PERSONAL PROFILE FOR THE POSITION OF BOARD DIRECTOR AT THE SRI LANKA TOURISM BOARD
Michael Sathasivam
COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA I, Michael Sathasivam, am a lifelong IT professional and entrepreneur based in Sri Lanka. My manifold business interests include sales and management strategy, business consulting and enterprise solution selling. A market veteran with experience spanning nearly two decades, my achievements in the highly competitive Sri Lankan ICT sector include holding senior management level roles in leading organisations.
MICHAEL SATHASIVAM COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA
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A stint at system integrator Millenium IT as Head- Banking and Financial Systems was followed by work at Airtel where I was responsible for the setup of operations for Corporate Sales, Modern Retail as well as striking strategic partnerships, and eventually EWIS. Thereafter, I headed Commercial Operations at IBM Sri Lanka where I was tasked with Sales Management, New Business Development, and Account and Relationship Management.
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Highlights
The highlight of my illustrious career to date has been my role at SAP where I, as the Country Head, succeeded in growing the overall market by 300% year-on-year. Here, I was responsible for all market-facing activities in the country, overseeing customer operations as well as both general and sales management, consulting and partner eco-system expansion. I take pride in having transformed the business from a formidable entity that only big organisations ran with, into one that is currently widely deployed by Sri Lankan companies across the spectrum. I take pride in being the Country Lead, for Fiserv in Sri Lanka- a $15.3 Bn US-based Fortune 500 FinTech company that is currently the largest of its kind in the world, providing solutions ranging from Digital Banking, Financial Crimes and Risk Management , Anti-Money Laundering, Cash and ATM Management, and Core Banking. We have the privilege of having state giant Bank of Ceylon and Commercial Bank, the largest private bank, as some of our leading clients.
MICHAEL SATHASIVAM COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA
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I am currently playing a pivotal role in driving high end tourism in the country. Having observed yacht and marina-based tourism gaining ground, I saw a profound opportunity to transform Sri Lanka's potential as an island nation in the space of luxury marine tourism. Today, I am the founder and manager of Symbiosis International, a company that has embarked on an audacious quest to enchant and rejuvenate waterfront living by designing plans for a new Galle Marina with the support of our partners, the industry-leading marina operator Promarine and Singapore's oldest architecture firm Swan & Mclaren. I recently launched my second company, Taprobana Rendezvous, which partners companies that would benefit Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. We have since introduced an array of high end and innovative boats, kayaks, gadgets and high-tech marine toys to Sri Lanka.
My venture into the luxury marine tourism sector has earned Symbiosis International recognition as one of Echelon’s top 100 most successful, new establishments that are disrupting their respective industries and adding value to Sri Lanka’s economy. I intend working closely with the Government of Sri Lanka to form policies that will further aid the development of Sri Lanka’s Maritime and Logistics Sector. On the education front, I possess a Master’s in Business Administration, a Master’s in Strategic Marketing and am also a graduate of the renowned Global Sales School of IBM. I am married with two sons and reside in Colombo. My potential role as a Board Director for the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority as I envisage it to be will be focused on delivering the idealised concept of a luxury waterfront lifestyle to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
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Driving destination Marketing for Entertainment
MICHAEL SATHASIVAM COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA
The global Marine Tourism market is valued at 58900 million USD in 2018 and is expected to reach 81800 million USD by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of 6.8% between 2019 and 2024 with countries like Malta and Singapore leading the way with marine-based tourism. Sri Lanka’s marine environment on the other hand has long been one of its most attractive yet least exploited settings for tourism and recreation. I hope to convert Sri Lanka’s coastal cities into high-end tourism destinations, reigning in many unique new experiences with abundant entertainment activities for visitors from foreign concerts, to globally renowned actors and movies, international music videos being shot here, global brands and ambassadors.
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Spearheading Cruise Tourism
Cruise tourism entails travelling for leisure purposes, and typically involves an all-inclusive holiday on a cruise ship of at least 48 hours, according to a specific itinerary in which the cruise ship calls at several ports or cities. The global cruise market is experiencing exponential growth having grown from almost 3.8 million passengers in 1990 to reaching more than 25.3 million passengers in 2019. Markets in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are witnessing cruise tourists bringing in $350 per night of revenue, and hold a considerable market share of the passenger destination days spread across the continent, while Sri Lanka's market share remains insignificant. I’m keen to change this by working to ensure we have the necessary infrastructure in place to welcome the particularly lucrative cruise segment. This includes facilitating touring yachts, regional cruises to enable silk route yachting, and increasing high end tourism spend through multi-center holidays, where tourists can spend time at various destinations throughout their trip.
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Establishing Theme Parks and Leisure Centres Theme parks are the main motivators for tourism trips to many destinations and core elements of the tourism product. They have the potential to contribute greatly to the sustainability of marine tourism in Sri Lanka by means of investments in infrastructure, job creation, tax revenues, tourism revenues, donations, and community support. Sri Lanka also has a dearth of immersive marine recreation complex integrating cultural tourism, leisure and vacation, entertainment experiences and innovative businesses so the establishment of such complexes would be a first for the country. I intend encouraging globally renowned operators to invest and set up entertainment centres and theme parks offering experiences designed to attract visitors from the sub-continent by leveraging my multinational business connections and garnering the support of large Sri Lankan corporations.
MICHAEL SATHASIVAM COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA
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Hosting Conferences, Workshops and other Business Events Business events can be a key driver of economic growth, particularly in a developing economy like Sri Lanka that is seeking international trade and intellectual engagement to progress advantage in the Knowledge and Creative aspects of its economy. Business event delegates also tend to be higher spenders than leisure visitors, and may extend a visit for leisure purposes, visit out of season and often recommend or return. I will work to bring in globally renowned conferences such as Bitcoin and other blockchain conferences, the Money2020 conference, and IT and Technology conferences such as Oracle Openworld.
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Sports Marketing Theme parks are the main motivators for tourism trips to many destinations and core elements of the tourism product. They have the potential to contribute greatly to the sustainability of marine tourism in Sri Lanka by means of investments in infrastructure, job creation, tax revenues, tourism revenues, donations, and community support. Sri Lanka also has a dearth of immersive marine recreation complex integrating cultural tourism, leisure and vacation, entertainment experiences and innovative businesses so the establishment of such complexes would be a first for the country. I intend encouraging globally renowned operators to invest and set up entertainment centres and theme parks offering experiences designed to attract visitors from the sub-continent by leveraging my multinational business connections and garnering the support of large Sri Lankan corporations.
MICHAEL SATHASIVAM COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA
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Investing in and implementing Experiential Tourism Marketing The tourist of today no longer wants to attend traditional sightseeing tours. Instead, they need to feel involved in the destination’s daily life and be able to co-create signature experiences with locals. Numerous studies reveal that experiences are turning into one of the global tourism industry’s protagonists, with booking activities as part of a trip being one of the significant trends in 2019 and 60% of global travellers admitting to valuing experiences more highly than material possessions. Be it through encouraging troupes visiting the region to perform in Sri Lanka or bringing down popular Broadway Spectaculars and other shows to the country, I intend to support the growth of Sri Lanka’s tourism sector by discovering new places and engineering one of a kind experiences.
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When Michael Sathasivam set off for a holiday in Malta M 2016, little did he realise it would soon lead him to a complete change of career. During the week-long trip, the life-long IT professional fell M love with the yacht and marina based tourism and wondered why Sri Lanka, another beautiful island nation, did not have the same. As tourism was taking off, and feeling restless within his IT career, he saw an opportunity to transform the yacht and marina potential in Sri Lanka. Today he is founder and managing director of Symbiosis International. In 2016, tourism leaders were talking about a preferred focus on high-yielding tourists, but the infrastructure isn't in place to welcome the particularly lucrative cruise segment. in markets like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, cruise towists were bringing in $350 per night of revenue, whereas in Sri Lanka, at the time, a was just $80-90." Globally, 30 million passengers are expected to cruise in 2019, with over four million of them in Asia.
The Cruise Lines International Association predicts 13 million passenger destination days will he spread across 306 Asian destinations, yet Sri Lanka's market share of this remains try. In 2017 less than 50 cruise ships stopped in Sri Lanka, with the vast majority transiting for less than a day.
MICHAEL SATHASIVAM COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA
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"It's a fun industry, but also a tough one. I'm not going to sink; I'm going to swim with it." Undeterred by his lack of knowledge of the industry, Sathasivam gave himself eight-months to learn on the job, bootstrapping the business. "I felt it was a chance to do something for myself, in an area I was passionate about." Symbiosis International partnered with industry-leading marina operator ProMarine and Singapore's oldest architecture firm Swan & Maclaren to design plans for a new Galle Marina. His second company, founded in 2018, Taprobana Rendezvous, executes Symbiosis' vision of enchanting and rejuvenating waterfront living by partnering with companies that would benefit the tourism industry here. They have introduced high-end boats, see-through kayaks, gadgets and toys like jet surfs and floating doughnut boats, where up to ten guests can sit and BBQ while on the water. Sathasivam is also the country lead for Fisery in Sri Lanka, a $15.3 billion U.S.based Fortune 500 fintech that provides solutions across digital banking, financial crimes and risk management, anti-money laundering, cash and ATM management, and core banking. Some of their largest clients in Sri Lanka include state giant Bank of Ceylon and listed Commercial Bank, the longest private bank. Sathasivam's first taste of business came in 1998 with a job selling PCs at EW Information Systems.
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Thrown in at the deep end, he quickly learned to swim in the corporate world, delivering on large deals and gaining recognition. A stint at Millennium IT was followed with work at Airtel and several multinationals including Cisco. He next headed commercial operations at IBM Sri Lanka. In 2011 he joined SAP as country head for Sri Lanka and transformed the business, growing the overall market by 300% year-on-year. "That was probably the highlight of my career; turning SAP from a large monster that only big organisations would run into something that was widely deployed in Sri Lankan companies."
MICHAEL SATHASIVAM COUNTRY BUSINESS HEAD - SAP, SRI LANKA
Sathasivam believes the opportunities for marine tourism in Sri Lanka are not well understood. It's a complex industry to navigate with at least five government ministries involved in any decision. To successfully execute marine tourism requires an entire ecosystem, not a single project. Progress is slowed by a lack of understanding of its potential, which goes beyond the yachts themselves to a whole marine ecosystem, high-end shopping, food and beverage outlets and high-end hotels.
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Cruise and yacht tourism also offers potential to spread the economic impact of tourism around the country, away from the traditional (and easily accessible by land) hot spots of the cultural triangle and the south coast "The problem is that Sri Lanka says a wants to capture highend tourism, but the infrastructure and the willingness to do that is at a different level altogether."
With a goal of five million tourists being the vision, if only 300,000 of them live-aboard yachts, cruising around the coast from Jaffna to Trincomalee to Galle, experiencing 0 different side to Sri Lanka, the impact will be huge. Sathasivam hopes a separate entity dedicated to marine tourism and luxury or high-yield tourism will be established by the government and managed by those who understand the tourism industry. A lot to hope for? Maybe, but Sathasivam is in for the long-haul. "It's a fun industry, but also a tough one. I'm not going to sink; I'm going to swim with it."
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Contact Information 976/11 Pothuarawa Road, Thalangama North, Malabe, Sri Lanka Michael.sathasivam@gmail.com | +94 759 000 000 (mobile) linkedin.com/profile/view?id=168330803&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile