Ace Hotelier
Yogendra Sakya keeps a low profile these days. Many people know him as a former President of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), but there are very few who are aware that he is the Chairman of Ace Finance Company Ltd. and Club Himalaya. Though both of these companies feature in the media very frequently (Ace for its fast growth and the Club for holding so many events at the Nagarkot hill resort), Sakya's name is rarely mentioned with them. But this not an oversight on the part of the media. Neither is Yogi (as his friends call him) trying to prove his nickname right. "It's my business strategy," confides Sakya who can be called the Ace Hotelier as his major investments in hotels are through a holding company called Ace Hotels and Resorts. Moreover, some other companies he has invested in, have Ace in their names.
"In the corporate culture, investors only put in their money but it is the professionals who should actually run the organization. It's not the fame but the profits that I'm after as an investor," is his explanation. Therefore, it makes business sense for him to give credit to others who put in the hard work. "There will be no motivation if only I hog the limelight," he adds.
Still, as in the case of many personalities featured on this column, Sakya too got into the present line of business by accident, literally. In his early days, he wanted to become not a hotelier but an engineer because he was very fond of mechanical devices. But, while studying at Amrit Science College in the early seventies, he was involved in an accident and had to go to Vellore for treatment. In his hospital room, he befriended a disillusioned textile engineer who saw no prospects in his profession. He persuaded Sakya to give up engineering as well. So they filled up the applications for enrollment in the Institute of Hotel Management and Catering, Pusa, New Delhi , from their hospital beds.
"Getting a Hotel Management degree was a completely new idea back then. People thought they did not have to study such a subject but after meeting my engineer friend, I was not ready to listen to what other people said." Sakya guesses that if he had not listened to his friend's advice in the hospital, he would probably be one of the engineers stuck in the bureaucracy of the Road Department. After finishing undergraduate studies in India , he went to Italy for a post graduate degree in Tourism Management." As soon as he returned from Italy, he was sent to the HAN Executive Committee as its Hon. Secretary where he soon grew to be the president for the period between 1993 to 1998 and he is credited for institutionalization of HAN to its present status and for organizing various events and activities such as the Visit Nepal-1998, which is widely regarded as very successful campaign.
Lucky 13
While he was studying for his Hotel Management degree, Sakya's father Basanta Sakya and uncle Karna Sakya had started the Kathmandu Guest House (KGH) in Thamel, converting an old palace from the Rana period that Sakya's joint family owned. Interestingly, KGH was started with 13 rooms, but that dreaded number proved to be very lucky and KGH is a landmark in Thamel now. "However, the number 13 was not our deliberate choice, it just happened like that," recalls Sakya.
Though he is no longer managing it now, after the family split in 2001, the Kathmandu Guest House was initially run by a team that consisted of his father, uncle and himself. Sakya was the only tourism professional in the team but his father was good in product development as he was a jeweler by profession. His uncle was in the government service and he was good at marketing and promotion because he knew the right people. Sakya himself looked after the management and built up relations with guests. "As time went on, we added more rooms in KGH which eventually converted the sleepy neighborhood of Thamel into a tourist hub," says Sakya.
These days, Yogi is focusing on doing the same for Nagarkot. What used to be a barren hillock with half-heartedly-built lodges scattered here and there, is today a favorite destination of foreign tourists, expatriates as well as local Nepalis. "It definitely was a risky investment to put so much in the barren windy hills. But it feels very rewarding when your investments go right. You are able to set an example in developing the confidence of others to improve their lodges and turn the hill resort into a premier destination with more than just the sunrise, sunset and the Himalayas ," beams Mr. Sakya with a sense of pride and satisfaction. The blue roof Tea House Inn and Club Himalaya are synonymous with Nagarkot today.
One interesting feature of Sakya's business style is that none of his businesses are run with borrowed money. His group never took loans and always grew by ploughing the profits back into the business. "That is why we have grown slowly but steadily and with strong foundations. I think that is how an organization can be developed into an institution with a legacy," reflects Sakya.
Sakya calls his starting days at HAN a period of initiation into the business world. He had to work under Sahadev Rana, whose stature was gigantic because he was 24 years elder to Sakya and he also had a strong influence in society. "So, how could I make Mr. Rana listen to me? Well, my method was to always start with, 'As you said…' before proposing any idea. This made it look like the idea actually emanated from him," smiles Sakya. This strategy ensured that 99 per cent of the time, Sakya's boss listened to him. "That little difference in starting a dialogue made a world of difference. That was how I was able to implement my ideas, making them look like somebody else's and still getting the work done." According to Sakya, that is what he practices even now and that is the reason why he is able to handle multiple organizations simultaneously.
Growing up in a joint family has also definitely left a deep mark upon Sakya's psyche. "You might be better at Hotel Management, but sorry, your dad and uncle are always right. Sons are not able to practice their school of thought," he observes. So, the trick was to be patient with the elders, know where they were coming from and be able to manipulate the situation in his favor tactfully. "If they are rigid, you have to be flexible. Confrontations happen when both sides refuse to back up. As they say, it takes two to tango," says Sakya who believes that a lot of things depend upon an individual's response to varying situations. This is what he teaches his students at the Ace Institute of Management, where he is a professor.
Bindu, Sakya's wife, whom he met in college, is also in the same business as Sakya. "I came out of my university with two degrees," he jokes. "Having a wife in the same profession as me was very difficult in the beginning," he says. But even more difficult was the fact that she was from a Thakali family because attitudes were very insular in the seventies and Sakya's was understandably an orthodox Newar family. "But we have worked things out beautifully and we are happy now. She is the pillar of my business success and my family happiness," says Sakya.
Personal Side
"My routine is very bad. I get up at 7 O' clock and start making calls. My managers hate me for that. In an interview somebody even said that if they got a call in the morning, they know it's me."
He does only light exercises because of his asthma problems.
Sakya had his own band called "Dream Sleaze" in his youth and he played music in clubs but he does not have time for these activities now.
"I am not too good at reading books because my interest in reading balance sheets keeps me satisfied." |
Because he runs so many organizations at the same time, Sakya needs a lot of people whom he can rely upon. So how does he choose his employees? "Attitude is the most important factor in selecting employees," answers Sakya. He says skills can be taught but a 'can do' attitude must be inherent in the person. When he interviews people, he observes their body language, beliefs, how positive the person is and if s/he vibes with him or not. "Complaints about old bosses are like a bad carpenter blaming the tools. Uncultured, unmannered ways and sarcastic answers are indications of negativity. Whether it is fair or not to judge people like this is another question but these criteria do count with me," he states.
So, what factors are important to Sakya in his investment decisions? "Definitely, it is the existence of demand because demand is what determines sales in the end. I don't subscribe to the idea of first creating the product and then going around looking for a market. Life will be so much easier if the demand exists already," he responds. "I am not so daring as the person who started a shoe factory in an African country where nobody wore shoes. He saw the opportunity there but I am not so brave," says Sakya. He admits that he could have done much more had he taken loans. This is what his friends keep telling him too, but he likes to rely on his 'safety first' ways.
Despite this self-imposed limitation, Sakya is still planning on further expansion. "I am thinking of opening other hotels. My specialty is in three star hotels." One such facility planned for the near future is a bread and breakfast hotel with eighty rooms at Nagpokhari in Kathmandu and a hotel in Rajahar, which is one of the main entry points to the Chitwan National Park . "People say there is always an overabundance of hotel rooms in Nepal but if you know what you are doing, you will succeed in opening more hotels. You have to know your niche," declares Sakya.
