Roshan Madawela holds a BA in Economics from Keele University, UK and one of his greatest achievements is launching the Big Issue Sri Lanka magazine and turning it into a sustainable operation.
Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
I completed my primary, secondary and higher education in London. Whilst in London, I worked as a consultant at the Commonwealth Secretariat and was also the editor at Penwell Corporation.
However, in 2001 I made a decision to return to Sri Lanka where I worked at the office of the advisor to the prime minister as an economist.
In 2003, I started my own venture and registered the Research Intelligence Unit (RIU) with the vision of providing solutions to both corporations and development agencies on how to navigate their strategy during difficult and rapidly changing times.
Thankfully, more recent times have witnessed the emergence of the RIU as a premier research and market intelligence firm where we have been able to focus on developing the type of products that serve to shed light on markets that are often difficult to monitor.
The past few years have also witnessed some of my ideas materializing with RIU facilitating new sustainable efforts.
What does your role involve?
Essentially, my role in the firm can be categorized under two headings — business development and quality management. With reference to the first role, being a specialized company, most of our clients get in touch with us on word-of-mouth recommendations or in response to any media exposure of our work. In this regard, much of my time is taken up in discussions with clients on their specific market intelligence/ research needs.
With reference to the second role, I have to constantly ensure that all our products — be they quarterly real estate reports, Islamic finance country reports or market forecasts — adhere to the high international standards that we strive to maintain.
What is your greatest achievement to date?
One of my greatest achievements is launching the Big Issue Sri Lanka magazine and turning it into a sustainable operation, which took several years and involved much hard work and perseverance.
In Islamic finance, the RIU produced the first ever country report for Sri Lanka in 2011 in association with KPMG. This was also successful.
Which of your products/services deliver the best results?
Currently, our quarterly real estate market reports have proved to be very popular amongst investors from around the world. It might be safe to say that the RIU is currently positioned as a leader in this area.
What are the strengths of your business?
Our smart organization approach and decision-making structure enables us to be rapidly mobilized into any new area of investigation or operations. We are forward thinking, creative and use both international expertise and local wisdom in order to deliver credible outputs to high international standards.
What are the factors contributing to the success of your company?
Having a client base that is spread out over Sri Lanka, the UK and India has helped to maintain a steady ship. We are currently getting many inquiries from Southeast Asia and I am very excited about the prospects of working with the ASEAN region and the Chinese.
What are the obstacles faced in running your business today?
People should conduct business with more integrity. The concept of keeping true to one’s word is unfortunately lacking in many quarters. I believe doing business should be taken more seriously at an ethical or even spiritual level.
Where do you see the Islamic finance industry in the next five years?
My expectation is for the Islamic finance industry to continue on the growth path that it has enjoyed over the past decade. It should be driven by the spread of greater awareness of the products and services among Muslims as well as from the wider community who are seeking to make their investments and business transactions more ethical.
Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance.
The entire industry could benefit from better public relations. To some extent this will require the Islamic banks to be more involved in corporate social responsibility and environmentally friendly projects that would uplift their image and perception. Another aspect of this is that Islamic finance players should be educated better in both the products as well as ethics of conducting business.