The visionary Chairman of Maliban Biscuit Manufactories (Pvt) Ltd.Mr. A.G.Ratnapala Samaraweera (the son of legendary euntaurprenuer, the founder of Maliban Biscuits the late Mr. A.G Hinniappuhamy) has created a unique position in the corporate leadership history of Sri Lanka by leading a large conglomerate spanning over five decades. The journey was not a bed of roses. His unique charismatic leadership style, helped to drive the company through rough times, piercing all the obstacles to make Malibans as one of the most respectable and trusted brand name in Sri Lanka today. This exclusive interview with Mr.A.G.Ratnapala Samaraweera by Ravi Jayawardena is to understand his unique personality and leadership traits that helped him to make "Maliban" as one of the greatest brands and a household name in Sri Lanka.
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| Mr. A.G.Ratnapala Samaraweera Chairman of Maliban Biscuit Manufactories (Pvt) Ltd |
Q: You have been greatly influenced by your father, the founder of Maliban biscuits, the legendary Mr. A.G.Hinniappuhamy. What was his main principle in life and in business?
He had a warm heart and a visionary brain that guided his entire, personal and business life. His main principle in business was pretty simple but very strong "don't sell any biscuit unless it could be consumed by my son" meaning he treated all Sri Lankan consumers as his children. He had a simple but purposeful life by helping mankind.
Q:What's your motto/ purpose in life? -
Help people, immaterial of cast, creed or religion and never anticipate any favours from them in return. Feel genuinely happy from the bottom of your heart when you help a person and always think you are blessed in this birth; and use that to help less fortunate people in all walks of life.
Q:What are your core values?
Do whatever thing you do, honest to your heart. I always try my best to give best value to my consumers and all other stake holders. In a highly commercialized world, I don't want to make my decisions mainly on rupees and cents. That's why I never sacrifice product quality for profits. I treat "product quality "as my second religion, as it's so close to my heart.
Q:How would you define success? - A) for me success is all about living happily with dignity and good health; all the other materialistic stuff comes secondary to me.
Q:What was the biggest challenge faced by you in the corporate world during the last 50 years and how have you handled it successfully.
The biggest challenge I could say was "managing people". When it comes to less educated segments the challenge is more. The best way to manage people, I feel is that you have to be honest to them, communicate transparently, be polite but firm, and at time you have to make decisions that give a short term pain but long term gain.
Q:During your carrier you have worked with probably three generations of managers, what are the fundamental changes you have observed in management style?
Today's manager is more skill full, exposed to the world technology, make decisions faster, more knowledgeable and open minded. However the loyalty towards the organization is comparatively low. They look for a break after every three years, whereas the previous generation managers will work off one employer for their entire life. Hence, attracting best talent is much easier than retaining them in today's environment.
Q:When managing a family business, it's a big challenge; what sort of management style do you adopt to have the right balance in order to maintain internal harmony and business growth?
Managing a family business is always a tough task. I have learned enormously during my career to have the right balance between the family and the business. The most important one is that you have to have an open policy where everyone is aware of what's happening.
Q:With your hectic work schedule, still you manage a sound "work life balance" How do you do that?
As a habit I get up every day around 3am and start my work at 5 am. I have been doing this for almost 50 years. As a habit I don't waste my time mingling in social net works. Even I don't use a mobile phone. People don't realize how much time they waste on the phone. Despite of, not using a mobile phone I am contactable at any time and I also can contact anyone within few seconds. So my advice is, value the time, start early, don't waste your time unnecessarily... Then you will have enough time for your professional and personal life.
Q:What is the secret of being able to manage one of the biggest conglomerates in Sri Lanka as a Chairman for 50 consecutive years?
I strongly believe in the middle path being influenced by the Buddhist doctrine. I have been living a simple moderate but purposeful life during the last 50 years. Furthermore, despite my hectic schedule, I allocate time for physical exercise almost on a daily basis to keep myself fit. That's gives me both the mental and physical energy to go through a long leadership innings.
Q:What's the advice you can give to a person to make a sound carrier in the corporate world?
Firstly I strongly believe that honesty is the most important element. Be honest to yourself and to your organization. Especially I have noticed that the current generation of people is more focused on short term gains. That's not sustainable. Secondly I feel, be passionate whatever you do. Don't do things for sake of doing; then your growth is limited. Thirdly getting used to the culture of the organization, its people, systems and work ethics and adjusting yourself accordingly is of paramount importance to anyone to make a good career. I have seen more than hundreds of managers spoiling their future, by not understanding the above three factors properly, despite of having very high job skills and experience.
Q:What's your leadership style?
I am more democratic and I always respect others point of view; however at the end of the day I take the decisions. Leaders must take decisions whether right or wrong and move forward.
Q:What's the leadership style you adopt to get the best out of your managers?
The listening skills. As a habit I listen, not only to my managers but across the organizational layers. I do have frequent discussions with front line workers in the factory, supervisor's etc: and sometimes they do have some brilliant ideas. So I always encourage two way communications and that helps me to understand the people and manage them more effectively.
Q:People say you are a very creative person. Is it an inborn quality or have you developed it through experience?
I think a bit of both. I really like to try out innovative things especially in product quality area. That's my passion and it gives me an enormous passion. If you do anything with passion it works that's for sure.
Q:What is the technique you use to manage stressful situations?
What I do when I get some information that worries me; I always share that with someone to get a different point of view. The other thing I do is I always try to avoid confrontation. By having arguments, technically nobody wins on the long run. Because confrontations and arguments always create negative energy. Theses techniques help me to manage stress to a greater extent.
Q:How do you keep yourself motivated under difficult times?
Whatever happens in the external environment, I don't lose my focus on the purpose. That's "giving the best quality products, at the most reasonable price to my consumers" That purpose keep me motivated under any difficult situation.
Q:You are being recognized as a person with business ethics. Have you come across any situation where you strongly opposed about a matter that was going against your business principles?
As you know currently Maliban Biscuit and milk business turnover is around Rs 12B per annum. So when you are managing a business of this magnitude the complexity is greater. So to make things simple, I always try to play straight and open. That's the advice I even give to my employees. This principle helped me to manage the organization effectively under volatile situations. Even if you are pressed to the wall to take a certain decision that is out of the ethical business frame work you should not do that, because for sure your business will suffer on the long run.
Q:Sometime things are not happening the way you want, then how do you really make things happen in a such large organization?
In life everything will not happen the way you want. As my father once said "if you carry a calf at birth you should be able to carry that calf, immaterial of the size" Hence you have to navigate the ship to move forward whatever the size it may be. Under difficult situations, to manage things more effectively, it's always better to have a good control of so called "big ticket items". I always encourage my team to look for alternative methods and systems to solve problems and exploit new opportunities. Rather than telling people what to do, you must make them understand "why things should be done in a particular way". That way it's easy to convince people.
Q:In today's world the performance is delivered through teams. What is your experience on team work and how to extract the best out of a team?
To get the best out of a team, I think firstly they should have the synergy among the members and secondly to be focused on one mission. However in most cases I see this is lacking, hence it's very important to make team members aware on the above, and keep then on that track for better quality output.
Q:Do you believe people should take risks in life rather than playing it safe all the time?
I have seen the changes during the last 50 years. Good old days you don't have a take much risk in business, to do well. Because the environment is more settled and changes were slow. But in today's context everything is moving fast, and it's a big rat race. Hence you have to make quick decisions, and sometimes it works and sometimes it does not work. But you have to be prepared for it and move forward.
Q:What type of people annoys you?
People who are not honest really irritate me. I will tolerate to some extent if a person is not having the right job skills, because skills could be trained, but will never tolerate a dishonest person. This has been my success.
Q:Malibans for generations have been very close to the fabric of the Sri Lankan society and has done enormous amount of social projects; what's your philosophy on "customer social responsibility"
I strongly feel that when you do something to the society it should be done from your heart thus it gives a fabulous personal satisfaction. But in today's world the CSR is highly commercialized and most of the times companies spend more money for communication than for the real project. I don't endorse that approach. We at Malibans do not even communicate 10% of the projects we do to the society, thus money is fully allocated to the welfare of the people.
Q:You treat quality as your religion and how do you make sure that you produce world class quality biscuits?
I always use the best raw materials available immaterial of the price and I never change a recipe in order to save cost whilst sacrificing the quality. The other reason is that, I with my other Board of Directors and the CEO visit the factory on a daily basis, and personally taste the biscuits to assure that the quality is maintained at the highest level.
Q:But don't you agree that in Sri Lanka there is a big segment still looking for cheaper low quality biscuits ?
yes, my philosophy is that I will never sacrifice the quality for the price. That's what my father taught me. End of the day whether you are rich or poor you have to eat something good for you and for your children. We are always giving biscuits which are value for money. The best quality at the most affordable price.
Q:Large number of business conglomerates used to diversify their business; and that's the trend nowadays. But you have been sticking mainly to the biscuit industry. What's the reason?
I strongly believe that for any business to grow you have to stick to your core competency area. When it comes to biscuits we are confident that we can beat any biscuit in the world in terms of quality. So, it's always directionally better to stick to your core competency/ main strength. Keeping the same philosophy we added Maliban milk to our brand portfolio and now its performing exceptionally well in the market.
The interview was conducted by Ravi Jayawardena
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