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Lanka’s new Qatar envoy looks to the future when forging ties
Kithsiri Athulathmudali will be Sri Lanka’s next ambassador to Doha, Qatar. His success story stems from thinking beyond the obvious. His work has never been about the money, rather about helping others. He is also a firm believer in earning respect through his work, a resolve he brings to his new appointment.
Kithsiri Athulathmudali
A first cousin of the former high-profile Minister Lalith Athulathmudali (their respective grandfathers were brothers), Kithsiri (a.k.a Keith) says in his first interview before taking up his new job, a job is where you come to work and do your assigned tasks. To some that is satisfying, “but for me I have to do something that has a far-reaching value for humanity or I get bored”.
Kithsiri was in retirement when yanked out of it to serve his country. Throughout his career, this has been a guiding force, he says. Growing up in Kotte, he moved to England for six years and then to the United States, where he has lived for most of his life. He considers himself fortunate in having secured a top job, straight after he graduated.
He became a director of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in the US — and with some 680 employees working under him in an industry where he had no experience, Kithsiri’s challenge was already laid out for him. “You could say I had a baptism by fire in many ways,” he says, adding that most of the employees were twice his age.
As he recalls, this was the perfect example of being in the right place at the right time. He happened to meet the regional CEO of the company, who while talking to him figured out that he had several degrees. A month later, he asked Kithsiri to apply for the job.
He went on to join a company called Honeywell Inc. “I must have done quite well, because soon they asked me to take over Asia- Pacific as Managing Director.” Kithsiri moved to Thailand for seven years and Singapore for four years.
While there, he started his own company EggSystems Pte Ltd. that created a unique software to manage large highrise buildings, and went on to win the ‘e50 Best Entrepreneur Award’ for 2001 in Singapore.
Thus his first taste of being an Ambassador came in the form of promoting Singaporean technology travelling around the world with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
He then moved back to the US to join Johnson Controls Inc, his career for almost 12-14 years. Here, he had to manage the company’s global businesses in 134 countries, travelling to all of them.
“I was an entrepreneur at heart no matter what,” he explains, adding that this led him to leave Johnson Controls and start his own business once again.
All the while he would return to Sri Lanka periodically to care for his father who suffered from Alzheimer’s. Through this, he learnt so much about the disease, and says most people don’t understand it.
Deciding to do something with his knowledge, he quit his job, bought a hospital building, completely remodelled it and started the Silver Ridge Assisted Living and Memory Care Hospital in Dallas, Texas where he lived. It went on to be a success, leading to five hospitals in total.
He also owns Curatio Solutions LLC, a related business that focuses on advanced wound care for diabetic patients by incorporating Cardiology, Hyperbaric Oxygen technology and standard wound care, where patients could be treated and have their wounds cured instead of facing amputation.
After his semi-retirement, he travelled around the world for almost two years before finally returning to Sri Lanka. “You get to a point where you’ve achieved all your dreams and financially you become more secure. You also come to a point where you have a duty to serve your nation,” he says.
Today, his aim is to give back his knowledge and experience to his homeland. Because, no matter where he was in the world, Kithsiri was always a Sri Lankan at heart who believes in putting his country first. He sees his new appointment as a great opportunity and also an honour to serve his country.
As ambassador, Kithsiri feels that you have to think beyond employment and investments in a hitherto labour-driven country like Qatar where there are some 145,000 Sri Lankans employed, mostly in the construction field. He would rather focus on the relationship between the countries for the next 20 years. “Whatever I do today I need to make sure that I’m thinking about the future too.”
Kithsiri feels that he got this posting, primarily because of his capabilities, experience and expertise. Qatar was his top choice, in fact his only choice, as the country has become an important force in the business world today. In this lies vast opportunities to create strong bonds between the two countries. Having met the Emir of Qatar several times during his professional career, he hopes to build on the relationship, he said.
He looks to connect the two countries together by value on value investments, rather than an ROI viewpoint. Qatar is one of the few countries in the world that has no forests, he points out. They have no vegetation and need to import produce, and Sri Lanka has the ability to provide this.
And with the FIFA World Cup around the corner, Qatar will also need a highly skilled workforce to handle it, creating another opportunity for Sri Lanka.
The Ambassador’s role, he sees as both a prestigious and responsible one- representing a whole nation. “You not only project that image –you carry that image.”
Like his cousin Dayantha, Kithsiri has an abiding interest in aviation, with a pilot’s license and owns a light aircraft registered in USA.