Sri
Lanka ideal to test new products - HSBC
By John Breusch
By shifting from Bangladesh to head HSBC's Sri Lankan operation,
Mark Humble has entered a market that the world's second largest
bank likes to use as a testing ground.
Take Internet banking. Leaving aside the major countries in the
region - Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India - Humble said Sri
Lanka was the first among "what we call the smaller countries"
to launch online banking.
The service,
launched late last year, now has 1,000 customers and has just embarked
on a marketing drive. Sri Lanka is "often used as a testing
ground for new products and systems in the group," Humble said.
"All of
our IT is done in-house out of Hong Kong and Sri Lanka has been
the first to launch many of our new products and systems, for a
couple of reasons. It's a nice-sized market, and also you have very
professional and qualified staff on the IT side and on the banking
side."
In fact Humble,
who this month took over as HSBC's chief executive officer in Sri
Lanka, is the only permanent expatriate among the bank's 750 or
so staff in this country.
HSBC is a massive
company, operating in 78 countries. In the banking world, only US-based
giant Citicorp is bigger. Humble's previous posting was in Bangladesh,
where HSBC has had a presence for just six years compared to almost
110 years here. As a result, he is joining a far bigger, and more
established, operation. "So the business is more complex here
[than in Bangladesh]," he said.
HSBC Sri Lanka,
for example, is a leader in the local credit card market.
"We've got 100,000 cards. It's quite competitive because a
lot of the local banks have issued cards as well - Commercial Bank,
Sampath, Hatton National [HNB]- they're all in the credit card business.
So our feeling is that although our numbers are increasing the market
is pretty saturated.
We've increased
market share but clearly the market is growing as well, although
not as quickly as many people would like. Maybe the market here
for credit cards is about 250,000, depending on how you set your
criteria."
Although an
end to the war in the north and east would help the economic development
of the whole country, Humble said the peace process is not a cause
for any radical rethink of HSBC's strategy.
"We've
always had a watching brief on other areas of the country. Clearly
we always keep our eyes and ears open, not just now but at any time,
in terms of expanding the branch network. The places we might look
at in the future would be Galle, Trincomalee and Jaffna. But it's
too early to have any firm plans for moving up to the north and
the east, although we keep an eye on what's going on."
As for its existing
business in the south, Humble points out that HSBC has been growing
despite the effects of war on the economy. "So in the last
three years we've probably doubled in size," he said.
"We've
introduced credit cards, personal Internet banking, we've started
our off-site ATM network. So the message is HSBC has always been
there, we will continue to be there. We will continue to invest
in the tough times and clearly if the good times come we will look
at doing other things, [such as] maybe expanding the branch network.
We'll also get more business coming in through foreign direct investment."
In the meantime, he insisted HSBC "does not have a shopping
list" in terms of either branch expansion or acquisitions.
HSBC has 10
branches in Sri Lanka and recently opened a branch in the Maldives,
which is managed from Colombo. "Expanding the branch network
is not something that is under active consideration," he said.
But that does
not mean the bank is not keen to grow. It would like to be able
to offer its customers insurance products - "a core interest
for the bank in other parts of the world," said Humble.
But its aspirations
here are frustrated by restrictions which prevent banks owning insurance
companies. While local banks like HNB have been able to overcome
the restriction by establishing insurers as subsidiaries, the task
is not so easy for foreign banks.
It is an area
that Humble hopes the government might address as it introduces
a raft of reforms aimed at freeing up the financial sector. "We
would very much like to be able to offer a wider range of investment
and insurance products to our customers and we're actively looking
at ways of doing that," he said.
Tips
to triumph in trade
Do you have what it takes to succeed
in business?
By Nilooka Dissanayake
Starting a business of your own is like setting out on a long unending
journey. So, it goes without saying that you need to be prepared
for it. Before finding a business idea to suit you, let us find
out if you are suited for business. This may seem like a strange
idea. But it is not so. I do not believe entrepreneurs are born.
True, it takes some special attributes to succeed in business, but
I believe these can be cultivated. The attributes and thinking patterns
that make a winner in the world of business are within reach of
any one who is reasonably intelligent and is ready to work for it.
Many a theses
have been written on attributes of entrepreneurs. Let them be. All
you, my dear reader, is interested in is finding if you have what
it takes to succeed in business. Let us do just that.
Athwela Business
Journal, the Sinhala business magazine has developed a questionnaire
to help you determine where you stand in this respect. It has 64
questions divided into eight sections. You have to answer "yes"
or "no" to each question. They deal with your attitudes,
knowledge and skills as well as your stamina and your family's aspirations.
For example,
there are questions on your health and ability to withstand stress.
Other questions ask how positive minded and confident you are. How
good are you at getting on with people? How dedicated and committed
are you? What experience, knowledge or contacts have you in the
world of business? Are you financially stable? Do you and your family
understand that until the business starts making profits you may
have to restrict your lifestyle? Do you have funds to survive if
the business makes losses? How creative are you in facing and solving
problems? And so on.
Once you complete
the questionnaire, you will know where you stand. More importantly,
you will understand your own strengths and weaknesses. It will show
where you need to improve and work at building new skills or competencies.
For example, when I went through it, I could say yes to 63 out of
the 64 questions. The one which I said "No" to was asking
whether I am money minded. I am not. Never will be, but, that does
not stop me from being in business! Most people, on a general rule
will score nowhere near 64. That does not matter if you are ready
to take on your dream. If you believe you can, you can.
There are others
who confirm my belief. Sometime back, I interviewed Vijith Kannangara,
a medical doctor who gave up medicine to build Q&E Advertising,
the largest independent advertising agency in Sri Lanka. Giving
advice to those thinking of starting a business, Vijith says that
if you are thinking of changing track or starting a new business,
you should think twice; Are you doing it just for money? In his
opinion, although money is important and you need money to start
a business, it is more important to have a dream you want to realise.
He feels that when you set out to be an entrepreneur, you need to
want something more than just make money; that is, you need some
sort of a higher purpose.
I fully agree.
Perhaps that is what my one "No" answer amounts to. I
get a lot more out of business than money. And it is not the money
which keeps me going at difficult times or gives me inspiration;
It is the million other things; the satisfaction, the sense of achievement,
the recognition and the social responsibility to mention just a
few. These things matter more to me than money. So, as you venture
out to seek if you are suited to be in business, consider what other
things than money you need to be happy.
Unfortunately
we cannot reproduce the complete questionnaire in this column. If
you wish to get one (it's free), please call on 074-304100 or email
your contact details to btimes@wijeya.lk and we will send
it to you.
I am glad that many of you took up the invitation to help make this
column interactive. We received advice, comments and requests for
help from Sri Lankans Commercialising
industrial R & D
How to obtain services
All requests for ITI services should be made on a company/client
letterhead and addressed to the Director, ITI. When a company/client
letterhead is not available a Service Request Form can be obtained
from the Corporate Services Division-Technical Services Branch located
at the ITI main lobby.
commercialising
industrial R & D
By Naomi Gunasekara
The Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), at 363, Baudhhaloka Mawatha,
the premier multi-disciplinary scientific research and service organisation
in the country, has a vision to be the model institution for industrial
research and a pioneer in self-financing research and development
(R&D) to elevate the level of technology in Sri Lanka.
However, achieving
this vision has become a somewhat difficult task for the institute.
It faces many problems in obtaining sufficient investments for R&D
to meet the future needs of the industrial sector and in scaling
up laboratory-developed processes for sustainable marketing of the
institute's research work.
The ITI carries out its R&D work and industrial services in
its 7,000-square metre compound through six divisions: Agro and
Food Technology, Chemical and Environmental Technology, Materials
Technology, Process and Plant Engineering, Metrology and Instrumentation
and Corporate Services.
Multi-faceted
Being a multi-faceted institution, ITI does not confine its services
to the government sector and provides a number of services to industries.
It extends its services to the scientific and commercial sectors,
small, medium and large industries, non-governmental organisations
and national and international funding agencies by conducting research
to accelerate industrial technology development. In addition, it
collects and disseminates useful technology (shelf technology in
particular), trains people in areas related to technology, monitors
environmental pollution and recommends remedial measures to mitigate
pollution and co-operates with government departments, institutions,
technical colleges, universities and other bodies to promote industrial
research and development.
Upgrading quality
Since its establishment, ITI has provided about 5,000 services each
year for upgrading the quality of industrial products and processes,
and provided more than 2,000 services each year for calibration
and repair of equipment and industrial measurements. It also has
introduced technologies for food products such as canned and bottled
coconut milk, mushroom pickles, baby foods, and instant mixes for
traditional foods such as string hoppers, hoppers, pittu and chapathi.
It also provides assistance to build wastewater recycling and treatment
plants, and designed and fabricated plant and machinery for industry.
Mission
With a mission to promote technological and industrial growth through
demand-driven research and development and internationally competitive
technical services leading Sri Lanka to Newly Industrialised Country
status, ITI conducts its R&D work in well-equipped physical,
chemical and micro biological laboratories. It has a pilot plant
and engineering workshop, a technical library with reference and
lending facilities and an in-house computer facility.
Sunday Times
Business Desk met Dr. Nirmala M. Pieris, who heads ITI's Corporate
Services Division to find out how ITI markets its research and the
problems encountered by the institute in endeavouring to commercialise
successful R&D work. She said that R&D licensing is not
a one-time transaction but a long-term process.
Operating through
a financial grant made available annually by the government and
the income generated through its services and research projects,
the institute focuses on market-driven research, says Dr. Pieris.
"We are commercially oriented and market-driven at the moment,"
she said, pointing out that the ITI has been transformed from an
academic research institute to a more commercially oriented institute
over the 30 years she has served at ITI.
"In a dynamic
environment with technological advances occurring at an accelerating
rate, the ability of an industrial firm to survive depends to a
great extent on its capability to anticipate new user needs,"
she said. ITI decided to provide demand-driven scientific industrial
R&D and internationally competitive technical services to promote
rapid industrialisation.
Expertise
ITI's expertise lies in a number of areas - post-harvest management
of fruits, vegetables, grains and cereals, food science and technology,
food and agro product analysis, essential oils and spices, plant
tissue culture, industrial microbiology, chromatographic and spectrometric
techniques, wet chemical analysis, pollution monitoring and control
among others.
According to
Dr. Pieris, ITI is not a research institution per se but is also
an industry services institution which provides services to industry.
These include Standard Services (where the institute carries out
tests in keeping with standard specifications and methods), Customised
Services (where services are rendered on requests made by specific
clients who require repair and maintenance services, supply of products
for market trials and supply of information) and Consulting Services.
Training
programmes
The institute undertakes training of personnel in areas related
to the experience of its staff. Training comprises programmes that
are tailor-made to suit specific client requirements. From time
to time, it does group training of personnel through workshops and
seminars. It also conducts training programmes for students in universities
and professional organisations in order to meet with course requirements.
All research
done by ITI is funded by local and foreign funding organisations
through submission of project reports. "In the early 1990s
CISIR reformulated its R&D policies and strategies to suit new
demands from the industry and other economic sectors arising out
of the new industrial policy of the country. The new policy underlined
the need for the CISIR to be market-oriented and demand-driven with
respect to its R&D and service functions with a view to being
self-financing," said Dr. Pieris.
Technology
transfers
Technologies that are developed by the institute through R&D
and foreign funded projects are transferred to both existing industries
and potential entrepreneurs.
ITI's clients comprise individuals and public and private sector
organisations. "The number of clients in 2001 was over 1,500
of which 90 percent came from the private sector. We also provide
services to other international, regional and national organisations
and academic bodies, ministerial committees, technical committees
and professional associations by serving on special committees."
Commercialising research
Despite its determination to become a market-driven research organisation,
ITI encounters several problems in endeavouring to transfer results
of successful R&D work into commercial practices. "One
of the biggest problems in commercialising R&D work is when
the work is not market-driven. The research done by an institute
must have a demand, if not it becomes difficult for the result to
be pushed into the market. We do a lot of work for industries when
the requests come from them because that way you have an assurance
that the research will not stagnate."
According to Dr. Pieris, the problems related to commercialising
research include:
* The ambiguous, undefined character or policy structure of R&D
institutions.
* The tendency of research personnel to regard industrial research
as uninteresting or not worthy of understanding.
* Lack of promotional activities of R&D institutions.
* The incapability of R&D management staff to direct research
activities. (They usually face inadequately prepared proposals and
contracts, poor budgeting and planning, lack of adequate liaison
with industrial clients, insufficient project control and inability
to develop the interdisciplinary team approach).
* Lack of industrial experience. (This leads to an unrealistic assessment
of problems, finding unduly complex solutions to problems and an
uneconomic approach).
* Inadequate financing. (Due to financial constraints faced by R&D
institutions, they often initiate their operations in an unrealistic
manner whenever funding is available).
* Failure to recognise the importance of technical information services,
economic research, quality control and trouble-shooting.
* Failure to take follow-up action and ensure that the results,
findings or recommendations are implemented to the fullest degree.
It is not only research organisations that are guilty of not having
enough commercial orientation. The industrial sector too contributes
to the problem.
* They do not know how to formulate questions and pinpoint existing
problems.
* They lack regard for local research services.
* Industrial managers regard research as unnecessary and expensive.
* Preference to use R&D results from multi-national partners.
* Industry's apprehension that confidential information will be
leaked to a competitor when outside services are used.
Because of these problems, many technologies developed by R&D
organisations have been aborted or shelved and have thus failed
to reach the market place.
She said R&D organisations must consider alliances with potential
users of R&D results such as industry associations and relevant
groups with the aim of dividing costs between ITI and its clients.
They need also consider affiliate programmes in which the focus
of R&D is on specific projects that will help the companies
which will pay an annual fee that entitles them to R&D experts
and access to special events like workshops and demonstrations.
They must encourage scientists to form their own companies or joint
ventures, engaging in sponsored/contract research, staff exchanges,
establishing technology development corporations and venture capital
firms in order to successfully commercialise research. In spite
of problems related to commercialising R&D work, universities
and research institutes spend billions on research that may result
in breakthroughs that eventually benefit ordinary people.
ITI
technologies for sale
*Food products, cashew products, cereal-based products, coconut
products, confectionery products, diary products, fish products,
fruit and vegetable products, peanut products, soup mixes and
spice products.
*Essential oils.
n Herbal products.
*Mineral products.
*Paper and board.
*Wood products. |
Significant
technical achievements
* Dehydration of whole lime - The whole lime is dehydrated while
retaining its flavour. The final product is a black, dry lime. It
has very good market potential in Middle Eastern countries as the
whole black lime is used for cooking rice according to Arabian recipes.
About 15 kilos of dried lime can be obtained from 100 kilos of fresh
lime. The technology has been scaled up to pilot plant level and
is available for commercial exploitation. In the meantime, the technology
has been transferred to two foreign entrepreneurs in India and Kuwait.
* Conversion of natural rubber latex into rubber compound - ITI
has developed a process for the conversion of natural rubber latex
into rubber compound for the manufacture of moulded products. The
process has taken into account the drawbacks of the conventional
conversion process such as high cost, heavy power consumption and
environmental hazards. It provides the methodology to carry out
compounding of rubber in the wet state itself followed by the coagulation
and drying of the product.
* Production of vinegar from waste coconut water - the institute
has designed a stainless steel vinegar generator to produce vinegar
from waste coconut water on a commercial scale and transferred the
technology to an entrepreneur who now holds over 10 percent of the
market share.
* Thin film solar cell devices - A collaborative project of the
University of South Florida and the ITI, the project aims at identifying
and refining thin film solar cell processing techniques that are
applicable to developing countries.
* Value-added products from betel - Value-added products like betel
toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, face cream and instant betel quid
and betel pellets have been formulated by ITI recognising the anti-bacterial,
anti-fungal and high anti-oxidant properties of local betel.
* Low cost farm storage system for horticultural produce - A low
cost system for storage of horticultural produce whereby farmers
growing lime in the Moneragala and Welimada areas were able to store
part of their crop for marketing during the off season. The system
is based on the evaporative cooling facility for extending storage
life of perishable commodities. Lime stored under this system can
be held in optimum condition for six to eight weeks provided they
are harvested at the correct stage of maturity. The storage structure
can be built to accommodate 500 kilos of lime and the price of the
facility ranges between Rs. 1,500 - Rs. 3,000 depending on its storage
capacity.
*Know-how for mushroom products - Development of the know-how for
the manufacture of three types of mushroom pickles. The pickles
made under this project are available in supermarkets.
* Technologies for food products like bottled coconut milk, instant
string hopper, hopper, thosai, pittu, roti and chapathi mixes. With
regard to coconut milk, ITI has developed and transferred the know-how
for several product formulations with different compositions to
suit various overseas markets.
* Assistance for mosquito eradication - ITI has constructed two
battery powered Back Pack Aspirators similar to imported aspirators
at the request of the Medical Research Institute to collect adult
'Aedes aegypt' mosquitoes, who are the principal vectors of Dengue
and Dengue Haemorrhagic fever. The aspirator facilitates the indoor
collection of this vector species for obtaining useful information
on the biology and behaviour of the mosquitoes.
* Wastewater recycling plants - ITI has developed a pilot model
for treating wastewater of one of the largest sewing thread industries
in the country that was in the process of expanding their production.
As the quality of the thread water has satisfied the required water
quality parameters for dying, the company is now in the process
of setting up a commercial unit for recycling based on the ITI design.
|