The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has affected everything from how we work and live to how we adjust businesses and industrial processes. As Sri Lanka has resumed economic activities and daily routine in every sector with ‘new normal’ guidelines, the business and manufacturing sectors are hopeful of resurrecting their ventures with new plans.
Three Sinha Group, which consists of three companies, was badly hit when the lockdown began in late March 2020. March and April are the best business season for the Group as most housing and construction projects are completed during this time of the year.
In this interview Chairman/Managing Director of Three Sinha Group Manjula Ariyakumara explains how their Group learned some valuable lessons during the lockdown and took initiatives to continue with remote work and rearrange the financial plans of the company.
On the positive side, soon after the lockdown was lifted, the company received a significant number of new businesses which they successfully handled with an efficient and effective implementation plan.
Excerpts from the interview;
Q: Covid-19 pandemic was the biggest challenge for the SMEs and the manufacturing sector over the last six month. As the head of a manufacturing company how did you face this challenge?
A: It was indeed the biggest challenge we had to face in our lifetime. We had no idea whatsoever of how to tackle the crisis or find an immediate solution on running the business uninterrupted during the lockdown. At that point the Group did not even have a contingency plan to face such a difficult situation. We were in utter shock as the entire country and the entire world were in chaos.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns taught us many good lessons on how the businesses should operate in the future. It gave us sufficient time to rethink our business capacity, HR management and on-the-job training for employees on various aspects of our core businesses………………