Any milestones that you remember?

Coming to this office was a milestone itself. We were at the hSenid ward place office, sharing a few rooms, like a home. But when you’re moving to a formal office it’s a different feeling altogether.
Secondly, 2008 to 2017, was a critical period because we acquired a few big accounts, acquiring a large group of companies as clients. It was an important period too because as you work with these brands you understand their requirements and where the product should move.

Another one was acquiring our first account in Africa in 2006 and now as we celebrate 14 years in Africa that account seems like such a big deal. When I said “there’s an opportunity I should go, Dinesh asked me “are you sure you want to go to Tanzania?” Because at the time no one had visited Africa. But I said, “we should try anyway”. In a different company, they might have not let me take that move, but he did. If you come up with a valuable case you have the opportunity to convince the management. I always believe that respect comes with achievements and nothing else. 

Today we are automating the Uganda government with an HR system covering 400,000 employees and 300 govt institutions. This is one of the largest HCM implementations happening in Africa at the moment.

One question they asked us was, can our product support 400,000 employees in one single database.

As we grew gradually to cater to larger volumes of data, our system is now capable of comfortably handling the human capital data of the entire government. Just imagine, the records of the entire government including the military, police forces and on top of that the population of government pensioners.

You could gauge the size of the operation if I say that the minimum number of transactions in some tables runs over 200 million in a single year.

hSenid sponsoring Malinga at the big bash was a big achievement for us as a company.  

Another significant one was the move to India. It was a big market and nobody believed that a software company could do something there. But we have a good set of brands under us which makes us an internationally recognised brand.

Acquiring the H&M account was another big milestone for us.

You were here when hBS was formed and what was it like?

hSenid Business Solutions was a name given by me when everyone suggested human technology alliance. There was a period where the company was broken into two parts, the HR portion was Human Technology Alliance and the mobile potion as BeyondM. I was not happy with the name, Human Technology Alliance because I believed we were a company giving solutions and I insisted that the brand should continue with the hSenid name to protect our brand value. So I suggested hSenid Business Solutions, giving the customers the message that we are a solutions company. We registered BeyondM and hSenid Business Solutions and formed the two companies in 2004.

Any unforgettable clients? Unforgettable moments?

Sri Lankan Airlines - The very first meeting with Sri Lankan Airlines, a lady I was introduced to asked me “how long are you going to work for hSenid”. To which I replied, “I don’t think you are keen to know that but I won’t leave the company until I complete the project”. She was very tough because I was the fourth project manager to come in from hSenid, which I got to know later from them. I always tried to change the mindset of our people, there was a fear factor within them and I broke that. I told them that “we have to work together to get the work done and no one’s inferior or superior”. I got my experience from working in these projects, to walk in and talk to the customer without fear. Those companies gave us the courage to think beyond boundaries and work.

We transformed companies

We always had the mindset of solving problems by isolating the problem. We broke it piece by piece. We managed to sort a lot of customer issues with that logic. We worked ahead of time, even when they sent us the resources last minute. We were always there to support. We even influenced so many cultural changes within organisations. Nobody will remember what happened 20 years back, those people have left, and those people whom we worked with, have mutual respect for the relationship we maintained.  Understanding people is very important, that's what we need to base our relationship on. We are beyond activities. We have to complete the work and build a relationship in the process while learning from our mistakes.

Can you say something about Dinesh?

He’s one of the most respected and trusted people in my life. He’s a very ethical leader, and that is very important when you work for an organisation. People work for companies because of their bosses, that’s why I believe you should work for a boss whom you can argue with and who you can talk to and trust, that is very important. And he is a person who will give you the freedom to perform, that made me want to give freedom to others as well. I learned that from Dinesh. Because I realised my previous engagement and this had made a difference. The opportunity in Tanzania happened because of that freedom to break boundaries. When I said, “We bid for a tender, I think if I go and do a good presentation I should be able to get it”. And the only reply I got was “Are you sure?” and that’s all he asked. Because of risks like yellow fever vaccinations. Hearing that, people were scared, but that was the sacrifice we were willing to make for the company. 

Who interviewed you? Dinesh.

He interviewed me twice and the first time when he offered I didn’t accept it. In fact he came to my university and met me. I started my career while I was at university. There was a presentation and I did the presenting cause I was not a high tech guy, I was a mix of both business and technical. So I played the main role. Then I was called for an interview, I said I was ok with the current workplace, rejected the offer and continued working.

One day Dinesh called me at around 7 in the evening and I was drunk. That was one of the best and the worst days of my life. Actually, the only good part of that day was his call. A friend of mine from the university had been for an interview with Dinesh and declined the job offer saying that if you couldn’t convince Sampath to join, why would I join, that’s why Dinesh called me. That was the beginning of my 20 years-long journey.   

Any role model?

Dinesh mostly, there are few people I respect like Dinesh Weerakkody and an uncle named Dhaya Disanayake whom I discuss certain things with.

When all this is over, how do you want to be remembered?

As a very pleasant experience. Looking back at the journey, I am very happy about those different experiences, it gave me a lot of energy and the level of stress I can handle increased tremendously. The day I was promoted as the Operation Manager from Project Manager, I spoke to a cousin of mine and he knew I was unhappy. I told him that with the promotion I had to overlook all the projects. Morning to evening, every call I got were bad calls. Very rarely people appreciated the work done. My life was terrible. He told me, “Sampath, think of a day or week that nobody calls you.” “Why do they call you?  Because they believe in you.” “They know if they called you, their problems will be solved. So from tomorrow onwards when you get a call remember it’s a person who needs you, so answer with a smile.” No matter how bad the stress was I took it on. That energy to go on without worrying about the stress came from the company. Doing easy things will not help you. You can both start as a clerk and retire as a clerk or you can start as a clerk and retire as a CEO, owning a business. The company changed me a lot and gave me confidence and perseverance.

Once when we were in Singapore at an exhibition with Dinesh. It was a very tiring day and we were looking forward to dinner to relax. This is when Dinesh walked in and asked us to sit in five different tables and speak to the people there. We were asked to end the evening with the business cards of all nine people at our table. I was not into sales and we had to speak to complete strangers and also get their cards. Those were some of the many interesting challenges we faced. That’s how we learned.

I started as a Team Leader moved on to the position of Operations Manager, and then one day Dinesh told me we have two problems, one, we have to establish a Support Team and two, a Business Development Team. This is when he appointed me as the General Manager Business Development and Support. The one thing I asked him was, “I have not done this. If I fail will I be able to go to my previous position.” Because I was good at what I did as a Project Manager. But today my success is because of that one move. I got the chance to move into different areas and those opportunities made us who we are. I make myself available to support people and I don’t interfere with anyone. Because I believe in them. If they are to do great things they have to start doing them grabbing the opportunities.