Back to the roots for Wegapitiya - Successful Entrepreneurs

His family and their ancestors probably owned a village off the town of Balangoda but Wegapitiya Kattiyage Hemachandra Wegapitiya had tough times during university life and probably his most embarrassing moments. The young man, studying Business Administration at the Sri Jayawardanapura University, was short of cash and like any other student from rural Sri Lanka ate on credit from the nearby ‘Matara Bath Kade’. The university had closed for the vacation and he had just 25 cents in his pocket in around 1985.

With a laugh and also a slight shrug of the shoulders – recalling that moment of truth 20 years back – Wegapitiya said that he found many people in the ‘kade’ and embarrassed to ask the shopkeeper for food on credit in front of a crowd, so he waited. After the last man had left, he made the request only to find that there was nothing left. “I was helpless and embarrassed. Since I didn’t have any money, to eat elsewhere, I drank glasses of water and went to sleep,” the 44-year old entrepreneur, who now commands a billion-rupee empire and has set his eyes on creating a multinational brand across the world, said at his relatively small office at Lucky Plaza in Colombo.

He doesn’t need to eat on credit anymore … running a soon-to-be restaurant chain like the Laugfs supermarket’s chain and fuel stations. But the man hasn’t forgotten his humble beginnings and yearns to return to the ‘wattle and daub’ days.

His name starts and ends with ‘Wegapitiya’ based on the name of the ancestral village where he was born and grew up. The rich trappings of life – going to the gym daily, socialising with the rich and famous and access to the best cars – hasn’t changed him one bit from the days of growing up in an off-the-beaten-track village.

“I want to be a farmer. That’s my dream and I’ll do it one day. I want to grow fruits and vegetables and live on a farm. I want to live in a wattle and daub hut with a straw roof which I enjoyed growing up in,” he said. Asked if his wife, whom he met at university while she was doing an economics degree and who now has her own career as a deputy director at the Export Development Board, was supportive of this decision, he said (laughing): “Yes, she says she’ll come as long as there is a modern toilet!”

Apart from a hard life in the village, Wegapitiya says the university environment helps ‘one to survive any difficult environment.’ He said: “If somebody asked me how I raised by capital, my response would be – that basically (hard university life) is my capital.”

Growing up was tough. There were nine children in the family – three boys and six girls. Everyone at Wegapitiya village had large families. His father had some tea land and was essentially a tea smallholder but life was tough with many mouths to feed. Wegapitiya went to the village school until the O’ levels and soon after his father died. A married sister took him under her wing and he lived with their family in Kegalle where he took the A’ levels at Pinnawela Central College.

The turning point was his university career and the special 4-year degree in Business Administration where he learnt the ABC of business, management, human resources and marketing.

“English was my biggest challenge. When I came to Colombo I couldn’t speak or write English,” he said, eventually deciding to work in the private sector, bucking a trend among other local university students who all wanted to join the public service.

“The priority of most students then was to join the Central Bank, administrative service, Inland Revenue or teach in a university,” he said. There was little exposure then to the private sector unlike the situation today. Wegapitiya said he felt differently as he had, since childhood, relished a challenge.

Childhood was not a pleasant one, he said recalling the bread and food queues during the 1970s. “Large families would probably starve because of these food shortages,” he said adding that he learnt to survive with limited resources and even today, “I can go into the village and survive without any modern tools.”

Having pioneered the auto gas industry, set up a chain of Laugfs fuel stations and supermarkets along with a string of new businesses, money is the least of his worries now. But most of his joyful moments are going on a local family vacation (‘I enjoyed the family trip to Anuradhapura recently’) and sitting at the dinner table with his wife and three sons every night. “They wait for me for dinner.”

The older Wegapitiya clan – six sisters and three brothers – meet at least once a year in the village for the New Year.

Dreams maketh a man, they say, and Wegapitiya is living his dream. “I dream all the time about new things. Some may work, some may not. Nevertheless I am always dreaming things, new schemes.” Little wonder then that he has branched out into all kinds of business.

It was a dream of having his own business that ended a short 2-year career as a shipping trainee and led the move to set up a freight forwarding company by end 1987 at a time when the garment industry had reached its peak and there was demand for clearing and finding limited space on cargo ships.

“Most successful entrepreneurs in the world first find an entry point – this entry point has to be an easy stepping stone, less risk, less resources required and opportunity for future growth,” he said explaining his life story.

Wegapitiya is acquiring knowledge as he grows as an entrepreneur and spends late nights now studying for his MBA. Along with a group of 40 other students, he must probably the most ‘famous student’ taking tests and making routine mistakes at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) at Borella.

Every morning he gets up at 5 am, goes to the gym for a one hour workout and then drives to office. “You need the exercise with all the kinds of food we eat and socialising,” he said adding that his favourite food is rice and curry.

The last 18 months has been tough with his MBA studies which has to some extent reduced his social life too because of the home work load. His biggest fear? Being ruined by Sri Lankans themselves. “Yesterday (Monday) I was with my lawyers till 10 pm preparing papers to file in court. The biggest challenge is not turning dreams into a reality or finding a business proposition but unnecessary problems.

Three days ago the government allowed Shell to increase gas prices by Rs 210 but till today they have not give any increase to Laugfs, the only Sri Lankan company. This is happening all the time. I don’t know why,” he said. The company filed action in Supreme Court on Thursday and won approval to raise prices.

Wegapitiya, who was invited by the Australian government to take citizenship after he pioneered the auto gas concept there with the first LPG conversion centre to convert petrol cars into LPG a few weeks back, says Sri Lanka is full of entrepreneurs but many don’t get a chance. “There are a few who can sustain their business in the midst of all these problems but hundreds of others are unable to move forward because there is no local support,” he says.

Wegapitiya who doesn’t have any intention of becoming an Australian citizen (‘why should I when Sri Lanka is a paradise’) believes the western mentality among Sri Lankans is the biggest problem. “During nearly 400 years of colonial domination, we were inculcated with a certain thinking pattern. For example during independence Malaysia looked East at Japan or Korea for progress while we looked west. We have a western mentality – we prefer imported things. There is nothing patriotic – api de, ape kama ‘naha’,” he added.

A little known fact except among his staff is that Wegapitiya can predict the future particularly the weather. “For example I can tell you whether it will rain or not. This is something I learnt from my father. Our ancestors didn’t have weather centres … they had a natural instinct in gauging the weather.”

Wegapitiya listens to the environment and bird calls which he says giving hints on what the weather is going to be. If the skies are red, then its not going to rain in the next few days, he says. Australia, Fiji, Jamaica, the Maldives, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and New Zealand is where Laugfs is or plans to set up businesses. “We will soon be a multinational. Our people are there. We want to be in different areas like consumer retailing, food retailing, energy retailing,” he said adding that the Laugfs is setting up Sri Lanka’s first supermarket in the Maldives soon.Wegapitiya has learnt many things on the way to the top. He grew up acquiring the technique of chena (slash-and-burn) cultivation which not many people can do. He also loves to paint which he does in his spare time.Any regrets? Just one -- I don’t have a daughter. “I tried to adopt a daughter but my wife was not in favour,” he said.

He loves to travel, see the world and acquire knowledge. He is travelling to Russia and Ukraine this week to find out prospects for business and trade and also to learn.

Wegapitiya loves this country and wants to be part of the drive towards building a proud and powerful local industry. “I am not a grumbler nor do I accuse anyone. But the problem with ruling parties is that they don’t recognize local capabilities. They look at local companies from a political perspective side – which side are you on,” he lamented.