In celebration of entrepreneurship

It’s time we tell our youngsters to take risks and get into business to solve problems in society rather than looking for a 9 to 5 job

My great-grandfather was an entrepreneur in the 19th century. My two grandfathers from either side served the Government of Ceylon under British rule. Following in their footsteps my father ended up as a government servant as well. Growing up things were difficult at home as we were living on my father’s meagre salary. However, he was a man with contentment and enjoyed working for the Government until the 1980 July strike came when he lost his job.

I had not turned even 19 when I started my first job and by 19 years, I was offered a job in a leading bank in the country. I never looked back and my ambition got me to several places including a few countries. At 27, I started my first company with another partner who was 10 years senior. We made a profit but the stint was short-lived as I was lured into the big corporate life. I threw the towel when I was 34 and bid farewell to a promising international banking career to start my second company. I was lured back to big corporate life again to serve as the Chief Marketing Officer in a multinational corporation. I quit again to set up my 3rd, 4th and 5th companies in a row. All entities made a profit. The only time I made a bad investment was when I invested in a young fashion designer to start a fashion design company. Frugal me, I never wanted to lose money but it was great learning to understand that in life all doesn’t go well for you.

I was lured again to serve a large American multinational again to start up an operation in Sri Lanka. I enjoyed every bit of the pain of starting all over again until I quit my corporate job again to venture into something I had started 11 years ago. Investment banking and private equity was my passion and something I dreamed of doing where I can get my hands around multiple businesses. It is my dopamine and I love supporting entrepreneurs to fulfil their dreams. Maybe I had inherited my great-grandfather’s entrepreneurial DNA.

As a teacher, I had taught many thousands of youngsters. Probably, 90% of rural kids had wanted to get a government job. I don’t find fault with that as that’s what they have been fed by the system. With over 1.6 million government servants in the country, we don’t have any room for newcomers to the government service. Except for a handful of conglomerates, all employment-generated businesses are run by entrepreneurs.

Every time I left my corporate job, I had trouble convincing people around me that entrepreneurship is the way forward. Having done that three times, my loved ones have not come to terms with it.

Why is entrepreneurship frowned upon in Sri Lanka? Is it our culture? Why can’t we celebrate entrepreneurship? Why can’t we see the bigger picture at the national level? If we go back to my great grandfather’s era, it was all about building businesses as under British rule jobs were scarce. My two grandfathers did what was good at that time by joining the civil service under the Brits. My father thought about joining the government service. They were looked upon and had a better standing in society. 

We need to grow up as a society. It’s time to applaud a person who defies the rules of society to become an entrepreneur. We need to tell our younger generation that it’s fine to fail in life. The burden society has put on a young child is too much where from our childhood we tend to live for someone’s dream. The USA celebrates risk-takers. Many countries adore the concept of entrepreneurship but unfortunately, Sri Lanka is in the reverse gear.

Ever-changing policies of governments had dented any hopes of inculcating a healthy environment for people to get into business. I was born in 1977 when then-President late J.R. Jayewardene opened up the economy. I am the child of a free Sri Lanka where anyone can become a commercially successful individual. However, what has been done for the past 45 years other than fattening the government service for political gains?

The recently hyped tax regime is not going to do any good for any business in Sri Lanka. Doing business in the country has become a nightmare fighting the red tape, and inconsistency of national policies and tax regimes. I am for one that all should pay taxes based on their income to run the government affairs but the tax you pay should be put in to provide a safe and better infrastructure to the citizenry. The rule should apply to all at large. The good people should not be penalised to support the bad people. The poorer should be looked after and there is no question about that.

Even with an unsupportive system, the country can be proud of the talent we have produced over the years. We have had some great entrepreneurs in this country but little is being written about them for a younger generation to learn and get inspired. YouTube is full of stories from Rockefellers to Elon Musk – sadly, you can’t find a great documentary about a Sri Lankan.

I was fortunate to have an American education. It inspires people to think differently, and adore diversity and inclusion. I don’t say our education system is completely broken but we will have to do some serious soul-searching for the sake of the next generations to come. If we don’t, brain drain cannot be stopped. We have already lost over 2 million to other countries and have lost thousands of youths to bloodshed in this country. Imagine the possibilities if we had some of these brains to develop the country. Rather than counting remittances from the diaspora, it’s time that we create a country which can leverage the global village and its actors.

As a country, we are struggling with foreign direct investments. We seriously need to ask why an entrepreneur or a large corporate house should set up shop here when the citizens of the country are running away. Isn’t it time that we look inward without pointing the finger at others? Indians are coming home because they feel better at home. Singaporeans are not leaving home, because it’s better out there. Look at the latest example of Dubai and the key reforms they have done to welcome the world’s best entrepreneurs. When are we going to learn from other countries? When are we going to create a country where one can fulfil ambitions and have a decent life? This is why we must celebrate entrepreneurship. 

It’s time we tell our youngsters to take risks and get into business to solve problems in society rather than looking for a 9 to 5 job. The world is the stage. The world is the playground. The policymaker’s job should be to create a healthy environment for people to prosper, not the other way around. All governments have successfully crushed the spirits of my generation but it should not be the same for the next generations to come.

(The writer is an entrepreneur and an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School in Public Leadership and a former senior corporate executive with international business experience. He can be reached at [email protected].)