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Nanda Lokuvithana - a truly Sri Lankan Entrepreneur


Nandana Lokuvithana

A truly Sri Lankan entrepreneur by the name of Nandana Lokuvithana who made a name with Onyx Group in UAE Dubai as a renowned manufacturer of steel and building material related products. He invested in Ceylon Steel Corporation in 2009 which led to a turnaround of the company within less than three years. It was purely to further enhance its presence in the local and global steel market supporting the economy of the country.

Although many Sri Lankans living abroad prefer to invest their hard earned foreign exchange in developed countries patriotic Nandana Lokuvithana took a bold decision to invest his money in the motherland despite the ongoing war at that time. That was on the confidence given to him by President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he visited the UAE and met him a few years ago.

Lokuvithana was interviewed by Daily News Business as to how he was able to achieve this target. Following are excerpts of the interview.

Q: Can you briefly explain your family background and the journey you have come so far?

A: I was born in Medawachchiya in a village named Kotiyagala.I had my primary education from the village school. And my father who was the principal at that time sent me to Anuradhapura for higher education. I was the eldest in a family of five boys.

Due to the violence that prevailed in the country in the late 1980's, even though I was selected to follow the NDT course on the first attempt at the A/L examination, I did not pursue it. After the second attempt, I left my home town and came to Colombo with the dream of becoming an engineer.

But from the exposure that I got in Colombo, I moved onto the textile trade. Later on I was able to join a textile company based in the UAE as an Assistant Administrative Officer. As time passed by I was able to make my way through as production manager, factory manager, company director, and finally I was able to become the General Manager.

Because of my untiring efforts later on I was able to become a proud owner of my own textile factory in Dubai, while I was still working at the American based company. Due to that fact I gave my brother, Dhammika Lokuvithana the responsibilities of my company.

As I felt that there was a risk in continuing my business in the textile industry in the future, I formed Onyx group a steel fabrication company. With the vast development which took place in the UAE, I thought this was the major investment I should concentrate on.

Q: Are you happy about the decision you made to invest in Sri Lanka?

A: Yes I am very happy that I have been able to contribute something to my country. Two years before the war ended, President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the UAE and met me at a meeting held for the entrepreneurs in the UAE. There he assured that the war will be ended in two years and invited me to invest in the Steel Corporation as it was not doing well at that time.

Many people discouraged me at that point but I had lot of confidence in the President and decided to come to Sri Lanka and invested on the CSCL.

Our production today has replaced imports and helped to reduce the country's increasing trade deficit in large amounts annually.

It has also become a vital asset to the economy. The GI Plant with latest technology it self is the only one of its kind in Sri Lanka with an investment of a Rs one bn which will benifit the SME sector in the country. I am sure the government will support this effort as lot of employment can be generated through this.

Q: What are the challenges you faced when buying CSCL?

A: It was not an easy task at all. The Korean company had made arrangements to sell the CSC to an Indian Company secretly. I had to negotiate with them for one and half years starting from 2006. The war was going on and the technology was totally out dated and had been running on the factory system. However, I was able to overcome all obstacles and finally bought it from the Koreans.Then I

introduced the latest technology suitable for the 21st century. I introduced the rolling mill with european technology and set up a new workshop and a logistics division.

Q: How much did you invest?

A: Rs10 billion spaced out in three main stages, Placement of the New Rolling mill. The wire mill and the GI pipe mill.

Steel industry being an industry with large overhead costs correct theory has to be applied in order to increase profits.

Q: What are the Current products manufacturied by 'Lanwa'?

A: Lanwa QT Bars having Tensile strength of 500 Mpa

Production of QT Bars, in range of 8mm -32mm in diameter Production of Angles, Flat Bars, Square Bars, Rectangle Tubes, GI Pipe, BRC Mesh, Wire Mesh and castings are some of them.

Q: What is the production capacity of CSCL?

A: Annual Production is QT Bars 200,000 m.t and GI Pipes 50,000 m.t

Q: What are your future plans for the country?

A: In Middle East countries Sri Lanka is only known as a country which provide cheap labour as house maids. But I want to change that attitude. I am happy to say that with my newest venture with the Marriot chain will change the past and prove our talents as Sri Lankans.

The Marriot hotel consists of 360 rooms,140 apartments,5 restaurants and a night club. It accommodates over thousand people and the investment is around 230 million USD.

This will be opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa next year.. There will be many opportunities to the younger generations, which will include Special job opportunities for mechanical engineers, civil engineers, electrical as well as chemical engineers. Our production has replaced imports and helped to reduce the country's increasing trade deficit in large amounts annually. It has also become a vital asset to the economy. The GI Plant with latest technology it self is the only one of its kind in Sri Lanka with an investment of a Rs one bn which will be benifitted. The SME sector in the country. I hope the government will support this effort as a lot of employment can be generated through this.

Q: Did you find the right skills in Sri Lanka for the industry?

A: There is a huge problem with regard to skills. It is very difficult to get a quality job done when the right skill is not there.

Also the people are not educated and aware of the products, quality and raw material. Therefore, they get caught in buying substandard products. This was a major problem.

Q: What are your future plans?

A: I will be concentrating only on steel in order to become a global leader in the production of high quality steel products and provide a ‘one stop shop for inovative reliable and valuable services for the engineering services and construction industry at a affair price.

Q: What is the secret behind your success?

A: It was always keeping the head down,follow up action,working very hard and the determinnation to achieve the target.

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