Beyond The Bottom Line

The Amarasuriyas might own one of the oldest family businesses – B. P. De Silva Holdings - in Singapore, but it has never been about prestige or profits for them.

- Farhan Shah

Most people would ignore a dog tethered to a lamp post – but not Navin, Rehan and Shanya Amarasuriya. A couple of decades ago, they were in the car on their way back home from school when they saw the canine whimpering by a construction site at Holland Hill.

“They made me stop so they could get out to ask the security guard about the dog,” reminisces their mum, 61-year-old Nimi Amarasuriya. It turned out that on the morning of that day, the dog had been scampering up and down the road, seemingly lost. The guard tied it to the lamppost for its safety. It had been close to 10 hours by then and the dog had not had any food or water. The children begged her to let them bring it home. Of course, she relented. “We try to help when we can, even when we don’t know what to do next,” adds Nimi with a smile.

The Most Important Business Value

For the family, kindness is not a weakness. Rather, it is one of the core qualities that guides their stewardship of B. P. De Silva Holdings, which owns The 1872 Clipper Tea Co., Risis and B. P. De Silva Jewellers – and is now firmly in the hands of the fifth generation. It also has a stake in Audemars Piguet.

Rehan, now 33, recalls when he had just joined. While working at Senso, an Italian restaurant formerly in Club Street that the company had a stake in, he saw the elderly female cleaner struggling with the trash and offered to help her take it to the rubbish bins on the first floor.