Leading the leaders

By Cheranka Mendis

With a membership of 107 top entrepreneurs of the country – among which close to 200 leading organisations is managed providing employment close to 250,000 people – the Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE) is a unique and highly valuable organisation to the country.

Taking the mantle of the Chamber from K.H. Wegapitiya last March; Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Epic Lanka Group Nayana Dehigama joined the Daily FT to share his thoughts on the activities of the past year at the completion of his tenure as Chairman of the organisation.

Noting that COYLE is a unique forum compared to any other trade chambers in Sri Lanka, Dehigama stated that its uniqueness lies in the fact that all members are business owners with more than 35% stake in the company. “This consists of real entrepreneurs of the country. While other trade chambers are represented by organisations, COYLE is represented by the owners of the companies.” Dehigama stated that the strength of the Chamber is the brotherhood promoted among the members. Not stopping there, the Chamber also encourages family participation, thereby creating a sub section titled the ‘COYLE Ladies Chapter’ which focuses on charity and social service.

Big responsibilities

“As leading entrepreneurs of the country, we have great responsibilities towards the entrepreneur community of the country and to the nation to establish and consolidate the economy of the country, towards consolidating an international relationship, which is an important segment of the country’s economy and towards the Government to act responsibly in the face of national issues; especially those that affect the entrepreneurs,” Dehigama said.

“We have to become a voice and an opinion leader for the country, interacting with Government and other diplomatic communities to mediate and bring about best benefits for the country.”

Taking a stand

Stating that COYLE has always voiced its opinion when the need arises, Dehigama expressed that the body has always taken a stand when necessary.

When the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Sri Lanka was first brought forward, it was CEPA that saw the negativities of the agreement.

“We led an opinion that CEPA is detrimental to the economy. We aggressively voiced our objections and had various dialogues and consultations with parties including Indian diplomatic community, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, diplomatic community, professionals, scholars, businessmen etc. We submitted papers and created awareness on the negative impact it can bring to the local economy and the solidarity of the nation.” Dehigama expressed that India is too big for Sri Lanka to go for trade with equal footing. India always beat Sri Lanka in terms of economies of scale in production, cost etc, he said, so if given equal status and benefits India can dump their products in Sri Lanka to wipe out the local industries overnight. “Their financial powers are also so big that they could come here and acquire most of the large industries owned by local entrepreneurs. Very soon, Sri Lanka would have become an industrial zone for India.”

He also noted that India was strongly promoting the rule of Indian business to come and invest in Sri Lanka without restrictions except for four industries bringing along employees and their dependants for the new ventures. The term of ‘dependants’ was not clarified he said. “While certain bureaucratic officials supported the cause, we went against it. We met the President twice and he immediately requested all parties to look in to our concerns and appointed a member of CEPA to sit in the evaluation committee for further confirmations.”

COYLE also acted professionally when the Darusman Report came out, Dehigama said. While the country was shaken up and took to unruly measures COYLE organised three sessions with lawyers, academics, professors from Colombo and Kelaniya universities, diplomats, UN organisation representatives, law enforcement officers, government administrators and politicians for a debate to exchange ideas. “We also drafted a 13 page memorandum with our opinion and presented it to the UN Resident Representative who took it to the UN Secretary General.”

Currently the Chamber is also very cautious and watchful about the USA Resolutions. “We are already discussing how we should react and support the government and the country in this regard.”

Promoting entrepreneurs

At COYLE the belief is that entrepreneurs are the movers and shakers of the industry; a key asset to a country’s economy. For any company to grow, entrepreneurship must be developed, he noted. “People with entrepreneurial thinking will drive growth in any company.”

The Chamber has liaised with universities and institutions to promote entrepreneurial thinking by signing MOUs with Colombo, Kelaniya and Moratuwa Universities to promote this through university under-graduates across all faculties. The Chamber also hosts discussions in various companies and institutions when requested, free of charge to promote the cause.

“Even for a medical doctor entrepreneurship is important as this is what promotes research and development, knowledge creation and innovation. We present success stories of our members and show them the luxury life we are leading because we decided to become an entrepreneur. We educate them on success factors, how to think like an entrepreneur, secrets to success etc. We try to take the fear and mental barrier they have of thinking that to become an entrepreneur you need money, education, family background etc. We train them to become job creators rather than job seekers.”

Activities for the year

Of an action pan with some 15 events lined up for the year, all was completed on time save one, Dehigama admitted. However a number of additional programs have also been conducted throughout the year.

During his tenure a number of ‘trend setting activities’ were initiated, he commented. The main such program was the ‘Zero to Billionaire – The Story behind Sri Lankan Business Heroes of the 21st Century’ forum in October last year. Three COYLE members and leading entrepreneurs- LAUGFS Holdings Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya, Access Group Chairman Sumal Perera and Natures Beauty Creations Chairman Samantha Kumarasinghe presented their stories to a packed audience while Dialog Group CEO Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya moderated the event as Session Chairman. “This will be an annual event.”

Dehigama was also the brainchild behind COYLE Diplomats Evening, another annual event in the calendar from now on. “We got over 50 diplomats, ambassadors, high commissioners, deputy high commissioners, heads of trade and commerce and heads of visa from leading high commissions and embassies including USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Italy etc to participate.”

A quarterly event that will also be held continuously from now on is the COYLE Networking Forum where top government officials and administrators as well as politicians are invited to mingle with the members and build partnerships. The first forum was addressed by Treasury Secretary Dr. PB Jayasundara. “During the year we saw an increase in the member participation in programs and we almost always had full house for forums etc. This is a great achievement for the Chamber.”

No challenges for entrepreneurs

In his final comments, Dehigama stressed that in today’s environment there are no challenges for anybody to become an entrepreneur. The challenge, he said, is the mindset. “The thought process is such that many think to become an entrepreneur you need to have the money, education, family background, a mentor or a supporter, infrastructure and machinery.”

The good news, he said, is that factors such as land and building, knowledge, finances are all available in the market today. Dehigama said, “You can access them, these are all available. What is not available is the ‘entrepreneurship.’ This is the spirit, aspiration and the passion to become one. You got to train your self to think new, think innovatively and how to find the gaps of opportunities in the market. If you can train yourself and create a good dream, have the perseverance and is willing to strive; then you can definitely become a successful entrepreneur.”