Ruwani Munasinha
I have worked with large multinational companies in the US and Middle East，and I truly feel that CHEC stands apart.Why CHEC?I enjoy working at CHEC because I gain world class exposure to the global infrastructure industry and the family-like work atmosphere where your strengths can be put to full use. Our investment department based in Colombo evaluates and enters into agreements for infrastructure investments not just in Sri Lanka, but also for 9 other countries in South Asia and South East Asia, starting from India all the way to Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia.When I joined CHEC, I was immediately impressed by the work ethic and professionalism of my colleagues and felt many of them would have been role models in other organisations. Two of my colleagues took time off to fly to China in order to be present during their new baby’s birth. We had two critical infrastructure investment bids that were closing during this time. However, I found them to be working through the night, with little sleep, in order to ensure that CHEC meets the bid deadline.I was pleasantly surprised that even the Senior Management of CHEC, who have countless years of experience in the infrastructure industry, were willing to listen to my ideas & suggestions and to explore new ways of solving problems which were different to the usual practices adopted. When there is a mission critical task to be accomplished, the highest level of management at CHEC Sri Lanka including the Managing Director (Mr. Zhang Xiaoqiang) and Joint Managing Director (Mr. Zheng Nanhai), were ready to temporarily drop their many other obligations across the 10 countries and step in, to work along-side the Investment Department team members to ensure that the outcome was a success.
When CHEC was approached to acquire a hydro power investmentopportunity in Nepal, our Deputy Managing Director (Mr. Yang Lu) went to the trouble of flying ahead of our team to Kathmandu to lay the groundwork for subsequent rounds of meetings we planned to have with the eight shareholders and various Nepal Government offices. Our Managing Director also visited Nepal several times together with us to ensure that the deal was successful. Ever since then CHEC has an established presence in Nepal!
At CHEC if there is an urgent issue at hand, I am able to immediately meet with the Senior Members of CHEC and discuss and agree on the best solution, without the need to make formal, bureaucratic appointments! This is something I have not seen in other multinational companies.
We as individuals need to continuously update our knowledge and abilities and CHEC aims to equip staff with the latest expertise from the best resource persons. I was impressed by the sophisticated financial models used by CHEC and I consider them to be flexible tools that could be used to better quantify the impact of various scenarios unfolding in the lifecycle of a project.
My Chinese colleagues are friendly and approachable and willing to teach. They are also in turn open to learn and make full use of the expertise I have gained through working in the financial services industry for over 20 years.
Each year, in celebration of the Chinese Spring Festival in Sri Lanka, a grand Cultural Performance is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China together with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka showcasing different Provinces of China. This is a much-anticipated event and I look forward each year to having the opportunity to see China’s vast beauty and history.
At the CHEC Regional Representative Office we also mark the Sri Lankan New Year by lightingof the traditional oil lamp each year by all senior members of CHEC followed bya motivational speech from our Managing Director to bring about an auspicious start to work.At CHEC, I have beenable to participate and gain expertise in developing landmark infrastructure investmentprojects in South East Asia and South Asia, with the opportunity to work with top consulting firms, gain exposure to revolutionary financing options, work with multilateral lenders and be able to participate in unique trainingopportunities.
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