nineteen as a Trainee Executive he had no intention of becoming its Chairman one day. "Never wanted to be and still don't want to be". Why? Modest, perhaps to a fault, he believes even though he is good at handling the technical aspects of the business when it comes to people management he still has a lot to learn. He feels he should be more patient and wishes he could give the same kind of guidance he himself had received from his superiors to everyone working with him now at Hayleys. Confidence and zeal One Chairman he wishes to emulate is George Bobbiese, the "conceiver" of the Heycarb project who had let him be in charge, even though he was still twenty-five and had only five years' experience, thereby giving him confidence and zeal, proving his belief that if you are interested, you don't have to be qualified, you can be the best, and who had saved him from being fired once for writing a memo to the senior managers of Hayleys Engineering Limited saying "we cannot afford the luxury of these inordinate delays in readying the machinery being made for us". Joe Perera known as the Personnel Director because these were the days when HR meant Human "refuse", had come to the corridor of the first floor of the head office, summoned him and verbally blasted him for the memo. Diplomacy 'With index finger waving in the air he concluded 'I'll speak to the Board and have you sacked by Monday" recalls Yatawara. "I was almost in tears but told myself I am a Thomian - we don't cry". On Monday I saw all the Directors in Mr Bobbiese's room. When they had left Mr Bobbiese summoned me to his room and said he knows what happened and asked me not to worry. In future I should have him countersign such letters. He wanted me to keep up the pressure and the enthusiasm, and said he would stand by me". Another Chairman he recalls with gratitude is Lal Jayasundera who took over from Bobbiese and who too, reinforced his confidence and taught him lessons on diplomacy. "Whenever I lost my cool during negotiations with partners he would suggest a walk or say its time for lunch. He also taught me humility and the merits of painstaking attention to detail - where warranted". Thirdly, he agrees nothing would have been possible if not for the support and tolerance of his wife Rosemarie who had endured long hours, days and weeks of his absence from home and his short temper when under stress of work. For, those first years had been unbelievably tough. "Into the bus at Mt. Lavinia at 6.30 a.m everyday to return home by bus, sometimes in pelting rain, never before 8.30 p.m. with factory drawings tucked inside the shirt. Often without notice I had to go to the factory at Madampe and stay overnight, and because we had no phones at the time Rosemarie never knew if I would return home in the night or not". But however poor he had been he had not wanted her to work because he believed at least one parent should be there for the children. Proud of his thirty-three-year-old son who returned from England recently, got married last December and hopes, not exactly to roost at home because there are no job opportunities available in Sri Lanka in his field of mechanical engineering, but find work in a country close by because he can visit his parents often, and his daughter who though she has a degree in accountancy, economics and business, is content being a devoted housewife and who spends quite a lot of her time with her mother "they are like a Lux advertisement", he is as happy about his family as any father could be. Recalling his days at Hayleys in Galle, where he had met Rosemarie at a party he says "My wife lived opposite the Sacred Heart Convent. I used to trudge the Hill next to the Jail in 1968/69- every evening, to court her (me 22 she 16+). Free Dinner, and late night trudge back to my self made apartment in the attic of the Hayleys Office in Pedlar Street, Fort, Galle. Seventy-two steps in the stairs"! Relaxation Today, he begins his day saying prayers for five minutes before coming to work, "mainly to thank and not to ask". He says he doesn't know how to really relax. He rarely reads but when he does, enjoys short, short stories and watches TV only by default because, Rosemarie does so. And yes, like Achilles, he admits he has one failing-he smokes. Now, more than ever before because when he was young he could not afford to smoke so much. Relaxation used to come in the form of work, in the past. 'it was varied those days. Now it's a bit more complex. Appointments, appointments, appointments" pointing his finger towards the room where his secretaries, Marian and Surangi are seated he says "Marina fills my diary with appointments so my time is no longer mine". An ordinary day in office varies from answering letters sent by the pluckers of an estate to pacifying customers who call to complain the Fuji film they bought is not perfect to picturing what Hayleys should be today, why it is not, projecting what the company should be in four or five years...everything now is more a matter of planning. "Financial engineering" which is not the same as "Technical engineering" as it had been in the past. Future plans What are his future plans? "I will be sixty this June. I have not decided if I will retire yet, or not. If I do, I will have nothing more to do with Hayleys from then on. I will put my Provident Fund into the bank and live off the interest. Or live in a hut on the beach land I bought down South, or start a Home for the Elders..." Now, to the question which ends all questions. Having won the best Corporate Citizen of the Year Award presented by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for the second consecutive year, as the Chairman of one of the largest multinationals in the country, how does it feel to be so great? He shakes his head in denial, stubs the cigarette butt on the ashtray and says "I am not great". Now I know. "Only small men think themselves Great. Great men have no time for such small thoughts". ***** Fact file Founded in 1878 as Chas. P. Hayleys & Company, Hayleys Limited today, has grown from a small proprietorship in the southern port city of Galle into one of the largest, most diversified public companies in Sri Lanka. Since its inauguration 127 years ago, those at Hayleys believe the golden thread that binds these years together is the unique "Hayley culture". A culture steeped in a hundred-and-twenty-seven-year tradition of integrity and ethical standards in business; making profit without loss of honour; being valiant when buffeted by storm; being defiant in the face of challenges and persistent in times of adversity. The portfolio of the company includes the following globally competitive core businesses; Coir, Rubber, Environment, Plantations, Agriculture, Transportation, Inland Marketing, Knitted Fabrics and Tourism. A quoted and truly broadbased company with no single individual, family or institution owning more than 12%, Hayleys accounts for 2.3% of Sri Lanka's export income, 1.3% of the country's GDP, 2.1% of domestic value addition and 5.2% of market capitalization on the Colombo Stock Exchange. Providing employment to 34,595 people directly with a total of 27,352 working in the plantations sector and of the number employed in other businesses, 3,419 working outside the Colombo metropolitan area the company has won the Best Corporate Citizenship Award for two consecutive years for its role in providing Corporate Social Responsibility which includes the rehabilitation of the nation's system of irrigation tanks to develop the agricultural sector of the country. With a vision for being Sri Lanka's corporate inspiration at all times,
reaching for the goals of being ranked among the leading five in all their
global businesses some of the milestones in the history of the company
include the inauguration of Haycarb Ltd; formed to pioneer the manufacture
and export of activated carbon from coconut shell charcoal in 1973, the
first overseas venture in 1983 in the USA (Heymark Inc) and the opening of
the first overseas manufacturing facility, Carbokarn Co. Ltd, in Thailand,
in 1994 |
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