Wrapping up the biography of Jetwing founder, Herbert Cooray

(Excerpted from A Man in His Time: the Jetwing story and the life of Herbert Cooray by Shiromal Cooray)

Standing six feet (180cm) tall and weighing around 220lbs (100kg), Herbert Cooray was a big man in person, as well as in personality. Handsome, despite his habitually casual appearance, his one small vanity was his hair, which remained thick and abundant well beyond middle age. He carried a comb and often used it.

His carriage and mien were such that people rarely failed to notice his presence, yet he was generally quiet and reserved. A business magazine described him as “a gentle, unassuming man with a soft spoken drawl and a charming smile.” If asked for his views, however, or if the matter seemed important enough to demand it, he could be as frank and outspoken as anyone.

Generous to a fault, he was always ready to help anyone in need, whether the petitioner was a friend, a relative, an employee or a complete stranger. Like many charitable people, he did not like to lend money, preferring to make an outright gift of it; he advised his children that, when asked for a loan by anyone, they should offer an amount they could afford to part with forever. He also advised them never to sign any personal guarantee, however pressing the circumstances, and never to violate the laws of the land in order to help somebody or themselves.

Such practical advice was typical of his approach to parenthood; he was not ambitious on his children’s behalf but allowed them to develop their own interests and personalities at their own pace. Praise and blame were both dispensed in moderation. The one thing he insisted on was that Shiromal and Hiran should complete their education.

When asked the question, “For someone who had managed over a dozen hotels singlehanded, and with careful attention to detail, wasn’t it a step in a different direction to relinquish control in the company?” (In fact many entrepreneurs do find it hard to relinquish control). His answer was, “My style of management has always been one of openness and flexibility. Certainly not the pyramid style of management. And I have always worked closely with others, many of them my good friends. So I was never the sole person with all the power. It was a new direction, yes, when my children came in, but the style of management didn’t change at all. I had built up a management team over the years, who could function well with less input from me. I could take a slower role when the children came into the firm, and I enjoyed doing that.”

Herbert encouraged his children to develop their own personalities and not be in his shadow.

Though Herbert worked hard, he made sure to devote time to the care of his family. Sundays were reserved for visits to the children’s grandparents. School holidays meant expeditions with friends to different parts of Sri Lanka, and sometimes abroad as well. He was also a spiritual person though not in the same manner as his wife.

His love of family reflected his own upbringing. He and his mother had always been especially close, and since the old lady had lived to the grand old age of 108, the relationship was also an unusually long one. Recalling his younger days, he liked to speak of the role she had played in shielding him from his father’s wrath in the aftermath of some youthful scrape.

Although he had been a student leader and political activist in his youth, Herbert Cooray was never tempted to involve himself in politics once he had chosen his entrepreneurial vocation. This is not say that he became apolitical with maturity: rather that he regarded his active contribution to politics as completed. As for his own views, he kept those for arguments around the family dining-table, and for deciding how to mark the ballot-paper every election day.

Not currying political favour might have meant missing some lucrative opportunities, but Herbert was all too well aware that such favour often comes with strings attached. Instead, he made it a point that Jetwing should engage with and support national economic and social policy with respect to tourism, the economy and other areas falling within the ambit of the group’s activities with whatever government in power. He was quick to take advantage of investment incentives offered to particular sectors by the government, as a result of which he found himself involved in a diversity of projects outside Jetwing.

Among these was a beautiful commercial orchid plantation he set up at his home during the 1970s, the government of the time trying to promote ‘non- traditional exports: Next, acres of potatoes were farmed on a leasehold land in the remote Knuckles mountain range, a security firm and even a feature film, Dandu Monara which he produced which went on to win many awards.

In 1992, Herbert bought into a finance company. By 1995, he had gained a controlling interest in it. With the help of another young man he saw a great deal of promise in the and he set about turning it into a strong, successful business. Today, Trade Finance and Investments Ltd. is a well-known, profitable and reputable part of Sri Lanka’s financial landscape, and is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has commended the company for the exemplary manner in which it is run. As a result of the financial sector consolidation plans of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the shares of the company have just been divested to another party in 2014, in keeping with the regulations of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Herbert Cooray was a man of his time and one ahead – a time when deals were made over a beer or a glass of whiskey and sealed with a handshake. Businessmen of his generation relied far more on their intuition than the managers of today, whose decision-making is supported by powerful analytical and predictive tools, information technology and teams of highly-qualified specialists. Today’s decision-makers are certainly more fully informed than their predecessors, but it is arguable whether or not they are better informed as anyone who has ever had to make an important decision quickly can testify, too much information – too many items to consider – can impede thought rather than facilitate it.

Entrepreneurs in Herbert’s day often had to guess and finesse their way through a project or deal. In the process they acquired a sort of businessman’s intuition, sensitivity to situations and nuance of character that often produced results as good as ‘by-the-numbers’ decision -making we practice in the 21st century. Entrepreneurs have been described as “driven, creative individuals [who] know plenty about battling adversity. They have overcome infrastructure and regulatory hurdles to start their businesses. Often they’ve fulfilled an unsatisfied demand and in many cases, actually built demand by introducing new products to the market.” This is true of Herbert too.

Of course- one could guess wrong. Herbert, no less fallible than the next human being, made his own errors of judgment. He was once used by the new board of directors of an under-par hotel in which Jetwing had a stake: Herbert had brought his people in and turned the hotel round, but was then coaxed to sell the Jetwing stake to the incoming board in exchange for the promise of a long-term management contract. The shares changed hands in a transaction greatly to the new directors’ advantage, but the management contract never materialized.

He made other errors too, and at times was simply overtaken by events. A major hotel project begun during the ceasefire period ran into innumerable delays of a bureaucratic nature; debts built up while opportunity slipped away. By the time the hotel was complete, the tsunami and a resumption of hostilities had sent tourist arrivals plummeting again. It was some time before things could be back on an even keel.

But such are, and have always been, the vicissitudes of entrepreneurship. It is in the long term that the story is told, and in the long term – in the end the story of Herbert Cooray and Jetwing is a story of remarkable success gained through hard work, integrity, pragmatism and self-confidence.

It is a story of which the final sentence has yet to be written. Though Herbert Cooray passed away on June 7, 2008, just two months after his beloved, long-lived mother, his legacy, and the enterprise he built live on; the latter informed and inspirited by the former. For as long as visitors to Sri Lanka find their experience of the country enhanced and their lives enriched by the efforts of Jetwing people – at a hote, in transit or on tour – his spirit will live on, touching the lives of all those who come into contact with his legacy.