The trip to Sri Lanka was intended to pick up skilled workers for the new garment factory. The 20th part of a series describing the unknown triumphs and travails of doing international business

Some ten days before my visit to Colombo was finalized, I made a quick visit to see my old friends in Gulf Industries; the boys and girls who helped me stand on my feet in the industry and let me learn the art. Of course, I was in touch with them on a regular basis, but this time it was paying back time, when I could help their own friends and relatives to work for me in the new plant.

Some of them had actually come and visited our plant under construction. This lead time helped them to drop their letters in advance, most of whom had taken my business card, as a sort of introduction.
 
Haji Cader himself received me at the airport, early in the morning when I arrived; and it took almost one hour before I could reach the hotel. I had left Dubai late Sunday night to arrive early Friday morning—our main job was to set for both Saturday and Sunday, when the applicants would gather for tests.
 
Haji Cader, whom I had not personally met, but had exchanged mails was in office, aided by his son, popular known and called as Kumar. His elder son was running a separate garment factory and as a ‘reward’ for good staff members, as a matter of policy, they offered the jobs overseas.  They also had a continuous training programme in this plant, so that this acted as the first step towards overseas placements, if work and loyalty were found acceptable and of very high standards.
 
Our Friday mission was not only for general discussions, but also for picking up the best of the senior staff available in the market. Because of the sudden demand in the Middle East, particularly in the UAE, the number of qualified and competent managers was increasing. We had picked up some supervisors and the final pick was Piyasena Perera, a fine young man whose knowledge of the industry and background were impeccable. The first major selection of staff was in place and we advised them to proceed with documentation and notifications to their bosses that they should be relieved at the end of the 30-day period after their resignations.
 
Our work on Saturday and Sunday began as early as 9am sharp and continued up to 6pm or even a little later, until every single person present was given a fair chance. I did not know a word or two in Sinhala, but, having picked up a book on this language, I had spent considerable time reading them, and was able to catch a word or two, here or there, to understand them.  More importantly, it was their facial expression that guided me in my selection process. Most knew their jobs, in terms of machinery usage and operation, but, obviously, nervousness sets in when you sit for an interview. In all such cases, I ensured that they were asked to rest and do it all over again; speed was not the deciding factor, but doing the job perfectly and without any mistakes on making various parts of the garment was strictly enforced.
 
Haji Cader had brought a lot of cut materials from his factory so that actual tests could be carried out; this is the reason, why his recruitment agency remained the top of the heap for a long time.
 
Once the candidate was selected, the process of paper work, accompanying passport formalities, submission of photos, no objection letters from their husbands, if married, and of course, release from the existing employers would take quite some time. I had presented the list of documents required for each applicant that would enable the Free Zone to process and issue the visa, which was between four to six weeks; Haji Cader had to ensure that these girls and boys also met in his office, so that they could establish some rapport before they arrived in an unknown place; he had to arrange for a batch of 60-70 to be booked on a single flight; and they were all identified with pink sarees when they reached Dubai. It was not an easy task,
 
Once these were received in Dubai, I had to start the process with Free Zone to obtain the visa; we received these in various lots, and I began my process to get the visa. We had placed orders for the machinery and the shipment was due in the first week of June. The first batch of men, who would arrive to get the machinery and assemble them were to arrive by middle of June and their visas process on a priority basis. Perera and his team arrived in time, as the electrical work was being completed; our plant was designed to operate with a 360-machine capacity and the first lot of some 140 machines were in the port for clearance.
 
The Free Zone had allocated the men’s quarters very near the entrance; and our own site was less than a mile way, a simple 15 minutes walk and the canteen or catering facility was within the staff compound. Although we met on the day of their arrival and visited the plant site, our work would actually begin the following day, when the machinery was delivered. Perera was systematic and ably helped by man Friday, known as Vimala Sena, brother-in-law of Donald, who had managed our Gulf Industries.
 
Until this point of time I had not finalized the orders for production in the plant, as I was confident of picking them up from other plants in operation in the Free Zone, whose owners by now had become friendly, once they visited our plant and realised that we all could work together and be successful.
 
By first week of July, I had already sent all the visas for the selected staff and the first lot of 60 workers were scheduled to arrive on 15th July; and by 20th the entire 140 would be in house. I visited the plant on a daily basis and coordinated the work progress, and met Perera’s requirements of small items like tools, etc, so that the machinery would be ready for use. These were received in CKD basis and his team would assemble and locate them suitably in the plant.
 
On 15th July, I was in the plant, and Perera had already placed the machinery in place for our batchline production, in two rows. He had set up machines at the appropriate places so that production becomes a smooth operation. The flight was scheduled to touch down at about 1330 hours and I was planning to return to the city to be at the airport. The pick-up bus was also expected to reach the airport by this time, though we knew that it would take not less than an hour for all the girls to be cleared from the customs.
 
About 11 30 or so, as we were discussing the final plans, Bob Eaustace, the engineer in charge of electrification and inspection of sites had come in and having met me earlier several times, confirmed that he would activate the power upon my request on 16th when I told him that our workers would be coming in to report for duty, as they were actually air borne at that time. “No problem, Mr Ram everything is fine”. I reconfirmed to him that the first batch was landing in Dubai airport in two hours.
 
Not known to us, there was another person, pardon my saying, an Englishman, who just walked in and asked for the plant manager; Perera, who took him around, asked for drawings, which he saw and asked him, “When do you plan to start your work here?” Perera advised him that our staff was on their way, and we plan to start our production on 17th. “You mean this month?” “Yes, of course,” replied Perera. “No, sorry, I can’t permit that; there are many irregularities, and these need to be rectified, before you can commence work". “You ask your boss or owners to talk to me.” Perera directed him to speak to me, as I was the boss and working partner in the firm. He simply stated that he was from the engineering department and because of the discrepancies in the plant he cannot permit us to start the work.
 
This was in direct contrast to what Bob had said half an hour earlier. This man had not even told exactly what his status was in the department. “Can you tell me, at least briefly, what the defects are?” “There are many.” “Have you checked with the approved drawings?” “No, I don’t have to and I will have to list the whole thing out when I get back to my office.” He was jumpy and I felt showing off all because of his position of being a staff from the engineering department!
 
I looked at him in the eye and told him; “Sir, I really do not know who you are and why you claim our workmanship is defective. You better go back and tell chief engineer Brown that the drawings approved by him are defective and so you cannot let us operate on schedule.”
For a moment he stood right in front of me, nonplussed. “I am collecting my staff in the next two hours; they will be here tomorrow at 8am, and there will be power at 7.30 for us to operate. If you want to stop the power connection, please go ahead after intimating the reasons to chief engineer Brown”.
 
“Piyasena, I am leaving for the airport and take the staff to their camp. They will be here tomorrow at 8 am and you can plan your work accordingly.”  With that, I left the plant with the visitor standing as though lightening had struck him.
 
On my way, I stopped at Bob’s office and briefed him about the engineer and his threat to stop our work the next day. He smiled and assured, “Not to worry Ram, your power will be on by 7 as soon as I arrive in the office.”
 
The Air Lanka flight arrived just a few minutes late and it took more than an hour and half for the staff to be cleared; almost everyone had only large hand bag, and once the head count was over and all passports collected with relative documents, they boarded the waiting bus to be taken to their camp.
 
They had come on a three-year contract, most of whom would stay much longer enabling them build their dream houses back home in Colombo and other places in the outskirts, help their family financially and give much-needed education to their children. A new life dawned for them.

(AK Ramdas has worked with the Engineering Export Promotion Council of the ministry of commerce and was associated with various committees of the Council. His international career took him to places like Beirut, Kuwait and Dubai at a time when these were small trading outposts. From being the advisor to exporters, he took over the mantle of a trader, travelled far and wide, and switched over to setting up garment factories and then worked in the US. He can be contacted at [email protected].)