Perseverance is the key to succeed as an entrepreneur: Samila Maddumage

Samila Maddumage is a young entrepreneur carving his name in the real estate industry through his passion for construction and steadfast belief in contributing to the country’s economy by way of entrepreneurship. Several trials, errors, successes, and life-changing experiences later, Samila is building his dream. Here he takes some time to speak about his past, present and future

 

Q: What made you enter an industry such as real estate?

 Even as a child I loved to build things. I used to spend hours building small roads in our backyard for my toy vehiclesand buildings out of blocks. This craze still remains with me where I love to see things been built and completed. 

Samila Maddumage

Having said that, real estate was not my very first venture. I tried several other businesses before embarking on property development, which eventually led to the business that I have today. Over the years, the company has expanded from land development and sale to commercial and residential construction, serviced office space rental and wealth management in the real estate sector.

Q: Can you talk about the beginning?

 As any other entrepreneur I have had my share of trials and errors, and as a result gained a plethora of experience. 

Right after school I started a BTL advertising company with three friends. Then I joined a private bank. Following that I started an inbound tourism company with a close friend. This was the beginning of Grand Voyager Ltd. We mainly focused on MICE tourism and also organised tour packages.

Along with this I started to import and sell vehicles. The very first sale was a disaster since the buyer cheatedus. We then started to purchase and rent out vehicles, especially for the tourism sector. More predicaments followed with our vehicles meeting with accidents. It was not an easy journey because there were times when I didn’t know if I could pay back my investors. However, sheer perseverance along with a few very supportive people helped me overcome a lot of the challenges. 

Subsequently I developed and sold a land, which was my very first project in real estate. I realised that this is what I was good at and took the initial step to build my business in construction and real estate.

However, as a result of all this, I learnt about so many avenues of building a business by myself; the legal and regulatory requirements, logistics, building a network, human resource management, as well as technical aspects of construction.

Q: What were the challenges that you had to overcome and the support you received when building the business?

 It is remarkable to see the kinds of challenges and support you receive when you try to start out on your own. Sadly, avoiding fraudsters was one lesson I had to learn through experience. 

Another challenge we had to overcome was clearing people’s misconceptions. The property development sector is often regarded as environmentally detrimental, but the demand for land and residential/commercial buildings does not reduce. Unfortunately, there are instances where projects are carried out purely for profit, without maintaining the quality and being ethical. As a result of this, we had to face quite a lot of resistance at our project sites and even with new projects. 

In terms of support, I have had a small group of people around me through thick and thin. They have been with me during my hardest times. A special mention should be made of NiroshanaDahanayake, my mentor, advisor, consultant, investor and father figure. Throughout the years he has been by my side at all my projects and continued to support me. It is impossible to build a business without such a support system. 

Q: Currently you head four companies. Can you describe what they are?

Grand Voyager Ltd. is the very first company that we established. All the first few businesses were conducted through this company, but subsequently was used to specialise in property development and management. 

Grandmark Construction Ltd., which was initially a brand under Grand Voyager,focuses solely on civil construction. 

The latest addition to the group is Grandspace One Ltd., which is a serviced office space rental company. The idea for affordable serviced office space came through my own experience during the time that I was building myself as an entrepreneur. The requirement for furnished and serviced office space for startups is very high. Grandspace is affordable in comparison to other office spaces, and at the same time provides professional services while maintaining highest standards in the industry.

Grand One Holdings Ltd. is the holding company of the aforementioned companies. In addition, it also acts as a wealth and investment management pool to draw in potential investors.

Q: What is your point of view on the real estate sector in Sri Lanka? What are the most revenue generating avenuesand what areas should be improved?

It is very clear that there was a huge boom in the residential apartment sector over the past decade, and it still continues to grow. The requirement for housing is ever present and will keep increasing. However, the supply is focused on only one segment. We never wanted to enter the apartment segment and become a ‘me too brand’. We have always wanted to be creative and innovative in what we offer through our companies. We need to develop or design another product within the same industry. For instance, apartments and individual houses have their own advantages and disadvantages. Our latest planned project seeks to merge the advantages of these two concepts.

Serviced office spaces is another avenue that has huge potential. Even though I personally feel that we are already late in this sector, we see a growing interest in the market. Our response to this came a year before with Grandspace, an affordable and customisable serviced office space rental company. 

Inevitably, the continuously increasing demand for the two sectors, residential and commercial spaces is correlated. Therefore, like in any other industry, we need to identify the gaps rather than go with the trend, and come up with creative and innovative solutionsin order to develop the industry as a whole.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

As an entrepreneur, I personally want to build the industry and provide a genuine service to the public and the economy. I look at some of our eminent businessmen and wonder what our country and its economy would be like if not for them. Most of them have built their business empires from scratch and contributed largely to build the economy of post-independent Sri Lanka.This has been a huge impact on bringing the country to where we are today. This should also be our collective goal. I would personally feel good if I help someone to prosper, even if they are entering into the same industry and become my competitors. Competition is positive to the market because it will create more opportunities, develop the industry and thereby the economy.