It took only a few weeks for the Solar World to hit rock bottom from the day we commenced, but we managed to make it one of the best solar energy companies in Sri Lanka.
*Leaving this note to let you know that I am sharing my life experiences with people who have bigger dreams. I don’t have much to offer for chronic complainers and negative people, in fact, I stay away from them.
Having passed the third year of operations at Solar World, I thought of doing a summary of each year’s highlights in separate articles. So, this is the brief of our first year’s operations at Solar World, Sri Lanka.
I was introduced to the solar industry by one of my best friends back in 2016. At that time, I was working on the conceptual design of my holding company. My plan was to enter the Sri Lankan market by 2020. However, with the little research I did about the solar industry, I soon fell in love with the technology behind it, especially due to its ethical nature. I decided to enter the Sri Lankan market with solar energy even before starting operations of my holding company.
There weren’t many business ideas that I had come across which can contribute to nature and make good profits at the same time, so I truly loved it. I was also lucky to have one of my childhood friends and another friend of his as directors. They were both engineers, with sound knowledge about the industry. This was actually their plan, and I am so grateful that they made me a part of it.
Before I left for Sri Lanka, we managed to do initial paperwork in registering a limited liability company, and opened bank accounts. We leased out a lovely office space. Our small team showed amazing enthusiasm, so I left for Sri Lanka knowing that I was already part of a great deal. My initial plan was to stay in Sri Lanka for about a month and return to London to carry out my operations here, however, I ended up staying there for about 3 months.
Within five days of arriving in Sri Lanka, one of the directors left the company for personal reasons. I think he lost the trust in the future of the company. It happened quicker than anyone anticipated. The sad part was that he was the most experienced guy in the team in terms of technology. However, my friend and I decided to keep going and we started recruiting staff. Despite the exit from the company, he’s still a good friend, and always shares his knowledge with us whenever we contact him. We recruited 4 staff members: Zahil, Ashvin, Aananthi and Neshan. We were blessed to have these four individuals. They are, truly, the main reason that we have come this far. I wouldn't forget Helanka, who was behind the accounts at Solar World.
I remember I told the new staff in our first meeting that we have to capture at least 30% of the market share in the next five years. I am not sure whether they believed in it. But from day one, I worked with this plan in my mind. However, my strategy was not to be the market leader, but to be the growth enabler of the industry — that was what the Sri Lankan market desperately needed. I will explain what it really means in a later chapter of this article.
Upon recruitment, we started training our staff. Zahil and my friend had a very good understanding about the industry and technology behind it. Aananthy had a sound academic background; Neshan was my digital marketeer and he had what my kind of a success marketeer must have, the genuineness. Ashvin was my business development guy, who occupied the strength and energy in executing projects. Everything started well apart from the initial hiccups any start-up could have faced.
We, however, had a huge cash flow issue, and we ran out of cash in the second month. So we invited another shareholder to come on board. The money he brought didn’t last long. To be precise, we ran out of cash again in four weeks. I realised that it was time for me to go back to London, and pay greater attention to my UK businesses as that was the only way to keep Solar World up and running. I couldn’t travel to Sri Lanka again as my circumstances in the UK needed my presence here. Since then, I managed Solar World remotely.
It wasn’t easy to run all these start-ups together. All my businesses desperately needed working capital during the same period. It was certainly exhausting, but it was also exciting. However, after two months in London, Solar World completely ran out of finances again. There was no way we could run the company anymore without burning more money! So my friend decided to step down as a director. He moved on with his day job as there was zero hope about the company. So, we drafted an agreement to buy back his shares once the business makes money. However, he helped us as much as he could while being a passive shareholder. Solar World was a sinking little boat and it happened too quickly.
If you have read my other articles, you may realise that those were also the days I was pushing all the possible avenues to set my businesses up. In most months, I had no money for my expenses, not even for a decent meal after I paid for my businesses. At that time, setting up a company wasn’t anything new to me, but my timing was a disaster.
It was the most stressful period during my entrepreneurial journey. However, I wasn’t ready to give up Solar World. I had already decided that I was going to make Solar World the most resourceful efficient energy provider in Sri Lanka. So my team and I moved forward with immense courage, but with no financial back up.
I have to accept that my market knowledge and the industry awareness wasn’t at a good level. So, I preferred my team making decisions rather than myself making decisions with the limited information I had. This method worked well for us. Even today, we practise the same method. My main involvement in Solar World includes designing efficient methods and training my team to make decisions; they do the rest. Trusting the right people is a skill, one that I’m gifted with.
After eight month from the commencement, Aananthy left for the UK for her higher studies, and we had no one to develop our intellectual properties. So I decided to train Neshan to produce all our marketing materials with intellectual value. He was impressive, as he gradually developed these skills. I believed Neshan would be a hell of a digital marketer in two to three years. I was right. I was spot on! The best weapon he had was his genuineness. His way of selling suited my dopamine strategy, so I just had to allow him to work at his own phase.
Zahil was a good listener. Back then, I was cluttered with all the information I had. So I always struggled to convey my message clearly. I took hours to communicate a handful of information, and I am sure my team had a hard time listening to me. I remember explaining to Zahil what my vision was; I took hours and hours and hours. However, this led to fostering a solid relationship between us. I had a strong feeling that I could effectively manage this company remotely as long as Zahil stayed with me. Initially, Zahil seemed a soft guy for the intensive project we had. But in months, I realise that Zahil had badass management qualities; he would show what he was capable of only when it’s really needed. This revelation was a great strength.
Ashvin had an amazing appetite for sealing the deals. He has the rare quality of utilising his aggressiveness and calmness at one go. Having him with us was a great asset. All he needed was experience to manage his energy. I knew that it was just a matter of time for him to become a great business development manager. All I had to do was to keep the company alive until he got the required experience. I then let him take our market share to the next level.
Helanka was the most difficult one to deal with. She witnessed how badly I was losing in business. Even though, for me, it was part of my journey of success; for her, it was digging my own grave. She always questioned me, blamed me, and demotivated me for my own good. However, I must say that, without her assistance, financial knowledge and love, I wouldn’t have come this far. She amazingly fine-tuned and executed the financial strategy for Solar World.
At the end of the first year, there weren't any employees at Solar world. There was a family who were chasing a common goal. We switched problems to strengths, and employees to shareholders. This small team of four did the work of 20 people. Completing two residential projects helped us boost our confidence. I have to give credit to our landlord as well; he was very patient with us despite the delays in rent. I can’t remember one single month that I managed to pay my team their salaries on time. I knew how hard it was for them but they never complained. We all knew we were chasing something bloody big. And I had no doubt that we were going to be the icon of energy efficiency technologies in Sri Lanka. We stepped into year two with immense courage and the joy of being a team with no conditions.
When we entered the second year, I was ready to take a bullet (no jokes here) to save Solar World. I was so certain of Solar World’s great future. Even though I managed it from 5000 miles away, it never felt as such. I was part of a young, courageous, extremely cool team. I would call it family. So I decided to take our training and conduct to the next level.
I started training Neshan to apply my dopamine strategy from a different magnitude; I started educating Zahil on how to improve our functional side of the business (In two years from now, Zahil will be a master of strategic operations management). With Ashvin, I decided to give him his space. I didn’t guide him much, as he was learning to utilise his energy himself at a healthy phase. As I’m writing this article in 2020 (third year of Solar world), I truly believe I took the right decision. I have no doubt that I now have the most sharpened business development manager within the industry.
Helanka never changed as she kept complaining, in fact, she got better at it. However, her knowledge in accountancy and finance were impeccable, so I had no pressure in managing the accounts of my businesses.
At this time, I also decided to introduce “Solar Pro.” This new concept focuses on commercial projects. In a future article, I’ll be writing about our second year in detail.
Thanks for your time. Love to all!
Hasitha Rodrigo
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