The pressure to succeed can be frightening and possibly suffocating without making a sound effort. Since stepping into the demanding business world, Romesh Gomez, the Managing Director of Wealth Trust Securities Limited, has defined the art of standing above the pressure and setting his sight purely on thriving towards the goals.

A proud alumnus of St.Peter’s College, Colombo, Romesh was caught up in the ‘then’ trend of seeking employment opportunities in the place of pursuing higher studies. It was in 1999 that he stumbled through an opening for a ‘Trainee Money Broker’. Having applied, he got selected to the position in MB Finance Services Limited (now First Capital), and thus, his leap of faith helped him take his first step into the corporate world. During the 5 years he spent as a money broker, Romesh claims to have learnt priceless lessons and earned valuable experience. Fast forward to 2005, he moved into First Capital Treasuries as a Senior Manager, during when the “Bond Trader” in him started to evolve. While he was working as the Head of Treasury in another company, the startup of a primary dealer company was planted in his mind by the expert opinions of his mentors. Romesh was sought for his capabilities to become a member of the founding management team. He gratefully recounts the first shareholder that helped the dream of Wealth Trust bring to life. Thus the journey of Wealth Trust began in 2011, backed by credible shareholders, swift management and a competent team. “The journey from then to now has been phenomenal and the future looks even brighter. The value the company has brought to its shareholders and stakeholders is incomparable to anything else as our growth has been off the charts”, states Romesh proudly, who started his quest in Wealth Trust as the Head of Treasury and is now the guiding light of its breakthrough. 

The protagonist mentions that he comes from a family where all three of his elder siblings are bankers, which justifiably pushed him towards the sector due to obvious reasons. However, he understood what he wanted, and his enthusiasm outweighed any peer pressure, giving him the fortitude to leave and pursue a career in investment banking. He feels that taking this daring step was the most pivotal step he has taken in his life. In fact, Romesh believes his success to being based on that he absolutely adores his job, to a point that it has become a lifestyle he does not want to stray away from. “When you love what you do, all other fundamentals needed for a success story such as hard work, commitment and perseverance come naturally,” he stated. The heroine of the story holds the valuable mindset of viewing mistakes as life lessons and allowing setbacks to become the path in his accelerating success story. 

The diligent exemplar shared with us his trading mantra, which he has named to be ‘FEGH’

F for Fear – If your decision is justified, never fear to go through with it. 

E for Emotional – Your life does not depend on the outcome of a trading position you have taken and thus being emotional will not help.

G for Greed – If you took a position forecasting a particular return or a level markets might move to; realize your profit at that level and exit. Greed will have you lose everything.

H for Hope – Too much hope can kill you. If the position you have taken has gone against you, have the courage to cut your losses and exit and do not live in hope that things will improve the next day or week.

To become a great leader that is capable of using those around themselves towards glory, one must take time to focus on personal development. Romesh states that towards the beginning of his career, he was focused on his advancement, polishing his capabilities and timely dealing with his weaknesses. Eventually, he became the dream leader that an employee can truly benefit from and learn from. He believes that it is essential to invest in personal advancement, to consequently be able to commute a team successfully. “I’m a firm believer in the phrase ‘You are as good as your team’ and am fortunate to have a vibrant team backing me”, says Romesh, truly confident of his principle, with astounding leadership qualities which prove the fact. Some of the success habits that have helped him evolve into the talented young leader he is have been his disciplined routine, uncanny work ethics, the consistency in keeping up with timely news and updates related to his industry, being approachable, and adapting empathetic leadership qualities to become the kind of leader who values the opinion of anyone. While he sticks to the boundaries he has set in terms of holding up ethos and values which make Wealth Trust the phenomenon it is, the process is truly depicting his astounding perseverance while proving time and time again that he is truly in a position that he does ultimate justice to. 

Contrary to many expert opinions, Romesh believes that the industry does not require continuous investment in infrastructure or technology. “At Wealth Trust we consider our human resource as our biggest asset and investment. This approach has helped us stand out from the rest of the competition and it complements our core values of customer first, operating with integrity, unanimity and innovative solutions.” Romesh thus summarizes the colossal personality of Wealth Trust, allowing us a glimpse of what makes this concourse the absolute caliph that it is now.

While the protagonist urges youngsters to chase after what their passion entails, he also requires everyone to be thankful for what they have already achieved. “Look back at the road you have travelled to appreciate what you have today” he states, highlighting the importance of learning, growing, evolving and advancing which are all steps taken in one long road path to success. 

“At Wealth Trust we consider our human resource as our biggest asset and invest in our personal. This approach has helped us stand out from the rest of the competition and it complements our core values of customer first, operating with Integrity, unanimity and innovative solutions.”