This week we feature an interview with Dr. Premasiri Gamage PhD, MBA, B.com(sp), MA, PG Dip. in Mgt(USJ), a management guru and personality trainer specialising in rural entrepreneurship development and micro finance.
While his achievements are significant, having played a key role so far in mainstreaming entrepreneurship and management within the rural most areas in Sri Lanka and currently spearheading the Sinhala language monthly business magazine PROFIT, what is unique about him is his childhood.
Born in a rural area and who had never travelled to Colombo as a child, his first visit to the capital city as an eighteen year old had included a set of trials and tribulations that included being tricked by a person who promised to help him find his way in the urban areas.
However, somehow having arrived in Colombo without a single friend or relative he soon found some employment in a private bank.
In this interview he speaks within the current Covid-19 backdrop and how the pandemic should not be a deterrent to business enterprise of individuals. He comments of the making of an entrepreneur and how honesty, ethics and perseverence are fundamental principles of this journey.
Q: You are a leading entrepreneur trainer in Sri Lanka and have worked widely with local and international stakeholders in developing entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka. You also have your own business development firm. Could you speak of your most recent such initiatives and ongoing projects?
A. At present, I am delivering a series of motivational talks aimed at uplifting persons from Covid-19 economic downturn despondency.
Last year I was part of the Gamata marketing project unleashed by Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) of which I was a part of as President of SABAH, the local organisation for Lankan rural start ups.
This Gamata Marketing program was developed and carried out as an affiliation between SLIM and SABAH.
Also recently I completed conceptualising a full series of entrepreurship training in the Sinhala language supported by USAID-You Lead program but without a single vested interest from that agency which did not interfere in any of the content.
Q: Do you regularly work with international agencies on aspects such as entrepreneurship development?
A. Yes because these agencies do a lot for tasks such as building up business potential and eradicating poverty around the world.
As local professionals it is up to us to ensure that Sri Lanka put such money to proper use.
In the training of trainers curricula that I designed for building up entrepreneurship skill in Sri Lanka, the entire technical expertise is local and because some people could interpret things the way they want we even placed a disclaimer on the first opening page of the book stating that the training module does not hold any views by the funding agency.
I work extensively with banks, government entities such as NAITA, different Government ministries and private sectors.
Q: When you got your first employment at age 18 at a private bank when Colombo was yet a mystery to you, what were your ambitions?
A. I still recall climbing to the highest floor of that bank with some documents I was delivering within the institution and staring out into the skyline.
I was awaiting university entrance and I vaguely recall wanting to surmount not just my own fate but that or many others like me.
By the time I was 24 years old I had completed my first degree in B. Com. Special Degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenapura specialising in Economics, Accountancy, Management and Entrepreneurship.
Q: What was the name of your village?
A. Labugama.
Q: By age 28 you had been appointed the chairman of the Industrial Development Authority?
A. Yes. By the time I was 28 years of age I was appointed the chairman of the Industrial Development Authority.
I went onto found my own business training centre – the Business Development Centre and several other institutions that support rural businesses and I also am a visiting academic in management at the University of Jayawardanenapura.
Q: What was your experience like when you held government positions?
A. The most difficult thing was to see how entrenched cheating and corruption was. As Chairman of the Industrial Development Authority I had sent packing several personalities including foreigners who offered me bribes.
Soon everyone was wondering from which planet I had landed and why I was so honest. Given that honest people are so hard to find in Sri Lanka many suspected some ‘catch’ in my honesty.
Needless to say honest persons have no friends but it is this quality that have been my life’s talisman.
In every training I do I insist that honesty is the number one rule of success. There is an universal principle in the nature of honesty. It worked for me and it works for anyone who is diligent about it although on the surface it looks like dishonest people are successful. This is a false premise.
They may appear to be successful but when they fall their plummeting will be so low that there will be no chance of hope for them.
Q: Do you think technology and rural entrepreneurship can go hand in hand?
A. Yes. Rural farmers are now using phone alerts on the market price of vegetables and are no longer prey of middlemen.
These are the couple of initiatives that have been launched with local phone companies and there are similar apps also being developed.
Q: Could you comment in investor matching in Sri Lanka for rural businesses?
A. In my career supporting business development and capacity building in Sri Lanka I have assisted over 20,000 rural entrepreneurs to get investment support.
So far most of these entrepreneurs were from the South. I am now working on supporting entrepreneurs from the North and also linking North and South SMEs.
Q: As a motivational speaker and trainer what are the global insights you bring to your audience?
A. I have read about the life stories of global entrepreneurs and I often use these narrations in my trainings. I use the case studies of current Sri Lankan business legends such as Siddhalepa and Maliban who started from humble beginnings.
One of my favourite stories of entrepreneurship is that of Shell Gas and how it got its name. It’s the story of a guy who began collecting sea shells and stringing them as jewellery, selling them to persons who came to enjoy the beach.
Soon he started to scout for more shells in an islet not faraway. Using a boat to get to the location he discovered that the islet dwellers needed fuel for their daily needs started transporting the needed fuel.This is how Shell Gas started its story. I believe that everybody is an entrepreneur and that the circumstances that create entrepreneurship are many. As a subject this should be given priority in Sri Lanka.
Q: What are the steps being taken currently to promote entrepreneurship among university students?
A. There is an ongoing program to inculcate entrepreneurship amongst university students of Sri Lanka. We are now working on this focusing on all of the universities in Sri Lanka and not just for students who study commerce or management or marketing oriented subjects. Our mission is to create a vibrant entrepreneurship culture among universities.
Q: Have you functioned as a consultant for business capacity development of countries other than Sri Lanka?
A. Yes. I was travelling extensively to Bangladesh five years ago as a consultant for an entrepreneurship development program of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. I have also attended SME related events in Philippines and India between 2014 and 2017. There are many more international events I have been part of which included international training events.
Q: You are also a serious meditator?
A. Yes. I believe meditation should be a way of life. It is when the mind is taught to be quiet and non-judgmental that we can take wise decisions. A turbulent mind cannot take mindful action for life’s challenges,.