Management, no ‘man-sized’ job for her

Rohini Nanayakkara is one of the finest female business leaders this country has produced. She is such an inspiration to anyone who has the fortune to meet her. Versatile and strong-willed, she has conquered the domain of banking which was at that time an exclusively male domain. Right throughout our interview she struck me as a very charismatic and honest person.

She was born in Kotagala, Nuwara Eliya. “I had a very average and normal childhood. Nothing spectacular. My father was a doctor in government service and my mother was a housewife. We were a family of seven. The older siblings were given an education in Colombo whereas the younger ones travelled with my parents from place to place and ultimately I ended up at Methodist College,” said Nanayakkara. Nanayakkara also touched on the benefits she derived from her childhood when she travelled from place to place from rural areas to urban areas, interacting with ordinary people in society. She studied in seven schools, most of them Christian schools giving her the opportunity to interact with different religions and races. “All that helped me to have a very simplistic approach and attitude in my personal relationships. I feel personal relationships are very important. It is very important to interact with different groups of society and really understand people and the difficulties they go through, their ambitions and aspirations.”

Secondary education

Moving from place to place, the family had to leave behind a lot of things that they were attached to because they could not take everything and they had to give away a lot of things. This helped Nanayakkara in her career where she was able to adapt herself to any situation.

“Methodist College was the peak of my secondary education. I came from different schools and ended up there. It was a very memorable experience, because those days the Christians schools were very particular about discipline. The education aspect, the disciplinary aspect and the value systems all of that were integrated into the school system at the time. I was for a short time in the boarding and we had to follow a strict routine.

“For us, the teachers meant everything. Today I still feel that the teachers have a very important role to play in education.”

Nanayakkara stressed that the teachers were like role models to them and that she had very good memories of the teachers at Methodist College who inspired the students and helped them to understand the importance of education. “We had to abide by certain principles. Sunday was a day of rest. If you had a school fair, it had to stop sharp 12 o’clock, because Sunday was a day of rest. We were not allowed to study on Sundays; we could do leisure reading and take part in games. All that helped me to have memorable experiences in my school. I also became a school prefect and that also helped me in my leadership role later on.” Nanayakkara has donated a prize for IT to the school as she wanted to help her Alma Mater.

She also recalled that her time at Peradeniya University was some of the best years of her life. “We had a mixture of students, men and women who came from different backgrounds. There were sports events and social events. There were eminent, brilliant and committed lecturers and it was a pleasure to listen to them and have discussions with them when you needed to do your tutorials. They spent time with the students encouraging them and organizing activities in a residential university. I became President of my hall - Hilda Obeysekere Hall, and I was also in the Students Council. This helped me to develop my personality and the ability to get on with people.”

Equal opportunities

Nanayakkara said that she never felt inferior to men. She considered them as equal partners when it came to education with equal opportunities. “So when it comes to careers, I don’t know why women feel that they are not getting their due place. It should not be so. I always maintain that our position should be that we must be equal partners in society. Both men and women can contribute in their own way. That is the richness of society ultimately. Women have an additional role as mother and wife that they have to perform, and that also helps in enriching the experiences and through those experiences they can contribute to society,” explained Nanayakkara.

Nanayakkara was a student of Economics, a subject she thoroughly enjoyed. “When I decided on a career I knew that I was not the type who would enjoy teaching. I wanted something more dynamic and then I applied to the bank for a career which I thought I might like to take up because of my interest in Economics. I was lucky enough to be selected at that time as the first woman executive at the Bank of Ceylon.”

Huge responsibility

At that time it was completely a male domain but she tried and got in and enjoyed every moment of it and has no regrets. She was able to end up as the Number One in the bank. “I was appointed General Manager and took up duties, during the JVP insurrection. That was the first challenge that I had to face. I never expected it to happen or expected to face that type of challenge. When I took over, the JVP insurgency had reached its peak and everything came to a standstill in the country. It was something I had to respond to in my own way. There was nobody to tell me how to respond. Nobody knew how to respond. I had the guidance of the chairman and my senior management but ultimately I had to take the decisions. I had to look after my staff, to look after the clients and to look after the institution. It was huge responsibility.”

It was a baptism of fire for Nanayakkara and she thinks that she handled the situation quite well. The trade unions were quite happy with the actions she took and consequently she had to work very closely with the government agencies specially with the Army. “So I had to continuously liaise with them, appeal to them to look after our staff.

“The JVP was threatening our staff and sending messages. For six months I just continued and in the meantime people were getting shot and killed. But I did not stop going to work a single day. I went everyday and did what I had to do. Even my senior managers refused to go outstation to places like Hambantota and Matara. I went to Nuwara Eliya and saw burnt bodies on the road. I went to Hambantota where nobody dared to go. I addressed the staff and the clients and told then ‘let’s get on with it’, and advised the staff to protect themselves and I said ‘no one will be penalized for not coming to work’. But I never felt threatened or scared or tried to hide behind somebody,” said Nanayakkara.

Successful banker

She retired from the Bank of Ceylon in 1996, after serving as its General Manager for seven and a half years, the longest period for any General Manager since Loganathan who retired in 1969. She earned a reputation for being a very successful banker, and as such, her retirement did not last very long.

Two weeks after her retirement she was invited to be the General Manager for a new organization called Public Sector Infrastructure Development Company (PSIDC).

Her first task was to go to Washington DC to conduct negotiations with the World Bank to obtain a credit line of 80 million US dollars which she did successfully. After this, she has served several organizations at the highest level, and presently she is the chairperson of the Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC).