May 27, 2013, 8:45 pm
By Steve A. Morrell
Nepal’s Fortune Billionaire Binod Chaudhary, Chairman of the Cinnovation/Chaudhary Group, a conglomerate of close to 80 companies with interests in banking, foods, cement, real estate, hotels, power, retail and electronics wants to expand his investments in Sri Lanka; "I have full confidence in Sri Lanka, there is huge potential, but things must move faster," he said speaking to journalists in Colombo yesterday (27).
"We hope our investments would move up to at least about US $ 50 million. The country must develop to absorb these investments in terms of infrastructure. I would like to see SL as good as Malaysia, or even Dhubai. I have full confidence in the SL system. But they must move faster," he said showing interest in investing in FMCG, financial services and education apart from expanding current investments in hotels and cement
"My engagement with Sri Lanka really started more than 17 years ago. That was the time I visited here to explore partnership with the Taj. It was a time things were going through a rough patch here. And I took an instant liking for this country. I found that I felt so much at home. The conflict at that time did not bother me. I could see this country had huge potential, and I recalled what Lee Kuwan Yu had once said if there is another country in south Asia with potential like Singapore it is Sri Lanka. We ended up in partnership with the Taj Group. And the journey continued," Chaudhary (58) said.
"Today of the 19 countries where we have our business associations through more than 79 companies, Sri Lanka is perhaps one of the most important destinations in terms of economic corporation, existing businesses, and many of the future opportunities that we are looking at. We put together a fully phased office set up which came into operation a few months ago.
Should do more…
"Sri Lanka should be doing much better in attracting more investments. There are huge opportunities. A lot of interest globally. I find in any international arena that I go, they ask me how things are shaping up. I, of course have only good things to say.
"But I think Sri Lanka needs to take its marketing to the next level in giving that sense of confidence. In today’s world investors have their options, the world over. And all countries are competing for investments. People want quick decisions; redress mechanisms in terms of problems, which function, we could go to.
"I am a great admirer of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, I had the honour of knowing him personally when he visited Nepal. I’m sure under his leadership, qualitative and quantitative expansion and engagement with the rest of the world will grow. That’s my hope.
Hospitality…
"We have a fifty – fifty joint venture with Jetwing Hotels; we have two operating properties with an investment of US$ 15 million.
"Taj is undergoing major renovation, for the CHOGM. Apart from our partnership with JV Taj and Jetwing, we have also started a major step in promoting SL tourism to a higher level.
"We have an inbound partnership with South Africa’s leading wild life operator. This operator has 23 lodges across Africa ranging from $ 500, to $ 2000 per person per night, that kind of high end tourist aimed at North American and European clientele. We joined hands with them 10 years ago in India,
established an high end in-bound product, called Ambion in India, and beyond. We established 4 wild life lodges in the tiger sanctuary in India. That is again a three way joint venture with Taj.
"We decided to bring this business to Sri Lanka. Ambion Sri Lanka is now operational. We have taken one property in Hatton with three bungalows we are going to up-grade, will be completing a journey comprising of small high end boutique property, which will set the trend for whole industry and take it to the next level.
"That’s our plan is. We don’t just sell beds, we sell experience.
"We expect to project Sri Lanka with a high-end concept. The whole idea will be to combine the series of properties we are looking at for good value.
"Maldives have blue turquoise water, and white sand. But nothing beyond. Sri Lanka also has lagoons, white sand blue water, totally under exploited, but so much more. Colombo’s night life is dead.
"High end traveler will look for a reliable operator with no surprises. Say a company like Ambion, selling rooms for $. 2000 a night. To customers who would pay this fee that means packaging it well. These are more critical issues. They don’t care about the political situation and so on. Take India, India does not have this product.
Industry…
"We plan to produce cement in Jaffna with an investment of US$ 100 million for export.
"The FMCG sector is another area we are interested in. We will explore the possibilities. We produce over one billion packets of noodles, branded Wai Wai, and we have reached 1 % of the world population. There are different brands in noodles . Tough competition, but that is to be expected.
Financial services,
education…
"We also want to be in financial services, we are part of the largest bank in Nepal. We are in insurance and remittances as sell. Education, too is an area we are looking at."
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