Online edition of Sunday Observer

Fact File

Name            : Thavatinsa Mendis Jayasekera
Date of Birth: November 23, 1947
School           : St. Aloysius College, Galle
Professional Qualifications:
                                         BSc in Engineering
                                         MBA
                                         Presently studying for a
                                         PhD
Achievements:                   Deputy Director IDB,
                                         Consultant, Professional
                                         trainer
Children:                            Two daughters and a son

It is on a rare occasion that one comes across an individual who can be called a 'jack of all trades and a master of all'. Engineer, management consultant, professional trainer, university lecturer, writer and marketing specialist T.M. Jayasekera is a man for whom this description fits like a glove.

During a career spanning 33 years, comprising stints in the private, public as well as the non-governmental organisations (NGO) sectors, the areas he has studied, worked and excelled in are wide and varied.

At the moment, he is involved as a management and human resource trainer, a visiting lecturer at several universities, a consultant for several organisations and as a facilitator of corporate plans. Proper time management, he said, is the key word when it comes to handling several things at once.

Thavatinsa Mendis Jayasekera, who hails from down south, was born in 1947 as the fourth in a family of six children. His father was the headmaster of the Seenigama village school where his mother also taught.

"Both my parents being teachers gave me an early start in life. As there was no age limit to be enrolled in school then, I started schooling at the age of two and a half years. My parents did not want to leave me at home to the care of servants as I was very mischievous. They took me to school instead," he said.

After completing his primary education at the Seenigama school, he entered St. Aloysius College, Galle from where he completed his Ordinary and Advanced Level. He entered the University of Peradeniya in 1965 at the age of 17 and passed out as a civil engineer in 1969, aged 21. He completed his Master of Business Administration from the University of Colombo in 1990 and won five gold medals including those for the best performance, best dissertation, business policy and corporate planning at the final examination.

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers and Institute of Management of Sri Lanka and Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management of UK and a member of the Institute of Marketing and Institute of Training and Development of Sri Lanka British Institute of Management and Institution of Civil Engineers London.

He has also followed courses in computer, textile technology and garment manufacturing and Japanese and has participated in skills development programmes in subject areas such as quality assurance, crisis management, corporate planning, negotiating, international marketing, profit and productivity improvement and training of trainers.

A firm believer in the theory that there are no age barriers to obtaining education and professional qualifications, he is presently reading for a PhD in Business Management at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies of the Colombo University.

Jayasekera started his career as a civil engineer at the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (the then Water Works Department) in 1969 soon after graduating. After serving in this capacity for three years, he moved to the private sector to serve as Manager of Ceylon Chocolates Ltd., a subsidiary of the Upali Group of Companies. He expressed his gratitude to the late Mr Upali Wijewardene for exposing him to the world of business both local and international. "He taught me the ABC of business."

Jayasekera served the Upali Group for three years in various capacities including as Plant Manager of Upali Malaysia Sdn Bhd. Then he went on to join Ceylon Tobacco Company as Projects Manager and the Maharaja Organisation as Technical Director. He took another step forward by joining the Hayleys Group where he continued for 12 years; as Managing Director of Haytex Ltd., Director and General Manager of Hayteys Interlinings Ltd. and Hayteys Apparels Ltd., General Manager of Hayleys Engineering Ltd. and as Group Projects Planning Manager of Hayleys.

He also served Industrial Gases Ltd. as CEO and Executive Director, Seico (Pvt) Ltd. as Director and the ICBT Campus as its Dean for nine months. He has 23 years experience in the private sector and seven years in the public sector.

Jayasekera served as Deputy Director of the Industrial Development Board (IDB) and as General Manager of Sri Lanka Industrial Development Company Ltd. and Lanka Pineapples Ltd., wholly-owned subsidiaries of the IDB. He remembered Mr B.C. Perera, IDB Chairman at the time, as one of his mentors who guided him on the path of success. "I learnt the value of honesty and integrity as ingredients of success through this wonderful civil servant. I am really grateful to him for that," he added.

Apart from the private and public sector, the NGO sector has also benefited from Jayasekera's expertise. A United Nations Development Programme/International Labour Organisation project and CARE International have been fortunate to make use of his experience.

Apart from his career, he has provided consultancy services to many organisations including the IDB, Sri Lanka Garment Buying Offices Association, Ministry of Vocational Training and Rural Industries and Edna Group.

Jayasekera is an authority in the area of corporate planning and strategic management. "When preparing a corporate plan for an organisation, I gather people representing various sectors within the organisation and conduct discussions with them to get their inputs. I only facilitate the preparation of the corporate plan," he said. He has done corporate plans for a large number of private and public sector organisations including the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Professional trainer The move to change his career to become a trainer was prompted by Prof W.M. Jayaratne who was the Course Coordinator of the MBA programme of the Colombo University when Jayasekera was studying for his MBA. Encouraged by Jayasekera's performance at the final examination, Prof Jayaratne invited him to the programme as a visiting lecturer. "I am very much grateful to Prof Jayaratne for that," said Jayasekera who now conducts public management development programmes with Prof Jayaratne.

During the last 10 years, he has conducted over 200 public programmes and over 200 institution-specific management development programmes for public and private sector organisations. They formed their own company, Innovative Skills (Pvt) Ltd. four years ago to undertake training and development of human resources in the island.

According to Jayasekera, the major problem in Sri Lanka is the dearth of proper management skills. "We have an administrative set-up, which is a remnant from the colonial era. This is what is applied even now and not proper management of resources. Wastage and corruption are rampant due to poor management.

"As we did not have an open economy till the late 1970s, we were not exposed to international management concepts. Also, as ours was an agrarian society, these concepts were not really important. We have been late in catching up with international trends. This is true even for the private sector which has been labelled the engine of growth.

"People have to change their attitudes first of all. We have no customer-oriented policies; we do not give the customer what he or she wants, but what we have. Quality is also not a prerequisite in our minds. Unless we change our mindset and adopt new strategies, we are going to be defeated in this race. We should not be satisfied in doing something, we should strive to do the right thing the first time.

This is how other countries have succeeded. What is more, development has to be continuous. We cannot be complacent after acquiring some skills. Continuous improvement is essential. People cannot be forced to change. They have to be motivated to make the changes by themselves for themselves," he said.He cited the Worker Education and Training Programme of the Plantations Reform Project under CARE International as one of the most satisfying projects carried out by him. Under this project, workers and managers of 103 estates belonging to 20 privatised plantation companies were trained.

"High absenteeism and alcoholism were common problems in estates. Through my inquiries I realised that the problems arose from both sides and not necessarily from the workers. Money was not the only reason for the problems. Estate workers also wanted to be treated with dignity like human beings, which was not the case then. After the training, a drastic improvement was seen in the attitudes of both parties, leading to better relations and productivity in estates."

Jayasekera was appointed to the three-member Ceylon Government Railway Committee set up to uplift railways in September by Minister of Transport Tilak Marapone. Discussions are currently progressing with workers and unions regarding problems associated with the sector.

He is also involved in a six-month Undergraduate Education Project funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Melbourne University and Resources Development Consultants of Sri Lanka. He continues to provide his services as an instructor and visiting lecturer for many universities both local and with foreign affiliations.

Jayasekera also writes to national newspapers and other journals on topics related to management and corporate governance.

"I do not have a problem with doing so many things as I manage my time properly. I work for about 16 hours each day and can get by with six hours of sleep. I wake up around 3.00am, do whatever writing that I have to do and plan my schedule for the day. When I get down to the actual action, I have to only follow my plan. This early start has always given me an advantage. I take a catnap during lunch time to give my mind a rest. This gives me the strength and vigour to continue for the rest of the day," he said.

Jayasekera is married to a doctor attached to the Chest Clinic of the Colombo National Hospital. He has three children; two daughters and a son. His daughters are studying at the Medical and Engineering Faculties while his son is still schooling.

"My family has been my pride and strength throughout my career. Nothing would have been possible without their blessings and support. They even help me with my training programmes," he said.

Courage and determination were cited by him as the most important things one needs to succeed in life.

"You cannot achieve anything without giving up something. Sacrifices have to be made. You will have to identify your priorities and give up the least important things if you want to achieve your goals," Jayasekera said as a word of advice.