Jun 05 2014.
views 1428Manjula Wijesundera cut his teeth in the business world working for his father’s restaurant business. Keen to branch out he started Industrial Multiclean Systems in Sri Lanka providing cleaning solutions.
What is the single most important reason for your success?
Building relationships is my priority in the business. I believe that profits is not what brings success but the relationship you build with your customers will pay you back in the long run. For that you have to practice good customer care with honesty and transparency. Then of course success will follow. This should not be limited between the seller and the customer but should spread out to suppliers and your staff also.
How did you come up with this idea?
To tell the truth I never had any idea of starting this kind of business because I was very much into our other family businesses. One of our long term business associates, offered this business idea to me because we were in a good business relationship with that group. Then I studied the market and prospects and I got really interested in this field.
How do you balance work, life and friends?
At the start I worked almost 18 hours a day at office, on the road and even at home and I hardly had time to do anything personal. It was totally a new field for me so I had to learn first and also I had to share my knowledge with my team. But now everything is in a proper system and I am slowly giving more responsibilities to our team.
What were your most difficult obstacles when starting your business?
It was a whole new different business to what I was in at that time. Also the competitors in this field were quite dated in Sri Lanka. The target market are all the industries and they are corporate level and majority of them have a question mark on their face ‘for how long will this guy or this new company be in the business?’
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Any advice for young people who don’t have the courage to start up their business?
Look into yourself and identify where your interest is and go for it with good intentions.
How old were you when you started your business?
When I joined the family business I was 25 but when I started IMS I was 35.
When did you first get the idea for your business and what did you do towards making it a reality?
Roots Multiclean Ltd, who is the largest manufacturer of Industrial Cleaning Equipment in India is a long term business associate of our mother company Manju Agencies. They were looking for a distributor in Sri Lanka for the Cleaning Equipment they manufacture and we were their first choice because of our healthy relationship for many years. After talking to many professionals in the field I realized that there is a good future for this industry as Sri Lanka also in the process of mechanizing the way of cleaning in the country. So I did a good study of this and thought I should start this business.
What is your “Golden Rule” in business?
Be honest in the business you do and follow the chain. Manufacturers, Suppliers, Distributors, Customers, we are all links of a chain. So we have to look after each other and do our best in our position.
By Tina Edward Gunawardhana
0 Comments
observer says:
Jun 06, 2014 at 12:00 amBest of luck to this young entrepreneur! We are in need of "honest" people like you not only in the business world but in the world in general. Keep up the good work!