Hailing from a professional family background in Matara, Dr. Nuwan Wimalana – Chairman of Eye for Growth (Private) Limited – is a proud product of Ananda College, Colombo who secured his secondary school admission via scholarship from Rahula College, Matara. Commencing his career as a Sales Representative at Nestle in 1981, his tenure at the company extended over 21 years, where he climbed the career ladder to hold several designations in Sri Lanka and Malaysia before retiring as the Sales Manager for Confectionery and Ready to Drink Products for the company.
Thereafter, he joined Coca-Cola Sri Lanka as the National Sales Manager and subsequently was transferred to Coca-Cola Nepal as the Deputy Country Manager – Market Execution in 2006. At the end of 25 years of MNC experience, Dr. Wimalana was appointed as the CEO of Swadeshi Industries, which was a well-established local personal and home care company with a rich history of over seven decades that had popular household brands like Kohomba and Rani. And then in 2012, he took over as the Director/Group CEO of Delmege Forsyth and Company, which was a conglomerate with ten different business clusters including FMCG, Aviation, Shipping, Insurance Brokering, Lifestyle, Health Care, Consumer durables/Construction Products, Exports, Furniture and Leisure.
In 2016, he extended his retirement by an additional year at Delmege and moved in 2017 to serve as the Director – Business Development for Atlas Axillia for a little over a year. After having worked with renowned MNCs, he then embarked on his own to work as a Business Consultant, Corporate Director, and University Lecturer.
Keen to continually upgrade his skills, Dr. Wimalana completed his MBA from the UK and obtained a Doctorate in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing from the University of Kelaniya in 2020. He stated, “I concentrated on developing my skills through Executive Development programmes from esteemed institutions in various parts of the world and attended NUS Singapore (2012), Cambridge, UK (2014), IIM Bangalore (2016) and Griffith University, Brisbane (2018).”
Meanwhile, Dr. Wimalana described the philosophy at his company, Eye For Growth (Pvt) Limited. (EFG) “As part of our approach, we carry out a comprehensive business review, which follows through to a problem diagnostic assessment. This can lead to strategy setting or fine tuning, which may extend to re-engineering of existing processes and implementing of strategies that enable top-line growth and other shifts.” Elaborating on this he went on to support this philosophy by making reference to the many successes and failures that he has been exposed to during his career, which in turn would add great value to EFG’s clientele. He went on to make reference to the collective experience of the team behind EFG, adding that “our collective experience of over ten decades amongst our directors is sought to be coupled with the Business team’s exposure and insights, to help ensures that our clients’ businesses can excel in their defined space with strategic, yet practical solutions to ensure that each business is harnessing its full growth potential. We do not approach companies with standard models and templates, and each assignment is a customized bottom-up exercise, where the appropriate tools and frameworks will be leveraged.”
Eye for Growth aims to help organisations in the aftermath of the pandemic and the economic crisis to recover, sustain and grow their businesses. The world is aware of what happened to almost all industries except a very few during the pandemic. When they were about to raise their heads, all their plans were hit hard by the storm of the economic downturn. Many companies couldn’t survive while several others tried to hold on by cutting costs and utilising accumulated reserves.
But a question remained – For how long could they survive? The EFG Team, like-minded close friends who are also industry veterans, met and discussed this at length and decided to form Eye for Growth and use their collective knowledge and experiences to help organisations that wanted to recover, sustain and grow.
Eye For Growth (Pvt) Ltd, or EFG, is a boutique Consulting and Services entity, which brings together a unique blend of well-experienced, exposed, and successful resource personnel, combined with an ethos of a youthful drive, ambitious aspirations, and a challenger mindset. Undertaking a range of assignments under the pillars of Organizational Growth, Business Transformation and Optimisation, and Capital Strategy, EFG looks to understand the unique situations and challenges faced by businesses and present modern breakthrough answers through meaningful and deep engagements with clients. EFG appreciates that every challenge will require fresh thoughts, transformation, and new answers amidst some of the most turbulent times. In line with this, the team seeks to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of each client’s business through its work.
Recent in history but rich in individual maturity, credibility, and business success, EFG comes together with its external resources and extensive networks, to become a solid asset and business partner for any organisation. Despite its moderate size, the team with its innovative, welcoming, and flexible culture looks to engage selective clients in long-term relationships that bring mutual value and tangible results.
On the other hand, the ongoing economic crisis has been a hot topic in the corporate world. Sharing his thoughts on this, Dr. Wimalana remarked, “The economic crisis itself is the very reason for us to come together to share our knowledge and experiences in diverse industries with the local organisations for them to survive and ignite growth under the current difficult circumstances. Often a team of expert consultants with a rich pool of collective experience is looked for by entities as a response for these challenges”.
“The ultimate outcome would be efficiency improvement, better competitiveness, and unlocking profitability and growth,” he summed up, further mentioning that “We are open to go beyond the mandate of setting strategy and can work with organisations to ensure a continued commitment to improve performance and towards establishing a growth culture within the organisation.”
Having worked with renowned brands and with decades of corporate experience under his belt, Dr. Wimalana shared a message with the youth and aspiring entrepreneurs. “Success is not a destination but a journey. In this journey, I request upcoming young leaders to follow the CCC model as I always did. The three Cs represent Clarity, Commitment and Consistency,” he said.
Firstly, one must have clarity on their future goal. What do you want to achieve through your career or in your own business? That is your vision. Once you have that clarity on your future goal, it is much easier to find the path to reach that.
Next, one needs to be committed to that goal. As the saying goes, vision is only a dream without action. He advised that if it is the corporate career goal you are focusing on, you need to be committed to bridging your educational and skill gaps needed for that higher position.
And finally, he stated, “Performance of any business leader is as good as his or her results today. Nobody will survive based on your past achievements. Therefore, you need to deliver results consistently. You can be successful. Be clear on your goal, commit to achieving that goal and once achieved, deliver disciplined positive results consistently.”