‘Our dad is like a rare Pokemon’: B P de Silva scions Navin, Rehan and Shanya

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'Our dad is like a rare Pokemon': B P de Silva scions Navin, Rehan and Shanya

In the second episode of CNA Luxury's podcast series Next Gen, siblings Navin, Rehan and Shanya Amarasuriya of the B P de Silva Group talk about their human relationship with their male parent Sunil, and how his strong moral values shaped their outlook on life and business.

25 Oct 2022 06:32AM (Updated: 25 Oct 2022 12:07PM)

It's not every day that a prominent Singaporean man of affairs gets compared to a Nintendo video game series. Yet that is exactly how Sunil Amarasuriya, chairman of B P de Silva Holdings, is lovingly referred to by his iii children, Navin, Rehan and Shanya.

"Today I was tasting some teas with the staff. And so of a sudden I heard his voice and he appeared," said Rehan, 35. "He's like the rare Pokemon that shows upwards," chimed Shanya, 30.

"Yesterday, really, he was similar a Pokemon," Shanya continued. "I was having a meeting on Google Meet. I don't recall he realised – my earphones were in – because he only popped in and started talking, and I had to stop the coming together. And then I had to help him with something."

Abrupt though his appearances may be, the siblings are grateful for their begetter's continued presence in the company. Sunil, 72, retains a non-executive office, having largely handed his directorship of B P de Silva Jewellers and Audemars Piguet to Shanya, and 1872 Clipper Tea and RISIS to Rehan. Navin helmed RISIS for a few years, earlier stepping down to join nonprofit system The Contentment Foundation in 2018.

The siblings class the 5th generation of the B P de Silva family business organization, which began in 1872. (Photograph: Aik Chen)

According to Rehan and Shanya, their dad makes it a point to come to piece of work from 10am to 4pm every day. "He will take very specific questions most sure parts of the business," said Rehan. "You know, trying to button things and shorten deadlines. He goes around and if there are specific areas that he thinks are going wrong, he'south going to bring it upwardly. And we have to deal with it.

"But it's really great. It's really squeamish having him around. There's then much knowledge and all his experience that having a person like that is such a privilege. It's good for the teams, to take that rub off. Considering sometimes when he pops in, he'll have a 5- or ten-minute chat with some of the staff."

The original B P de Silva jewellery shop on High Street, Singapore. (Photo: B P de Silva Jewellers)

An engagement ring and hymeneals band from B P de Silva Jewellers. (Photo: B P de Silva Jewellers)

Navin, Rehan and Shanya are part of the fifth generation owners of a company that was founded in 1872 by Balage Porolis de Silva, a Sri Lankan merchant who set up a jewellery shop along Singapore'southward High Street. In its 150-year history, the business diversified to include the distribution of luxury timepieces and tea, to restaurant operations and even industrial enterprises like hydroelectric power and injection moulding.

In their generation, the siblings have sought to refocus the group back to its roots – jewellery and tea, which the family has historically always been involved in. With B P de Silva Jewellers, 1872 Clipper Tea and RISIS, they are hoping to create "a grouping of Asia's thoughtful luxury brands".

The RISIS boutique in ION Orchard. (Photo: RISIS)

The 1872 Clipper Tea boutique in Gem Changi Airport. (Photograph: 1872 Clipper Tea)

"I really do experience very honoured that people come to me at very special times in their lives to create something to remember or preserve a function of who they are," shared Shanya. "I don't remember that we are just designing a product… Anyone can create a product, but safekeeping someone'south story has been very central to what I do."

Jewellery, she believes, has the quality to preserve emotion, citing the instance of a pair of earrings that belonged to her grandmother, which the latter wore on her wedding day. "Every time I wear it, I experience similar she's with me. I can't explain that feeling. Merely jewellery does really get a part of you."

With material goods and "hard luxury" being a mainstay of the family business, it might, on the surface, seem contradictory that Navin is involved with a nonprofit – especially one that aims to teach school-going children how to exist content and value what'southward of import.

The siblings with their father, Sunil. (Photo: The Amarasuriya family)

Navin, 37, nonetheless, sees it differently. "I personally don't encounter as much of a contradiction in that. Luxury is ultimately how you relate to something. For me, luxury is about having the time and inclination to cultivate parts of yourself for the mind."

For him, stepping exterior the fold was not a difficult decision to make. Part of his reason? He was acting on his sis'south communication: Shanya told him to "live his truth". In fact, he encourages next-generation business owners to piece of work exterior the family business to proceeds perspective.

He shared: "The value of having worked with different organisations, different management teams, different boards is that you get a chance to see yourself through the other end. That context really helps y'all start to understand what matters to you. What practise you value? And then how tin can yous ultimately utilize that to serve the groups yous're in?"

The family on holiday in Switzerland in 2018. (Photo: The Amarasuriya family)

But by far the about evocative lessons in business concern – and in life – come up from dad. As a well-respected member of the local business community, and as someone who's known to cut a kind and caring figure, Sunil has dispensed invaluable advice to his breed.

"Ane of them that comes to mind is, if e'er there's a sensitive situation where a decision needs to be taken, we e'er err on the side of letting the other party sort of have the advantage, even if it ways nosotros have a disadvantage," explained Rehan. "And yeah, he'south always fair, sometimes to the betoken that perhaps we might lose out a bit. But he sleeps well at dark.

"So that'south the DNA that I always effort to share with my staff. If I have a tough business concern deal to do in the time to come, I just take to look at my dad's photo. And I kind of know the reply."

For Shanya, the quality she finds almost highly-seasoned in her dad is his grace. "My dad'southward a homo of grace. So I sit with him on different boards outside of B P de Silva. And I take seen how manipulative and cruel people tin can be on a board. Once I saw it play out towards my father. I was observing how my dad was responding with such class and such grace. And to me, that's something I strive towards."

To Navin, Sunil is the "ultimate expression of a values-based business concern person". If everyone on a lath has come to a common agreement – even if that decision is erroneous – Navin believes that his male parent won't back down and will keep fighting for what he believes to be true. "And that'south something that I've kind of learned from him."

The family celebrating a surprise birthday in 2019. (Photo: The Amarasuriya family)

When the 3 of them were growing upward, Sunil was so busy establishing the concern that he didn't have much time to spend with the family. At that place was a period of three to 5 years, the siblings recalled, when the company had a joint venture with the Swatch Group, and Sunil was handling eighteen timepiece brands across multiple regions. Dorsum then, he would travel for 25 days out of each month.

The siblings don't fault their dad, of class – "Every businessman who'due south trying to build his business concern goes through some sacrifices," stated Rehan – simply they are now conscious of spending more than quality time with him, aside from occasional brushes in the office and Sunday family lunches.

For starters, they are thinking of reintroducing a tradition that Sunil enjoyed with his mother: Thursday forenoon breakfast. On the menu: Omelettes with tomatoes, granola with yoghurt, and paper-thin crepe pancakes sprinkled with sugar and drizzled with fresh lime, eaten piping hot.

And just what does information technology mean to exist carrying the drape of one of Singapore'south oldest family-run businesses?

For Rehan, information technology's a privilege, as well as a responsibleness. "We have a very large opportunity to mould the world we want to encounter in the future," he said. "For me, my passion lies in the tea industry. The goal that I've ready for myself is actually to change the lives of the tea plucker by the stop of my lifetime. And then if we can shift that needle and change the mode the tea business is done, I think that'southward a legacy that nosotros really tin can be proud of."

For Shanya, it's an opportunity and a platform for her to exercise her creativity. She sees B P de Silva as a "time sheathing of values".

"Information technology started with a man from Sri Lanka with a pocket full of gems," she said. "He was someone with integrity, creativity, passion, respect. All these values I feel have transcended and blest my life and my squad's life. And with these values, peradventure the business might change. Perhaps we go into different industries, but I come across the business concern as that time capsule. And I'm just here to hold it, to laissez passer it, to whoever comes next."

The Next Gen podcast is brought to yous by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Listen to our interview with the B P de Silva siblings hither. New episodes of Next Gen are published every Sun atcna.asia/podcasts.

‘Our dad is like a rare Pokemon’: B P de Silva scions Navin, Rehan and Shanya

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