Now Ceylinco TV in the offing

Its millionaire businessman-turned peacemaker chief is setting his sights on television and wants to set up a mega Asian all-purpose station here. Lalith Kotelawala says the company has sent an expression of interest to buy ITN.

"We heard that ITN is to be privatised and we have expressed interest to the government," he told The Sunday Times Business. Kotelawala says the group wants to run an Asian channel with a Sri Lankan identity.

"We want to promote Sri Lankan entrepreneurship and foster the economy. Absolute peace would bring in many dividends to this country," he said adding that the channel would have the usual menu of news, entertainment, films and music.

There has been speculation that the government is considering selling off some television and radio stations but PERC officials said ITN was not on the market. "As far as I know, it is not listed for privatisation," one senior official said. The Ceylinco magnate whose group has dabbled in a range of activites including insurance, banking, financial services, trading, jewellery, education, etc. is also part of the country's peace bandwagon with his SOLO-U organisation.

Kotelawala, buoyed by the peace process, said he was planning to visit Jaffna next month with company officials to set up or improve investments in finance, insurance and property development.

FTA negotiations with the US in April

They said the garments situation, in a crisis that has developed since late 2000 due to a US recession coupled later with the September attacks there, has not improved very much. "We are facing stiff competition on prices from Bangladesh and many African countries. Times are still hard," one official explained.

The US and Europe are Sri Lanka's biggest garment export markets. The European Union, officials said, was also in favour of providing duty-free access for Sri Lankan garments. Industrial Development Minister, Prof. G.L. Peiris and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister, Ravi Karunanayake will lead the Sri Lankan delegation to the US.

Sri Lanka's proposed trade deal with the US will clear the way for duty free access for garments and a chance to withstand stiff price competition from other export centres. On the other hand, free trade between the two countries would also cut prices of US goods in Sri Lanka.

US ambassador Ashley Wills said at a recent meeting that the US government was looking at Sri Lanka's request for duty free access in a positive manner.

Loadstar expands with rim plant

"We're now moving to the manufacture of larger wheels for construction equipment," he said.

Loadstar is a joint venture between Jinasena Ltd and Belgium's Soliedal Ltd. The company's first factory was started in 1984 and it now has four - two in Ekala, one in Kotugoda and one in Midigama.

The plants employ 4,500 people and consume over 20,000 tonnes of natural rubber a year or about a quarter of local rubber output. Loadstar's production capacity is around two million units a year. Loadstar bought the rim plant from a Japanese company called Minebea, a manufacturer of heavy duty wheels.

"We bought the whole operation for industrial and construction machinery wheels," Pringiers said. "We also got the technology to make such wheels and, by doing so, we are opening up our markets to a much wider client base."

The company sent 25 Sri Lankan workers to Kyoto in Japan for training in operating the plant and to dismantle the machinery for shipment. The dismantled plant was unloaded at Colombo port by the specialised cargo carrier, Esperanza, two weeks ago.

"We're now doing the installation and start-up," Pringiers said. "We plan to start trial runs in April or May and start commercial operations in June."

Loadstar plans to hire about 150 workers for the new plant which is located in Ekala. Sections of the production line would be automated with the use of industrial robots, he said. The new plant will also help improve productivity.

"We have acquired new technology which will upgrade our wheel manufacturing unit which is selling to all parts of the world," said Pringiers, who is also the Honorary Consul of Belgium. Europe and the United States account for 80 percent of Loadstar's exports.

Heading a business group at 80!

By Hiran Senewiratne

Born in India, Gnanam came to Ceylon at the age of nine years. Along with his brother, he helped his father in his grocery store at Horana but the business crashed and went into liquidation.

Sensing an entrepreneurial spirit at ten years, Gnanam started a small business and when he reached 20 became a tycoon leading the St. Anthony's Group, a plethora of companies with interests ranging from hardware to textiles, construction to electronics.

Now preparing to celebrate his 80th birthday on May 5, the veteran Sri Lankan businessman – who has seen it all happening from tight controls to liberalisation of the economy – still does a regular eight-hour shift at the office. He is probably the second oldest and most active chairman of a company after N.U. Jayawardene.

Although his sons are now well entrenched in the business as senior directors, Gnanam still presides as the main decision maker in the company, chairing most of the important meetings and signing cheques for company transactions.

Gnanam gets up early in the morning for his regular exercise. He goes to the beach near his Wellawatte residence to refresh himself before going to work at 9.30 am. He is in office till late evening attending to office duties as group chairman.

Disciplined, religious-minded and with simple tastes, Gnanam has built a business empire and generated employment for more than 8,000 people over several decades.

''I came from a very poor family with very little education," he recalled. He began by selling scrap iron. With the end of the war in 1949 and a demand for reconstruction growing, Gnanam ploughed in Rs. 10,000 to import building materials from India, and in the process became Sri Lanka's leading importer of building materials.

In the 1960-70s due to currency restrictions at that time, he established his first industry - with government assistance - to manufacture wire nails, bolts and nuts, moving later on to producing textiles with his first textile factory in 1964 at Baseline Road.

Today Gnanam controls eight companies involved in cement, asbestos roofing sheets, electrical items, hardware, textiles and garments together accounting for a turnover of more than Rs. 10 billion per year.

''My success is because I believe in hard work. Work must be combined with honesty and determination,'' he said adding that he didn't rely on luck or astrology to succeed in business.

The business tycoon has stayed away from politics and shunned offers of government jobs in the past except for a brief period when he served as a director on the board of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC now BOI) under the chairmanship of Upali Wijewardena in 1977.

Sunday is a must with the family with Gnanam spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren at his Wellawatte home. He avoids travel abroad, saying: "I am sick of travelling overseas."

But he never misses important business tours.

The veteran businessman is a well-known philanthropist, spending a lot of money every month to support education requirements of needy schoolchildren from a trust he has established in memory of his father.