Guts, faith, obsession or whatever else you ascribe to it, building a premium retail brand during the last two decades, when the economic outlook was mostly gloomy, is an outstanding achievement. It’s phenomenal because lifestyle brands – like Odel, the subject of our cover story – are remarkably susceptible to an economic funk.
Look closely at Odel and it’s immediately apparent that its founder Otara Gunewardene’s singular love and passion has been the force behind its success. A relentless brand focus, attention to detail about the product and incremental improvement over a long period are what appear to have enabled her to build an estimated Rs4 billion a year business. Which is why when she diluted her controlling stake to accommodate a strategic partner, we at Echelon were impatient to find out why? In matchless Otara style she explains it off as the ‘right thing’ to have done, giving little else in insight. However a combination of friends and colleagues shed more light on “The Magic and Paradox of Otara”.
Perhaps an equally compelling story is the one of Seylan Bank’s transformation from near bankruptcy. It’s new Chief Executive Kapila Ariyaratne – a banker with experience in foreign, state and private banks here – is aggressively clearing dud loans not by stringent prosecution but more by coercion and negotiation. The green shoots of turnaround are apparent in the first half of this year’s financial results. If as Ariyaratne forecasts the bank is able to recover overdue loans and write those back to the books next year will also be a record year on top of the almost certain record profit this year. That story “Comeback from the Brink”.