Graetian Gunawardhana is APEA Entrepreneur

Graetian Gunawardhana, Chairman & Managing Director of Hands Group of Companies, one of the largest producers of Industrial Gloves in Sri Lanka, carried away the APEA Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 Award at the awards ceremony sponsored by NDB in Colombo.

Gunawardhana, Chairman/Managing Director of Hands Group, said that he was overjoyed, honoured and blessed to be selected as the Asia Pacific Entrepreneur of the year.

“I share this honour with the dedicated team from the Hands Group that stood by me through this 25 year journey, as I started Hands International from its humble beginnings to what it has achieved today.

“My story of success as an Entrepreneur will be a very long tale to relate, but to those who do not know me and to other young and budding entrepreneurs, I need to say this in a few words. Walt Disney who was accused of lacking creativity as a child once said, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.'

“I am not a College Graduate. I started my career straight after school and joined the Air Force and Police force which instilled discipline in me. Every great dream begins with a dreamer. The secret of my success is that I dream big.

It was my pen friend’s idea to manufacture gloves. I am not a Polymer Science Graduate and I had no knowledge of gloves at all. However, I began my little factory with 10 people in the back yard of a house in Negombo and from there, over the years, it had grown to a 25 acre mini zone. Starting from Cut and Sewn Gloves to fully automated knitted and state-of-the-art dipped gloves employing over 2,000 people.

We are backward and forward integrated and now produce our own cotton knitted fabric and manufacture our own artificial rubber fabric with less dependence on countries such as China for raw material. God has blessed me abundantly with a dedicated Board of Directors, led by my son-in-law, Kushal Perera and my strong lieutenant, Lincoln Pereira and with the constant advice and support from my daughter, Dharshika and my prayerful partner Sriyani and the dedicated managers and other staff, we have been able to venture out in to other fields, a separate lingerie factory and now with the support and partnership of a very close friend, we have started to build 6 hotels under the ‘Edge’ brand which will be soon enjoyed by Sri Lankans and foreigners as a network of hotels with a difference, as we have used the best talents in the industry in our journey to build these hotels. “To all the budding entrepreneurs, I want to say that success should not only be for yourself, but an opportunity to serve your country and fellow mankind. Of course, I did not forget my Alma mater Thurstan College, by building a swimming pool facility.

This was showing my gratitude and enabling other children to benefit in some way from my success.

“I want to thank the banking community of Sri Lanka without whose support entrepreneurs and businesses cannot grow and survive during hard times.”