Passion vital for success

Your educational background?

I am a product of Royal College, Colombo. I received my MBA (Master of Business Administration) from University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, USA and Msc in Computer Systems Engineering from Syracuse University, USA.

Did you have prior experience before you became the CEO of Mobitel?

Yes, I count over 13 years working experience at Singapore, Telecommunications (SingTel) both in Sri Lanka and head office in Singapore. I served in various capacities such as Director Account Management, International Business Development, Product Management, Product Development and General Management.

I was the first local to be entrusted by SingTel to head its operations overseas. I received a sponsorship to pursue MBA with university of Chicago - Graduate School of Business by the Career Development Council of SingTel.

I was awarded a Distinction in an intensive residential programme titled “International programme on project Appraisal and Risk Analysis,” designed for senior Finance and Project Management in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka which was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute for Development Banking Hyderabad, India conducted by Harvard University Faculty. I serve as a council member of the University of Colombo and as a Board Member of the Overseas School of Colombo.

What should be the vision of any business institution?

Obviously to be the market leader.

What are the contribution aspects of a market leader organisation?

A business organisation should possess a passionate team in formulation a strategy positioned around value innovation and customer centricity. It’s the key to success in any business organisation.

It should have a strong management team led by a visionary CEO. Therefore the CEO’s role is vital. Because he is at most times the decision maker and can also be a dictator. There are instances that the management would not agree with the CEO often but the management has to follow him.

At such times the CEO should be able to plan and execute at the correct time. If the organisation is far behind its competitors in the market, it should be able to leapfrog into the next steps seizing every possible market opportunity to build its position.

Customers are collection of individuals. The organisation should be able to cater to their interests. That means the organisation should have a sense of individual flavour gained by market researches to acquire insights and seize the opportunity to engage with corporate customers to explore in terms of mutual benefits.

Along with the determination of achievement, an organisation’s vision should be accompanied by credibility- without which an organisation would hardly survive. It’s a feature of a good organisation to be equipped with up to date technology in order to provide a better service to the customer.

How do you communicate with your employees and customers?

I have around 1000 employees working under me. It is not practical if I say that I communicate with each and every one of them. I call for top managerial level members and section heads for meetings and tell them my observations about the past week or the month,or the developments to be done or decisions to be made.

My message is delivered to respective departments through section heads. I do not see any failure in that communication process hitherto. I believe in my employees. Especially my board of Directors they are proactive and pragmatic.

When it comes to communicating with my customers I always encourage a face to face live encounter instead of inanimate form of communication. In a live encounter I would be able to not only understand what their matter is, but also to feel it.

So that I would provide a better solution by the proper comprehension. Even though we have now stepped into the era in which internet and email facility is popularly available and abundantly utilised, I do not prefer to communicate via emails. It’s very time consuming and perplexing.

Under irresistible circumstances where it’s hard for me to spare time for live encounters or telephone calls, I would respond to smses. Because the message is conveyed in short span of words. It’s also terse.

What makes a person successful in business?

Education qualifications and experiences would lift him into a higher rank. These two aspects are interdependent. If you have only education qualifications, you possess no knowledge of how and what to do.

You become a complete person through experience. A gem cannot be polished without friction nor man without trial. Thus a successful leader is made through experience. An experienced person is a one who possess instinct and a sense of prediction through his past experience.

Education qualifications analogous to the theoretical part of a subject and experience to the practical part. The person who is equipped with education qualifications and experiences would have the competitive edge over others.

I must mention that even a person possesses a sound education background along with experience, he may not be successful if he is not passionate. In other words if someone doesn’t love what he does he might not be able to achieve success in business. It’s also called the right attitude. Passionate people are aggressive and goal oriented. They hardly fail in achieving their targets.

What’s your notion on the widespread usage of mobiles in society?

Having a mobile connection was a luxury couple of years ago. Although the situation today is absolutely different. We can hardly find a person without a mobile in today’s society.

Earlier usage of mobiles were limited to a few category of people like businessmen, Directors, Managers and so on. Although today the mobile is within the reach of even schoolgoing children.

Communication has become an integral part of people’s life. Most things are being manipulated through means of communication.

Therefore it is vital for people to get connected. Where ever they are, people today are able to communicate with each other due to the extensive coverage.