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In this
exclusive interview with the present Chairman, Rajan
Yatawara, the Sunday Observer reveals how Hayleys has
held on to a heritage, and a culture for over
one-hundred-and-twenty-seven-years; of what they do (and
don't).
It is not that they are unmindful of changing trends in
business, not that they are ossified and do not adapt,
not that they want to be different, it is simply how
they have grown...why they are and what they are.
Obstinacy? No. They like to think its tenacity!
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Rajan Yatawara |
"What can be
more rewarding than devoting a lifetime to a work that
will far outlive you, a work that will see future
generations come and go? What peace of mind work of this
kind brings to a man! "Joan Maragall early 19th Century
Catalan Poet/writer.
Ask Rajan Yatawara, Chairman, Hayleys PLC and he
will probably have the answer, for here is a person who
has devoted a lifetime to a work (Heycarb Limited which
instigated the transference of Hayleys from being a "kohu"
company to what it is today that will far outlive him, a
work that will see future generations come and go, a
work that urges him to say to the generations ahead,
"Hold fast to the heritage we leave you". Indeed, what
peace of mind work of this kind would bring a man!
Yet, seated in his spacious office room, cigarette in
hand, tie askew, with twinkling eyes and an amused smile
on his lips, Yatawara says when he joined the company
then called Chas. P. Hayley at the age of nineteen as a
Trainee Executive he had no intention of becoming its
Chairman one day. "Never wanted to be and still don't
want to be". Why? Modest, perhaps to a fault, he
believes even though he is good at handling the
technical aspects of the business when it comes to
people management he still has a lot to learn. He feels
he should be more patient and wishes he could give the
same kind of guidance he himself had received from his
superiors to everyone working with him now at Hayleys.
Confidence and zeal
One Chairman he wishes to emulate is George Bobbiese,
the "conceiver" of the Heycarb project who had let him
be in charge, even though he was still twenty-five and
had only five years' experience, thereby giving him
confidence and zeal, proving his belief that if you are
interested, you don't have to be qualified, you can be
the best, and who had saved him from being fired once
for writing a memo to the senior managers of Hayleys
Engineering Limited saying "we cannot afford the luxury
of these inordinate delays in readying the machinery
being made for us".
Joe Perera
known as the Personnel Director because these were the
days when HR meant Human "refuse", had come to the
corridor of the first floor of the head office, summoned
him and verbally blasted him for the memo.
Diplomacy
'With index finger waving in the air he concluded 'I'll
speak to the Board and have you sacked by Monday"
recalls Yatawara. "I was almost in tears but told myself
I am a Thomian - we don't cry". On Monday I saw all the
Directors in Mr Bobbiese's room. When they had left Mr
Bobbiese summoned me to his room and said he knows what
happened and asked me not to worry.
In future I
should have him countersign such letters. He wanted me
to keep up the pressure and the enthusiasm, and said he
would stand by me". Another Chairman he recalls with
gratitude is Lal Jayasundera who took over from Bobbiese
and who too, reinforced his confidence and taught him
lessons on diplomacy. "Whenever I lost my cool during
negotiations with partners he would suggest a walk or
say its time for lunch. He also taught me humility and
the merits of painstaking attention to detail - where
warranted".
Thirdly, he
agrees nothing would have been possible if not for the
support and tolerance of his wife Rosemarie who had
endured long hours, days and weeks of his absence from
home and his short temper when under stress of work.
For, those first years had been unbelievably tough.
"Into the bus at Mt. Lavinia at 6.30 a.m everyday to
return home by bus, sometimes in pelting rain, never
before 8.30 p.m. with factory drawings tucked inside the
shirt. Often without notice I had to go to the factory
at Madampe and stay overnight, and because we had no
phones at the time Rosemarie never knew if I would
return home in the night or not".
But however
poor he had been he had not wanted her to work because
he believed at least one parent should be there for the
children. Proud of his thirty-three-year-old son who
returned from England recently, got married last
December and hopes, not exactly to roost at home because
there are no job opportunities available in Sri Lanka in
his field of mechanical engineering, but find work in a
country close by because he can visit his parents often,
and his daughter who though she has a degree in
accountancy, economics and business, is content being a
devoted housewife and who spends quite a lot of her time
with her mother "they are like a Lux advertisement", he
is as happy about his family as any father could be.
Recalling
his days at Hayleys in Galle, where he had met Rosemarie
at a party he says "My wife lived opposite the Sacred
Heart Convent.
I used to trudge the Hill next to the Jail in 1968/69-
every evening, to court her (me 22 she 16+). Free
Dinner, and late night trudge back to my self made
apartment in the attic of the Hayleys Office in Pedlar
Street, Fort, Galle. Seventy-two steps in the stairs"!
Relaxation
Today, he begins his day saying prayers for five minutes
before coming to work, "mainly to thank and not to ask".
He says he doesn't know how to really relax. He rarely
reads but when he does, enjoys short, short stories and
watches TV only by default because, Rosemarie does so.
And yes, like Achilles, he admits he has one failing-he
smokes. Now, more than ever before because when he was
young he could not afford to smoke so much. Relaxation
used to come in the form of work, in the past.
'It was
varied those days. Now it's a bit more complex.
Appointments, appointments, appointments" pointing his
finger towards the room where his secretaries, Marian
and Surangi are seated he says "Marina fills my diary
with appointments so my time is no longer mine".
An ordinary
day in office varies from answering letters sent by the
pluckers of an estate to pacifying customers who call to
complain the Fuji film they bought is not perfect to
picturing what Hayleys should be today, why it is not,
projecting what the company should be in four or five
years...everything now is more a matter of planning.
"Financial engineering" which is not the same as
"Technical engineering" as it had been in the past.
Future plans
What are his future plans? "I will be sixty this June. I
have not decided if I will retire yet, or not. If I do,
I will have nothing more to do with Hayleys from then
on. I will put my Provident Fund into the bank and live
off the interest. Or live in a hut on the beach land I
bought down South, or start a Home for the Elders..."
Now, to the
question which ends all questions. Having won the best
Corporate Citizen of the Year Award presented by the
Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for the second consecutive
year, as the Chairman of one of the largest
multinationals in the country, how does it feel to be so
great? He shakes his head in denial, stubs the cigarette
butt on the ashtray and says "I am not great".
Now I know.
"Only small men think themselves Great. Great men have
no time for such small thoughts".
Fact file
Founded in 1878 as Chas. P. Hayleys & Company, Hayleys
Limited today, has grown from a small proprietorship in
the southern port city of Galle into one of the largest,
most diversified public companies in Sri Lanka.
Since its
inauguration 127 years ago, those at Hayleys believe the
golden thread that binds these years together is the
unique "Hayley culture". A culture steeped in a
hundred-and-twenty-seven-year tradition of integrity and
ethical standards in business; making profit without
loss of honour; being valiant when buffeted by storm;
being defiant in the face of challenges and persistent
in times of adversity.
The
portfolio of the company includes the following globally
competitive core businesses; Coir, Rubber, Environment,
Plantations, Agriculture, Transportation, Inland
Marketing, Knitted Fabrics and Tourism.
A quoted and
truly broadbased company with no single individual,
family or institution owning more than 12%, Hayleys
accounts for 2.3% of Sri Lanka's export income, 1.3% of
the country's GDP, 2.1% of domestic value addition and
5.2% of market capitalization on the Colombo Stock
Exchange.
Providing
employment to 34,595 people directly with a total of
27,352 working in the plantations sector and of the
number employed in other businesses, 3,419 working
outside the Colombo metropolitan area the company has
won the Best Corporate Citizenship Award for two
consecutive years for its role in providing Corporate
Social Responsibility which includes the rehabilitation
of the nation's system of irrigation tanks to develop
the agricultural sector of the country.
With a
vision for being Sri Lanka's corporate inspiration at
all times, reaching for the goals of being ranked among
the leading five in all their global businesses some of
the milestones in the history of the company include the
inauguration of Haycarb Ltd; formed to pioneer the
manufacture and export of activated carbon from coconut
shell charcoal in 1973, the first overseas venture in
1983 in the USA (Heymark Inc) and the opening of the
first overseas manufacturing facility, Carbokarn Co.
Ltd, in Thailand, in 1994.
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