A MAS of profits from a blend of sports and business

Lynn Ockersz

How would the recruitment of sportswomen and sportsmen contribute towards the dynamism and growth of a business organisation ? Jt. Managing Director, MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Dian Gomes, who follows such a recruitment policy and has 45 national sportspersons under his wing, provides the answer in this interview.

He also details some of the major growth challenges faced by the local garment industry and outlines the direction in which he would prefer to steer is organisation.

Q: What are the obstacles - if any - to the growth of the local garment sector ?

A: I think the biggest obstacle we have is sourcing. Most of our raw materials are still being imported. So we don't have a very strong supply base comparatively and relatively against China. That is one of the main problems.

If you look at any specific products, for example, the 'intimate apparel' side, the sourcing has been already fixed.

We have companies like Hayleys, Ocean Lanka, in the fabrics area, for instance, covering the gap for the "intimate" business. That is, the bras, panties etc. Also in regard to the hook and eye, the elastics, lace, the PU cups, the sourcing here too has been already secured.

This was a programme done by the large organisations, such as, MAS Holdings, Brandix and Hirdaramanis which have joint ventures with the supply chain. So the supply chain is covered.

But if you take the industry as a whole it is not so. Because there are other people doing all kinds of other products. If you take the total industry, the 'intimate' side is covered, the 'non-intimate' side is not covered. In the 'non-intimate' side, manufacturers have to still depend on China, Korea and some of the other countries. That is number one.

Number two is that our infrastructure costs are too high. For example, electricity, transport and other overhead costs take a fair chunk of our cost of production and pushes it high against China.

If you are looking at the labour, in terms of China and India, it is virtually the same. But our overheads will increase the cost.

The third thing is Sri Lankan productivity, which is of no comparison in the sixties, but the productivity of countries such as China is very much higher; they will be at the seventies. So that puts us at a disadvantage in terms of productivity.

Ultimately, you have to give a total solution to the retailer. Large organisations, such MAS Holdings and Brandix have attacked the problem. If you take MAS Holdings, we have offices in London, New York and Hong Kong, where our designers are permanently based.

So we give a designed solution with Research and Development from Sri Lanka. So the supply chain is covered, the design and development is covered and we have world class manufacturing plants. That's how we have been able to retain the business.

But in going forward, particularly the infrastructure costs and some of the productivity measures are not good enough to sustain the country for the next 10 years.

So we need to be much more proactive attacking these problems.

Q: You have chosen to promote boxing in Sri Lanka. Any particular reason for this choice ?

A: The basic passion came when I boxed for Royal College. I was unbeaten at Royal for four years and I was a Sri Lanka Junior Light Flyweight champion. But in 1999, after I left school and launched my professional career, I went as part of the Sri Lankan contingent for the SAARC Games of 1999 to Nepal.

There I realised the pathetic state of boxing and other sports. In the sense there was no proper vision or structure or methodology to promote boxing. So, I launched a sports club at Slimline where I was Chief Executive.

I set up a boxing club and recruited five schoolboys. Within two years we won the national championship. Then we formed a national pool and it went so forth and eventually I took over the helm of the Boxing Association as President.

For the last four years I have been the President. My personal interest started at Royal College but then I became more of an administrator and one who drives the passion in boxing to win a medal.

Q: What role has sports in business development ?

A: People ask me this question, why I recruit sportsmen and sportswomen. They ask me why I have some 45 sportsmen representing Sri Lanka under my wing.

Now, rule number one is that of the people who work with me who represent Sri Lanka, most of them have a professional qualification or a University degree. When I recruit people, I look out for those who have been to university or who have professional qualifications like CIMA, CIM or Chartered, along with sports.

The reason is that when you have a combination of academic brilliance and sports, you become a total person. In the sense you become competitive, you understand what it takes to win, what it means to be defeated; when you take a hard knock, how to get up and fight. So when you take people of that kind your business becomes very competitive; an aggressive type of business.

Such persons can put in long hours; they have got the mental courage to go ahead. So, I have 45 people representing Sri Lanka including three Sri Lankan cricketers; Dilshan, Maharoof and Malinga Bandara. Then we have the legendary sprinter Damayanthi Dharsha with us. Now other than the cricketers, most of them do a 7.30 to 5.30 job. They are not kind of taken and put to do sports.

They do a proper job of work. For instance, the boxers. They will rise at 5 a.m., they do a nine kilometre jog, 600 push ups and at 7.30 after a shower they are at work. They are all at the housing complex. They go off for practices again at 4.30 pm.

In addition to these they are given a skills training; it is checked whether they need to be computer literate, whether they need to be put through the production management programme at the university, whether they need to be fluent in English and obtain presentation skills etc.

These needs are seen to, to ensure that even if they discontinue their sports, they have a permanent job with the organisation. Because what companies do is take people for branding and once they fulfill their purpose they get dropped off. I have seen it happening from cricketers to athletes to other sportsmen.

We don't do that. We don't sell here. It is not a branding purpose. It is basically creating Sri Lankan heroes. That has done wonders for the organisation, in terms of productivity, in terms of team work, in terms of bringing the organisation together.

Q: In which direction would you like to take your organisation ?

A: I want us to be an admired, socially responsible company, absolutely competitive, to compete with everyone else in the world, like the Chinas of the world or the Indias of the world. We are investing heavily in Sri Lanka, we are a Sri Lankan company.

Being a Chief Executive of part the larger organisation, which is MAS Holdings - I am the Chief Executive of MAS Intimates, which has a 25 billion turnover - I would like to sustain itself for the next 10 to 15 years.

To do that we basically need to have a structure, in terms of management, succession, and in terms of design and development. We are doing lean manufacturing in all our plants which will become aggressively competitive in terms of overheads and costs.

We have also looked at skills development so that we have looked after the front end of the business. And also joint ventures and business relationships with our supply chain.

So once you complete the total package we are absolutely competitive to compete against India or China or any other country. I would like that competitiveness to be the critical factor and a change of mindset to take on the world.