ENTREPRENEURSHIP : PALLEWATTA, THE MAN WHO BUILT A $100 MILLION DOLLAR COMPANY

IMAGE CREDIT (C) : University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Rohan Pallewatta an Attorney at Law by profession also holds a B.A. (English Special) and a MBA from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He is presently the Executive Chairman of Lanka Harness Co., (Pvt) Ltd., the core business of which is the manufacturing of impact sensors for automobile airbags and seat belts for world-renowned automobile manufacturers. The uniqueness of this organization is that this is the first time that Sri Lanka has entered the international market with a 1-PPM quality product.

The Junior Chamber International in 2006 awarded Mr. Pallewatta the most prestigious TOYP in the category of Business and Entrepreneurial accomplishment. In May 2013 Mr. Pallewatta was conferred the PLATINUM HONOUR by the alumni of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) affiliated to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura for his lifetime contribution to management excellence. Mr. Pallewatta’s most recent appointment is as the Director of Recently incorporated State Resources Management Corporation

CHOSE JAPAN AS HE WAS FASCINATED BY MARTIAL ARTS

After his O/L exam at St. Anthony’s, Rohan had got a scholarship from the American Government under its American Field Students Programme. 

I chose Japan because I wanted to master martial arts and earn a black belt. I earned the black belt. But as a part of the study programme, we had study tours at leading Japanese companies. When I visited Toyota, what struck me was that most of its processes had been done by robots and humans were barely visible.

LABOUR INTENSIVE SENSOR PRODUCTION AT TOYOTA

“But in one of the rooms, I found there were a lot of people and, on inquiry, I was told that they were producing a very critical component which robots couldn’t do. That was the production of sensors which automatically got activated on impact to release an air bag in the event of an accident. It’s a life-saving gadget and Toyota couldn’t rely on either robots or outsiders to produce it. Hence, under their strict quality supervision, it was produced in-house by its own employees.

“I immediately sensed that it would give an opportunity for labour abundant country like Sri Lanka to produce it if we could convince Toyota to give us the franchise. This thought was hanging on my mind even when I was doing my A/Ls. So, when the first opportunity came, I started to learn of the technique and develop this sensor in a room in my house. My mom was not happy because of the mess I had created. But I continued to do my experiment.”

Executive Chairman of Lanka Harness Company, Rohan Pallewatta receiving the Presidential Award from Minister Malik Samarawickrama. (Image Credit : Daily News)

Rohan submitted some of his samples to Toyota to get their nod for it. But the subsequent period was a total disappointment for him. Toyota at first rejected them. But when he started to send more samples, it did not even acknowledge them. 

A plus point for Rohan was that he had mastered the Japanese language whist being a student in Japan as an American scholar. So, he knew the Japanese habits, culture and values. The Japanese loved it if they were met in person rather than in correspondence. So, Rohan started to shuttle between Colombo and Tokyo in order to win a franchise for his product from the world’s largest car manufacturer. 

PEOPLE AT TOYOTA THREW HIS SAMPLES TO THE DUSTBIN

Totally frustrated, at one of the meetings he asked the Toyota people why they did not even acknowledge the samples, let alone accept them. The reply was more disappointing. He was politely told that he was such a nuisance to Toyota that when they saw any package bearing his name on the envelope, they would throw it into the dustbin without even bothering to open it. For anyone, that reply would have been sufficient to say goodbye to his entrepreneurial ambitions. But not for Rohan, who is now determined to prove that Sri Lankans also can do things which others can do.

AT THE 47TH MEETING....

“I negotiated with Toyota for 15 long years without success,” reminisces Rohan. “By that time, I had shuttled between Tokyo and Colombo 46 times and I didn’t know where my negotiations would lead.

“At the 47th meeting, Toyota people, perhaps to get rid of me, told me that I should come through one of their sub-suppliers. That was like pointing to a stranded man in the desert an oasis in the far horizon. I immediately seized upon the lead and got the addresses of its sub-contractors.”

But that led to a further period of unsuccessful negotiations with Toyota’s 10-odd sub-contractors. Rohan started to send his home-produced samples to them.

After sending about 100 samples, he got the reply from one of the sub-contractors that two of them were not bad. “Though it was not a word of acceptance, it was like a straw that had come the way of a drowning man,” he says.

A  $ 100 MILLION EXPORT COMPANY

Today, Rohan’s Lanka Harness is a high-tech production unit directly employing about 450 and engaging about 500 subcontractors. Thus, it provides livelihood to about 3,000 families. This is not much, but it is the beginning. Its success should be an eye-opener for others. 

Rohan’s products should be absolutely defect-free since there is no way to check on their efficacy before a vehicle meets with an accident. Thus, the benchmark quality standard given to Rohan is that the defects should not be more than one PPM or one part per million. 

That is a very high quality standard and it is unthinkable for a Sri Lankan firm. But Rohan and his team have proved the unthinkable. That is, Sri Lankans can also do things better than others. He supplies to almost all the major car manufacturers in the world, accounting for about 7% of the global market for sensors. A visitor entering his factory will observe boxes of finished products marked for countries like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Germany, Romania, UK, and USA, covering practically every country that produces vehicles. 

With his track record for quality, timely delivery and customer-friendliness, the market is expanding day by day. At present, it is a $ 100 million export firm. With a new facility now coming up close to the original factory at Biyagama soon, it will be a $ 200 million export firm.

Sources :

https://www.sjp.ac.lk/event/meet-rohan-pallewaate-icon-of-business-and-entrepreneurial-accomplishment/

http://www.ft.lk/columns/Rohan-Pallewatta--Man-who-has-proved-that-Sri-Lanka-can-also-do/4-654568