How This Doctor Blossomed into a Business Icon - Dr. Lasantha Malavige

In this episode of The Quest for Success Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Lasantha Malavige, a medical doctor turned entrepreneur, whose journey from the world of medicine to building one of Sri Lanka’s most recognised floral and lifestyle brands is both inspiring and thought-provoking. As the founder of Lassana Flora and Treats of Ceylon, Dr. Malavige has redefined what it means to blend professional expertise, family values, and innovation to create lasting societal impact.

He shares how his early influences and upbringing instilled in him the importance of happiness and service to others - principles that continue to guide his personal and professional life. From starting a small floral business while pursuing a demanding medical career, to navigating the challenges of scaling operations, Dr. Malavige reflects on the creativity, resilience, and vision required to succeed.

He also opens up about the pivotal role of innovation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Lassana Flora transformed into a fully integrated farm-to-doorstep ecosystem. Dr. Malavige emphasises the responsibility of entrepreneurs to uplift communities, highlighting his commitment to building sustainable farming networks and empowering local producers. Looking ahead, he discusses his aspirations with Treats of Ceylon, a brand dedicated to taking Sri Lankan delicacies to global markets.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, balancing multiple passions, or finding fulfilment by aligning personal happiness with societal contribution.
 
Key Takeaways
 - Entrepreneurs have a responsibility to solve societal problems
 - Happiness is the foundation of true success
 - Family values shape personal and business philosophy
 - Creativity and opportunity recognition are vital in starting a business
 - Innovation drives long-term growth and relevance
 - Building sustainable ecosystems benefits farmers and communities
 - Quality and service excellence set businesses apart
 - COVID-19 was a turning point for transformation and resilience
 - Education plays a crucial role in entrepreneurial development
 - Success is defined by the happiness you bring to others

Connect with Lasantha Malavige:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lasantha-malavige-294892bb/

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Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00.91)
think entrepreneurs have a role to solve societal problems. As the lockdown happened, we were the only people delivering the fruits and vegetables online in Colombo. I want my customers to be delighted all the time, in every daily. We have one common vision, that is to...

make a difference in people's life, contribute to people's happiness and quality of life. Now my primary focus is to take the farmers out of poverty because it's quite possible.

Hey, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to ask a massive favor of you guys. At the moment, we're putting a big priority on growing our YouTube channel. So if you aren't already subscribed to us there, if you could head over to YouTube, type in the Quest for Success podcast, or just click the link down in the show notes below, head over to our channel and subscribe to us there. You'll get access to all of our video interviews that we do with our guests. And it will do us a massive favor because it will help us grow the show, which means we can get on bigger and better guests for you guys.

And with that, back to the episode.

Speaker 3 (01:24.814)
All right, welcome back to the Quest for Success podcast and thanks so much for tuning in once again. As many of you know, we're here in Sri Lanka and we're here because of my sister's wedding. And that was a few days ago. And I remember saying to Jam, you know, wow, who did all these flowers? It was an incredible...

display of all this floristry. I said to Jem, who did all these flowers? And he said, this was done by Lus and the Flora. And we were talking and we said we should get the founder of that on the show.

And it turns out to be one of dad's good friends. So today on the show, we have Dr. Lashanta Malavige, and we're really excited to kind of walk through his journey because not only is he a medical doctor, but then he started his own floristry and events company. And so he's got, you know, an incredible journey. We're really looking forward to diving into that.

We're really keen to unpack his story. Thank you, Lasantha, for joining with us. And he's a hardcore entrepreneur. And he's practicing doctor as well. So we just wanted to understand the combination between medicine and flowers, right? Our business. I know you're not just limiting to flowers. So we are very keen to have this discussion and go deep dive to your story. Thank you, Lasantha, for joining with us.

Thank you very much for having me here and I'm really excited to have that chat with you all.

Speaker 3 (02:48.376)
Great, so I suppose, Lusanta, for us to begin, we need to ask a pretty fundamental question for this podcast. And that is, what does success mean to you?

Wow, so I think I have a very different definition for success. I think most important thing for anyone is happiness. So I think deriving happiness by contributing to others happiness in a sustainable and meaningful manner is my success. so if that is scalable, that meaningful

and sustainable happiness, if that is scalable, that is the best success for me.

So that's not just one person, you want to give that success, happiness to more people.

as as possible and derive happiness by doing that is my happiness and success.

Speaker 3 (03:43.064)
And I suppose for us to understand the man who's sitting with us now, we need to kind of go back to your early life to understand how you were shaped. Can you take us through a bit of your childhood and how you think your parents especially influenced who you are now? Yeah.

My parents are middle class. My father is a government servant. we had a very happy childhood. Like, know, the resources were limited. And we are from Homa Gamma, Athuragiri area. And I studied at DS College, DSNNI, Boralla, from grade one. And

even though.

Speaker 2 (04:26.934)
I think more than studies, those days we used to spend time in the garden, the paddy fields, doing other things. I think that really helped to shape up who I am now. And my parents taught me some important lessons in life. I think the most important, my father...

He always is a very simple man. He instilled that simplicity in us. in whatever I do in personal life, simplicity is a very important thing, and the honesty and integrity. And he always

even in business.

Speaker 2 (05:20.896)
instilled or like, know, insisted that we keep the word. I think those are the important values that my parents taught me. And my mother is about giving love and care for everyone. Like, she's so generous in...

everything unconditional love, not for us only. So I think when you look at my thinking, the business philosophy and the values, think those are influenced by my parents. work? No, my mother had been a housewife right throughout and she still cooks for me most of the days. She enjoys doing that and...

Unfortunately, my father passed away two years ago. I have a sister who is a lawyer, but she's also involved in the business now.

So what about do you have any siblings?

Speaker 1 (06:27.374)
So you must be a pretty, pretty, above, I mean, good student, right? Getting into medicine is not easy in Sri Lanka. It's very, very rare to get into medicine.

I wouldn't say that I'm extraordinary or like, you I think I'm an ordinary student. Yeah, it's a bit competitive to get into the medical school, especially to get into Colombo Medical Faculty. I think I would say average, but I'm also hardworking.

you decided to become a doctor in the first place?

Actually, I think that is again influenced by my parents and my desire to help people. So I thought it's a very noble profession where you can help a of people.

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:32.11)
Is that what you always wanted to do? Did you always want to be a doctor?

No, I think I had this conflict right throughout. I also wanted to become an entrepreneur right from the beginning. So that was there in the back of my mind right throughout.

So I thought you can become an entrepreneur anytime, but you can't become a doctor later. So I thought like, okay, I should go to the medical school and I should complete my MBBS. And without my wife, think I would have given up medicine because I started Lassana Florida when I was in medical school.

I'd to know a bit more about it.

I started when I was a second year medical student. Your sister would know, after second MBBS, second year exam, you have couple of months holiday. I started Lassana during that period. So I thought, but she said the...

Speaker 2 (08:41.174)
You can focus on the business later. Why don't you complete MBBS? then after MBBS, I did my internship in Homogam Hospital.

And there again, I encountered a patient who attempted to commit suicide by swallowing 24 tablets of paracetamol. the essentially a painful death because you get liver failure and you have a very painful death. And when I had a chat with him, he said he has had a sexual problem.

and which he had been seeking help from many doctors, but no one was helpful or knew how to help him. So I looked around to refer him to someone because I didn't know what to do, how to help him. And that day I decided, and there was none in Sri Lanka, that day I decided that I'm going to specialize in this field, for which I spent another seven years.

Wow.

Then I started my research work here, then I went to UK Oxford and I spent five years there doing my PhD and the specialist, like, know, the psychosexual medicine training. And yeah, so...

Speaker 1 (10:13.71)
That's a very sensitive field, right? Especially like country like Sri Lanka. Because people don't like to talk about sexual things in public. So that's a pretty brave...

Yeah, I think, yes, it was a brave thing back then. I had support from my family because sometimes the family is also a little concerned because when you ask what kind of specialist your son or husband is, he's a sex doctor.

Speaker 3 (11:01.678)
And so you mentioned there before that in your second year, you actually started Lassena. Can you take us through a little bit of that story about why you got into forestry? Because to me, being a doctor and then coming down this forestry path is so different.

Yeah, it's so different, back then I didn't know what's SWOT analysis, but I did a SWOT analysis. So I looked at my strengths. My biggest strength is the creativity. I'm somewhat a creative person and I didn't have any capital. So this is something that you can start with.

minimal capital. then there was a big market opportunity because if someone wants to get flowers for a wedding, either you have to go to one of these few people who are doing it who are very, very expensive. And they're so disorganized.

So when you're disorganized, your cost goes up drastically. Or you have to do it yourself. I'm talking about 27 years ago. So you have to get flowers from earlier, get help from a couple of your friends.

Do it basically yourself. It's poor quality and expensive. So I wanted to bridge this gap. I wanted to make really high quality flower arrangements affordable and accessible to most of the people. So that was the...

Speaker 1 (12:41.006)
That's interesting because I remember our wedding 29 years ago, had French penny flowers earlier, right? And I remember all our friends going yard to yard looking for the flower to have the setty back. Someone's done it, but we had to provide the flowers.

Yes, because this is a disorganized industry. you can't entrust someone to do it. it's the nature of you saw the opportunity. I saw the opportunity. Yeah. I saw the opportunity. Yeah.

you need.

But I want to take you a little bit further back. How did you get like you you were born to a government servant and a Mother but entrepreneurship where that come from?

You know, housewife.

Speaker 2 (13:24.814)
That's a good question. Yeah, there's not much entrepreneurship in my family. I think even though my mother didn't get into entrepreneurship, think she's entrepreneur. She has that mindset. And she's...

She's also creative and she had that mindset. think mostly coming from her and the from my father, the discipline, honesty, integrity, the simplicity, those were the things that I got from him.

But did you get any resistance from your family while you were at medical school starting a forest business?

Yeah, very much. You know the Sri Lankan families. Study, study, study. But the beauty, most of the medical school...

curriculum, most of it is very tough. And you have loads of exams. And those days, I think, I don't know whether it's different now. the 70 % fails at least one exam. Wow. Right? But I never failed an exam. I know if I fail an exam, I have to redo it. And that takes up my time. So I was very focused to pass the exam, not to get high grades, but to pass the exam.

Speaker 2 (15:01.508)
Yeah.

I want to know on that point, most people struggle just to do just medical school and you were balancing a business on the side. How did you do it?

No, I think it's a bit tough. As I said, I work hard. But when you do the different things, it is relaxation as well. Because when you study and see patients and work in the hospital, and when you do something totally different, it

Get your mind away from it.

Exactly, it's a kind of relaxation as well. So, I think with time I have learned how to juggle the time and make use of time effectively, but I'm not doing it very well. I still struggle.

Speaker 1 (15:55.192)
You

And then, like, you know, I miss calls, I miss messages, emails, I can see it's not the best. So those who know me forgive me. And sometimes I lose the family time. But I prioritize the family and I make sure that I see my mother.

a couple of times a week at least and I speak to her every day and I try to spend a little time with my kids almost every day. even though it's a struggle, even though it's a struggle, even though I'm not doing it very well, I try to do better.

Yeah. And I want to go back to kind of, you know, the early beginnings of lust and flora. Can you take us through like the first order that you got?

That was a disaster. Absolute disaster. Because I, the first order, we didn't have any flowers, right? In the sense like we were not growing, like flower growing is a very recent thing.

Speaker 1 (16:56.131)
Yep.

Speaker 2 (17:12.142)
I went to New Oralia, met with the growers. They are not professional growers. They were vegetable growers. this Dr. Cyril, yeah, the Dr. Cyril, which is the botanical garden director, he introduced me to some farmers in Mipili Mani area. So I went and met them and asked them, you grow the flowers, I will buy. So that's how I started getting the flowers. And the flowers came for the first wedding, but the foliage didn't come.

come. So I remember I had a motorbike back then and I went to my grandparents house in the motorbike and

had to climb a tree to cut some foliage called velkohila. This is a a kohila variety that grows on the, it's a beautiful leaf. So I cut those and them in the back of my motorbike. And somehow we managed to do it like, even though pre the logistics were a disaster, outcome was not a disaster.

Yeah, but you recovered that but I mean again, that's how you learn,

That's how we learn. We are, like, you right from the beginning, I believed in this, like, you know, if you disappoint someone, it's a crime, and you should never, ever do it. But we have done it as well, like, you know, because sometimes things go wrong in a way that you can't manage, the, those, like, you know, like, you know, the...

Speaker 2 (19:01.058)
Big disasters, customers getting unhappy was very, very few. But as we evolved, so we developed systems and procedures that even if many things go wrong, outcome is perfect. So I think that helped me to.

developed this business and when we got ISO certification, were the first ISO certified florist in whole of South Asia. Because we have developed systems and procedures because I wanted...

even like things go wrong, right? But even if things go wrong, our ultimate outcome not to be like to be good. Not to impact the result. So like, you know, it was internally developed systems and procedures because most of the florist industry, this kind of very floral industry is very disorganized anyway, globally.

And on that point, I want to know, because, you know, obviously I love Sri Lanka, but coming here, you can tell it's a little bit disorganized and a bit chaotic. And that's, you know, potentially why a lot of these florists, you know, are doing things ad hoc. Do you think this kind of drive for processes and process improvement comes from your medical training? You know, doing rounds and, you know, doing things by a checklist, like, or do you think it's, it's from your, international experience? You said you spent.

It's a good thing, very good thinking. I never thought about it that way. I think maybe the medical training may have an impact. Particularly after certain initial stages, I really wanted to focus on service. One of the business key philosophy is to set standards.

Speaker 2 (21:06.432)
in service delivery. that has an, like you know, the international exposure may have had an impact on that. Because I see Sri Lankan service standards to be very poor, overall. and the, we take it for granted. We, that's how it is. So, but in the West, or in the developed world, you,

It's a norm, high service standard is a norm. The delighting customer always is the standard. So the second thing, yes, the international exposure may have played a role in setting those standards.

Give me that custom experience.

Speaker 1 (21:52.59)
So going back to that journey, you mentioned you started Lasanfora when you were in second year at med school. Did you continue, like then you had seven years plus five years training, right? Did you actually stop or you still continue?

No, no, no. This is something that you can't stop. Because once you sail the ship, you can't stop. It was tough. My sister joined the business, particularly when I was in the UK, and she continued to be part of it now. And her help was very crucial. And the family helped. And my staff.

How did you do that?

Speaker 2 (22:41.04)
I started with one staff member and now we have just about 500. And we have very good.

people in the organization who had been with me right from the beginning, so I can trust them. So it's the team effort. Again, it's a struggle. It's not easy. But with the effort of the family, the right team behind, and we were able to survive or grow during

My team.

Speaker 2 (23:25.986)
that period also because the growth had been slow during my medical school days and my post-graduate days. Then actually my focus was doing this as a part-time thing, not as a scalable business. Because anyway within floral industry it's not a scalable business.

need personal attention for most of the time. So those things happen, I think, after COVID. The focus, yeah. I'll tell you that story later when it comes to the right time. Maybe you have the right question for that, yes.

And I just want to kind of go back a little bit where you were talking a lot about standards and Like quality control it seems to me through my research that you guys really pioneered that here in Sri Lanka and maybe broader Southeast Asia and To me, it's very innovative. All right, so, you know you

Yes.

Speaker 3 (24:37.794)
You were the first people to use refrigerated trucks to transport your flowers to keep them fresh. How important do you think innovation is to your business?

I think it's the key. The innovation is the key. if you look at our businesses, we have two businesses recently launched. One is Lassen Innovations. And that's about...

innovating Sri Lankan delicacies and Sri Lankan sweet meat. And then we have Lassena Agri-Innovations, innovations in agri-wismas. So I think right from the beginning, innovation had been a key item or key thing in our culture. even little things.

We try to innovate and try to do things better, little better. And we also try to figure out new ways of doing this.

So people watching this probably don't know what's lasana mean. Lasana means beautiful. That's right, right? So that's a really nice name for business because you're not just limiting yourself. You're talking about scalability. Anything can be beautiful, right? So you got a name that you can scale. How did you come up with that?

Speaker 2 (25:47.574)
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (25:57.774)
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (26:02.316)
Yes. Again, family. I still remember this conversation in the kitchen of our house. I told my sister, I'm going to start a business, a flower business. Tell me your name. She said, Lassana.

You

Speaker 3 (26:25.147)
Yeah, that's a lie.

She said, call it Lassana Flora because it rhymes with your name, goes with your name and it means beautiful as you said and that's it.

Yeah, yeah. No, no, you got a lot of beautiful things that you can create.

Absolutely. It was random. I am grateful to my sister for that.

And you you're mentioning a lot about the importance of your family and your team in this business. I want to understand what culture means to you and how you develop it within your organization. 500 people, that's a lot of people to manage. What are you trying to build within that team?

Speaker 2 (27:07.01)
Yeah, I think as I said at the beginning, we have one common vision. That is to make a difference in people's life, contribute to people's happiness and quality of life, and derive happiness. So that's the unifying thing that we work on. And as you said, the...

when it, because I started with one employee, but now communicating this and...

getting everyone involved with this is a bit of a struggle again because I think it's a common thing from SME to get into a corporate. So we are in that transition. So I'm in the process of building that team who can take this core culture to everyone.

because now it is impossible for me to speak to everyone to that level. I still do, because I still see everyone joining the organization.

and try to communicate our values and the culture. that overarching thing contributing to, help contribute to others happiness. And then we have honesty, integrity, innovation, creativity, and the efficiency. Because when you look at Sri Lanka, our productivity or the efficiency levels are very low. And...

Speaker 2 (28:50.528)
I think it's a cultural thing. And because we have abundance and we don't have to work really hard to survive. so those are part of our. Exactly, exactly, exactly.

We have that island mentality.

Yeah, but dealing with your team, right? They're very professional team and the respect they have for you, it's amazing. you know, I mean, my boss is medical doctor. I think he's a medical doctor, but they know you are the creative guy. Right. So every time we talk to them, the doctor will come and do this and do that. So they're looking at you as a very, very creative, like more than

boss right so you must done something magic

The respect. I think they know that I work hard and I'm committed and I think that leading by example also matters.

Speaker 2 (30:00.876)
I think we are a value-driven organization. we are driven by values. And one of the things is we want to be fair in every dealing. So I tell my managers, I give them authority to make mistakes. They can make mistakes, because otherwise you can't learn.

But you can do all that. Only thing that you have to make sure that you are fair and reasonable in all your dealings. It could be with your colleagues, customers or suppliers, whoever, it has to be fair and reasonable. so I think those values really help.

Definitely. And you said before that, you your kind of, goal was to set a benchmark in service excellence. What does service excellence mean to you? And what are you trying to get your customers to feel? What do you want them to feel?

What? Yeah, I think I want my customers to be delighted all the time in every daily. Say like, know, from call center to the customer interaction to the.

the product to the service, the experience, the whole thing. So I think now because the business is e-commerce. I think the wedding flower business is the smallest business. Yeah, it's smallest. Yeah, it's the smallest. because e-commerce, we ventured into the

Speaker 1 (31:39.726)
started with that but now is it.

Speaker 2 (31:51.099)
This is how it happens when we were doing wedding deco.

Our supplier said, you buy flowers only for weddings. What are we going to do on the seasons that you don't have weddings? So we started retail. And then when we were doing retail, we realized that a lot of expats and the diaspora want to send flowers here. And then we started online business and the online flowers. And then to go with that, people wanted cakes and the chocolates and other gifts. So we started the bakery and the business.

As I said, when the COVID struck, we started fresh produce, dealing in fresh produce. for like two weeks.

As the lockdown happened, we were the only people delivering the fruits and vegetables online in Kalambu. So, yeah, was terrible. Because we expected a of hundred orders, we got a couple of thousand orders overnight. And we really struggled. We really, really struggled to meet that demand. And we had a lot of issues delivering in middle of the night or not being able to deliver. So somehow we, like,

cope that's it we're able to cope cope that's it

Speaker 1 (33:12.43)
COVID-19, you saw that as an opportunity or you wanted to really solve that problem?

No, it's the when the lockdown was imposed.

I just got to realize how are the people going to get their food? And we had a big infrastructure that can be utilized for that because we had the refrigerated trucks, we had the cold room facilities, we had the distribution network. So all set, all set. So we transformed that ecosystem to deliver fresh produce overnight. So I think we didn't look at the whatever,

It's all set.

Speaker 2 (33:58.704)
whether we are going to make a profit or whatever, we just did it. Actually, we didn't make a profit at that period, but the profit is that we developed a very good customer base. Now, they continue, not all, but most of them continue to buy fresh produce from us.

Was it a necessity as well? Because I imagine during the lockdown, weddings...

Yeah, absolutely. That helped us to survive because otherwise we would have gone bankrupt because we were in a business, like you said, weddings and other floral and non-essential gifting. we would have survived as well.

True entrepreneurship, like you pivot from the weddings into that. Yeah, that's amazing.

And I'm trying to get my head around because to me, know, fresh produce is one of the hardest things to be in. It is. Because it's got a quick shelf life. And you know, you're working with farmers who, you know, once the flowers are picked, they're already starting to die. How do you, how do you guys like manage that timeframe?

Speaker 2 (35:00.984)
Yes.

Speaker 2 (35:05.794)
Yeah. So when you have developed expertise in flowers, flowers are more delicate than vegetables. Yeah. And we just use that expertise to handle fresh produce. So like, know, our policy or our...

promise is to farm to doorstep within 24 hours. So this is a transformative strategy in fresh produce. That's what we are working on now. When you buy fresh produce, most of the time in Sri Lanka, you don't know when it was harvested.

whether it's one day after harvesting or 10 days. And you don't know who has grown it. And you don't know how it is handled. So now what we are working on, what we already do and what we are trying to scale up is farm to doorstep within 24 hours and the clean and hygienic handling. And also we are working with the farmers to improve their safety standards, the residue levels, how to manage

residue levels, how to improve quality and also traceability. So now we have introduced an app and a QR code so that when you get our fresh produce you can scan it and see who has grown it, when it was harvested, his family details, the farmer details, all that.

Because that's the whole story, right? You're eating something that you know where it's grown and by who.

Speaker 3 (36:43.038)
And as part of that, do you ever think about the impact that you're having not only on your customers but also your suppliers? I imagine some of these farmers, you are all their business.

Absolutely. So this is one of the key things that we are working on. And this is what I want to dedicate my next five years mostly to transform the farmers. Because the majority of our farmers are still in poverty. And they should not be. And so we are helping to adapt technology, adapt good.

practices so that their cost of production can be lowered and to make sure and also to assure a price based on their cost of production with a decent profit. that the revenue model can be predictable.

Now the biggest problem the farmers have is they don't know what outcome they're going to get, what price they're going to get. Because the tomato could be 20 rupees this week, and in couple of weeks time it can be 200 rupees. So it's highly fluctuating. And the farmers...

Farmers don't know what to grow also. Because if the brinjal price is very high, they start growing brinjal. All start growing brinjal. And then it goes to the... So we are trying to help.

Speaker 1 (38:17.474)
Supply demand.

Speaker 2 (38:23.47)
farmers to reduce their cost of production, improve their productivity and the yield, and make sure that they have a predictable revenue model so that it can be scalable. When they have a predictable revenue model, when they know what they're going to earn over the next 12 months, or one year, or two years, that can be financed. Because one of the biggest problems the farmers face is they are not financeable.

access formal financial system, the formal banking system. So that's something we are working on.

Yeah, so I mean, you're not just working and you're doing it. I think this transformation, you started very early days. I remember Sri Lanka used to import flowers. Yes. And now I've seen somewhere you are the biggest grower in the country. Tell us a little bit like, you know, transform.

Yes, I think that gives us some confidence that we can do this transformation that we have done in flowers, in the vegetables also. And what we have done in flowers...

You're absolutely right. I remember when we started, the flowers were very expensive, relatively expensive. And because most of the flowers were imported. And I remember we were buying one stem of lily. And sometimes we used to buy one flower each. expensive and for bridal bouquets, bridal bouquets, they count by the flower.

Speaker 2 (40:06.448)
not by the stem, because one stem can have, lily can have about four or five flowers. But I used, I studied the regional peers and how they use technology. And also, started working with the correct breeders in Netherlands and other countries. And got the planting material and used the technology to grow flowers.

that can compete in the international arena. And I never looked at local prices. I only looked at the cost of production of the most competitive farmer. Say like, know, for chrysanthemums, I benchmark.

benchmarked the farmers in Malaysia who were the leaders in chrysanthemum cultivation who were exporting to Japan and the rest of the world. And so I tried to match that quality and match that cost of production. I think that made a difference. so it's again,

kind of a struggle to find the right land and get the government approvals and the support from the village and getting the right expertise. So, but I enjoyed it.

And you mentioned before, when you started this, it was more of a side business. Yes. Was there a turning point where it became, where it turned from a side business into, yeah, this is the one.

Speaker 2 (41:42.476)
I think it started with COVID. That recently, Because the rapid growth also started with that. the eye could have been a...

I've said that recently.

Speaker 2 (41:58.412)
much better or bigger entrepreneur if I gave up medicine early on. so I, at least during COVID time, I had a break.

Time to think.

Time to think. now actually, even though I'm a practicing doctor, it's like, I'm just seen like, you know, four days a month just to...

just to look after my patients who have been dependent on me. they, like, you know, I have been seeing patients for 15 years now in Sri Lanka. And the, like, you know, they rely on me and I can't just abandon them all of a sudden. So that's why I'm still seeing a few patients every week. And the, but now my primary focus is to,

develop this two verticals. One is this fresh produce ecosystem where people can access high quality, safe, hygienic fresh produce at affordable prices. So like we did with flowers, want to, think our fresh produce prices, fruits and vegetables prices are far too high. And I want to make it accessible.

Speaker 2 (43:29.55)
affordable for everyone because the quality is very poor and also take the farmers out of poverty because it's quite possible. It's contradicting, but it is possible because there is post-harvest loss of about 40%. If you bring it down to 5%, you save 35%. And if you improve productivity and crop planning, then you increase the yield and reduce the cost

So this is one of the key things that I'm working on. And the other thing is creating a global business in the Tritxos Ceylon category, which we will have a chat later.

I like the way you think because something I learned over the years, when you're really looking at your business, your primary customer is not the guy actually buying your flowers or your fresh fruit. The primary customer is your farmers.

Absolutely.

you're protecting and looking after them and growing them. It's a sustainable model. Yeah. So that's very rare in Sri Lanka. know, I've seen it because people are very much focused on getting that, you know, money from delighting the customers. That's fine. But looking after that, that's you really understood where you need to invest in, which is a comment that I want to make.

Speaker 2 (45:02.744)
Yeah, Jametha, I think you're right. As I said in the initial introduction also, sustainability. Because that is sustainable, isn't it? You have to develop the whole ecosystem. Otherwise, it's not sustainable and also not scalable.

So.

Speaker 3 (45:20.268)
And correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't have any formative business training, you?

Not at all. The only formal business learning is grade 8 commerce.

Must be good, Sri Lankan education.

Yeah

So I want to go to that point. You know, you're clearly an incredible entrepreneur and you you don't have this background in business. So I want to know what has been one of the biggest learnings that you could give to other young and aspiring entrepreneurs that you think maybe they won't learn at business school.

Speaker 2 (45:45.39)
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (46:01.678)
Because I don't know what you learned in this course.

Good luck.

So anyway, I think entrepreneurs have a role to solve societal problems that I firmly believe. That's what I've been doing right from the beginning in different ways and different scales. I feel that...

real entrepreneurship, you can't learn from business school. me. don't know what is taught in the MBA. But one big advice, soon after MBBS, I wanted to do an MBA because I thought I have to have some formal training. One of my uncles, gave the best advice. I think that's the best advice for my life.

He said, wait until you are 35.

Speaker 2 (47:10.936)
True, I agree. He said because sometimes the MBAs might formalize your thinking and it might restrict your creativity and even risk taking. So by 35, I realized that it's not needed.

Yes, yes.

I don't know, maybe I may be wrong. like, I don't know. Maybe I could have done better if I had done an MBA at 35, but I don't know.

You're doing all the right things. You're looking at not just, you're looking at the holistic. It's all about value creation, right? So you're doing that. MBA can do a good case study about you, right?

I'm really.

Speaker 2 (48:03.214)
A lot of MBA students come to us for last, I think, seven, eight years for case studies. Loads of case studies are done on entrepreneurship and the class and the journey. And yeah, and then I sometimes give visiting lectures for MBA students.

I mean nothing like you know whatever you learn you can be a great idea guy you know a lot of business but it's all about doing it.

Yeah, execution is the... Execution is very difficult, think. I think it's a different skill and art, isn't it? The working with people and handling problems and not to give up.

Not in in in select

can set in. Sometimes the problems you encounter can disappoint you to a great extent. it has, like things have disappointed me, but not for more than 30 minutes. No, not for more than 30 minutes. Because like, know, when something

Speaker 2 (49:18.74)
really bad happens, you feel bad. But in 30 minutes you all come, okay, you see you have a bigger thing to you want to do and why are you going to give up or discourage by little challenges? And now I don't even feel.

See that's the difference that what you said entrepreneurship cannot be taught. Having that ability, that attitude, right? You never give up, right? We never give up. So yes, disappointment, feel like this is not going anywhere. You're thinking, no worth doing this, but you come back.

Shit. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:00.32)
Yeah, exactly, you know that. You are one of them as well. And a lot of people give up very fast. that's one of the things that I can tell entrepreneurs or anyone who want to become an entrepreneur. You should be having that resilience not to give up easily. Not to give up at all.

That's a good one. mean that's how you grow your business. Failure is a great thing.

Yeah, absolutely. you know, now after this today I'm going to our Diwala PTFR and

we have loads of failures there because we purchased this farm and it's the largest greenhouse project in the country. It's so big and most of my projects, I start small and gradually scale up. And then I say that you fire a bullet and when you the target, you fire cannonballs. But here we had to purchase this massive project.

So we are still struggling. After two years from purchase, we are still learning. But a lot of people give up. Even workers, they...

Speaker 2 (51:28.204)
get fed up like you you do everything perfectly you expect the crop and you crop fails for some reason or everything is good and then you get the infection then everything is good then you get a like you know pest attack something happens and so it's a learning curve and to understand that is I think it's tough yeah

And we've spoken about your next kind of step is into this kind of taste of salon and Sri Lankan produce. Do you think you'll ever take that global?

Yes.

Speaker 2 (52:03.608)
That's my dream for next five to 10 years. It's a long term goal and I feel it started with this treat the Ceylon range like when you go to any country.

you will see there are delicacies and presented nicely. we have amazing products, amazing sweet products, savory products, from artichokes to fennel, to the kalu dhol, all sorts of things. But they are not presented like packed.

hygienically, properly. And so we are developing this range locally. And my vision is to make it, Triton Ceylon, a global brand in our next five to 10 years. I think Melbourne is a good location. Sydney and basically Australia is a good location for this as well. So I think at the moment we are working on fine tuning this product range. It's a process.

proper shelf life without using preservatives.

So right now we are working on it and we have a shop in BIA airport, the departure area. And we are selling through our online channels and through our retail network. outside Sri Lanka, first we want to a network of shops in shopping malls, tourist areas, and then go global is the plan.

Speaker 1 (53:44.046)
That's really good. I know we talk lot about business, but I want to briefly, I know we running out of time, briefly talk about your medicine career. Can you give us very high level, what do you do and you mentioned about sexual health.

Yeah, I'm a consultant in sexual medicine. some call it sexologist as well. it's about the all sort of problems with regard to sexuality, from the couple problems, erection problems, ejaculation problems, libido problems, and the desire problems, couple interaction problems, all sort of sexuality related issues.

Okay, don't you think that's more demanding than the farmer business?

I think that's that's that had been the biggest what conflict I would say because I love that also and giving up that the it's very difficult and and and the people the people like you know the comments and the compliments people give and people say like you know the each time we have sex we think about you

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:06.19)
And I know that this, I have helped thousands of people and really, because when I see a patient, there's only one intention. I am going to help them in some way, like I'm trying to sort it out in the best possible way. That's the only intention and that had really worked. And so I think the...

when you are in a field that is so satisfying and also it's not boring as well, right? So it's very difficult to give up.

also like you know I mean sex sells right so it could be a massive opportunity to it's a very scale business

Yes, I do.

Speaker 2 (55:56.364)
Yeah, but I thought I had this psychological thing. I thought I should not confuse my profession with the business. So I could have done so many...

and scaled it up as a business, this equipment to medicine to all that in that field. But I thought, no, it's a...

I'm surprised as an entrepreneur, just thinking how can I scale this knowledge that you have. But I think what you're working is amazing, you know, not just flowers, you're moving into agriculture, you know, fresh produce, and then now you're next level up, know, you're promoting Sri Lankan produce.

That's what we are trying. We are trying, I would say.

And at the beginning you mentioned that your definition of success was about happiness. What makes you happy?

Speaker 2 (57:07.308)
making people happy, contributing to others happiness. It's my happiness in a meaningful and sustainable manner.

Can I share something you make me happy? An example. So my daughter and wife arrived probably about two and a half weeks ago for my daughter's wedding in the airport. So I went to pick them up. I realized, wow, this is a special moment, right? My daughter's coming for her wedding. I was just empty handed. I look around, hey, what can I do? What can I buy at least something?

Right.

Speaker 1 (57:44.094)
I never expected to buy flowers in Bandar Raik airport. Here we go, right in front of me. that was just, tears to my eyes. So that's a wow moment. then really, you know, for that little flowers given to them, you pretty much delight me.

Have to at that moment.

Speaker 2 (58:08.75)
Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. was amazing. Thought about it.

And I suppose, you know, we could talk for hours, but to wrap this up, looking back on your journey, do you feel successful?

I think I would, yes I do, simple as is that. If I looked at me as an entrepreneur, if I really focused without the medical career, I could have been much, much more successful. But I think I'm still happy because

This is exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't want to give up medicine totally because now for a budding entrepreneur, this may not be the best example. I may not be the best example because you really want to focus and do one thing. But in my situation, it's a little different.

Because when you look at the global experience, so even any setting, those who are very successful are the people who have really focused on one thing. I think the, so I would advise not to take my path. Unless you have a, like, know, passion for it.

Speaker 1 (59:48.77)
Definitely. I mean, Lassante, it's fascinating discussion. But you said happiness is so important. That's your kind of purpose in your life. How do you want to be remembered?

Thank you.

Speaker 2 (59:59.352)
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04.364)
I think I would like to be remembered as someone who had really struggled to make a difference in people's lives. And someone who has really contributed to better quality of life and better happiness for people and the society.

Asanta, thank you so much for this conversation. It's been incredible. But before we finish, I've been jotting down a few key traits which I think you really embody and have been part of your success. And I'd like to share them with you. The first one I think is your discipline.

I mean, I don't think anyone else could do study medicine and do a PhD as well while, you know, starting and scaling a business like you've done. And I think that really comes down to your discipline. I think you mentioned in there, you just have to get it done.

I try, I'm not the best.

But I think that's a core. You're always so busy. You have to stay focused. You have to get things done. And I think that discipline really, really shone through. The next one is you're extremely values driven. And I think the one that really stood out to me was integrity.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19.799)
It's the key for me. And when you lose integrity, you are no one.

You really are a man of your word. There's very few people, I think, that are still left that are doing business for the right reason to create value and...

You're a real gentleman in business. I think you are one of them and I really, really appreciate that. throughout everything you're doing in your business, you're doing it for the right reason. You're trying to support not only your customers but also look after the farmers, the producers, the people, your team, the people who support you. And I think that's a really powerful thing. The next one is you're very innovative.

We'll try it.

And I think that's a core part of your business. Flowers could have just stayed flowers, but you've, you've turned it into a whole ecosystem, you know, from managing your supply all the way through to what can we do next? there's a problem. Let's go into fresh produce. You're always innovating. You know, how can we process, improve efficiency? And honestly, I think it does come back to your medical, medical training to really, improve efficiency. It's very anti Sri Lankan to improve efficiency, but it's something you're doing really

Speaker 2 (01:02:26.71)
is

Speaker 3 (01:02:34.256)
And then the last one is your impact driven. Everything you're doing is, your definition of success is a perfect example. You want to make other people happy. It's not something to do with you.

And it makes you happy.

Exactly. Exactly. It's you know, it's a two way street, but everything you're doing is to have impact. And you know, even what you're doing now with your treats of salon, that's going to have an impact not only on the supplies, but on Sri Lanka as a whole, you it'll put Sri Lanka on the map. So I'm really, really glad that we got to sit down.

And I only know you for very few days actually, not even a month. What I learned from you, right, last few months, you're a very likable person, right? Very down to earth, you're really not thinking that you got massive business, you're very easy to approachable, and someone that you can talk to very easily, right? And that, your personality, I think, play a big part in your success as well.

Very good.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36.995)
We.

I think we are very small. We are nothing actually compared to...

But I've seen how you're dealing with your staff as well. It's not just customers, right? you're pretty same person, very authentic, and you're genuine. People can relate it to you. It doesn't matter what level they are in. So that likability and being able to connect with people is a magical thing for entrepreneurs. Not everyone have that skill.

I think it's important if you are to become an entrepreneur.

Absolutely, think that's helped you to achieve success and we want to wish you very best for your plans and if you can help us, help you with anything in terms of your growth in global.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30.154)
Wonderful. Thank you so much. I think this is one of the best interviews I have been to because I think you all are entrepreneurs and you understand this and a lot of interviews, the podcasts that I have been to are like, know, just someone asking questions, but you relate very well. Thank you so much for that amazing one hour. I really enjoyed it. Thank you very much.

Thank

Speaker 3 (01:04:53.678)
Thank you so much for something. And on that note, if you guys have gotten something out of today's episode, if you could do us a massive favor and go and like and subscribe to our YouTube channel and we're on all of the major streaming services. And if you wanna see all of our episodes, you can head over to our website, thequestforsuccesspodcast.com. And on that note, we'll catch you guys in the next episode. Thanks for listening.

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