CEO Insights Magazine

The Maldives is heavily reliant on tourism, and it is one of the country's primary sources of foreign income. A high-potential tourist destination like Maldives can’t afford to compromise on cleanliness and peacefulness. This makes pest control one of the most important variables in reputation determining the industry and with changing climatic factors, they're becoming a threat to the country’s tourism sector. Sathes Ramachandran (CEO, Pesterminators), being a true leader, saw a huge gap in Maldives' pest management sector and foresaw opportunities and founded Pesterminators to address this flaring challenge. Sathes has established high industry standards through his company, which has already led to higher quality benchmarks in the industry which eventually leads to industry growth.

Sathes, an award winning entrepreneur, has close to a decade of experience in the pest management industry. In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Sathes spoke about his journey and his contributions to the advancement of the pest control industry in the Maldives.

Tell us the inception story of Pesterminators. Also, what motivates & drives you today as an entrepreneur?
It all started from the younger me who always observes, from idolizing My father who is an entrepreneur, and growing up in the same environment where I had handson experience in business. My undergraduate degree in Plant Biology and biotechnology drove me to pursue a career in the same field. I joined a publicly quoted company in Srilanka as a Trainee in the R & D division. I worked in the agrochemical department before being assigned to this pest management project, which is a unique segment with lots of potential.

Pesterminators was a spark which came instantly while I was visiting Maldives for the first time back in 2012 to conduct a training program to the Maldives Defense Force on termite management. During this visit I observed the unique opportunity in the Maldives market, and I recognized a gap between current trends and existing practices in that market. As a result of my

research, I discovered that there is a shortage of understanding of pest management among the Maldives market's clients. Observing this potential, I spent more than a year researching about the industry and figuring out how to establish a company and grabbed this opportunity. Subsequently, I was able to secure extremely solid partners along with whom launched the company in 2015.

You have recently bagged Asia’s outstanding leader of the year award. How did you make it to reach this level and what is your success mantra in business?
First of all, it’s the achievement of a team and there are few people who have contributed to this achievement. To begin with, I have really good partners and a very supportive team, and I have to thank them first and foremost for bringing this company up to this level, not forgetting my family who supported me in all endeavors. It should be highlighted that Pesterminators also clinched the awards as the Asia’s Best Professional Pest control service provider for 2020 -2021. I would say it is something that was awarded for what we have achieved and yet to achieve. To earn such recognition, it’s our team who have put hard work from the inception where we set our vision and mission and planned ahead of time. My success mantra is simple. To be a successful entrepreneur or an individual, you must establish a goal first. In order to reach that goal you must have a plan, that should be flexible yet the target remains constant. Once you accomplish it you must set the next goal which is higher than the previous.The most important part to remind yourself is that impulsive decisions are very harmful to any business. You have to take calculated risk but at the same time, should have a positive attitude towards the end results as you won't reap the benefit of yourlong term vision overnight. Taking time to create a solid and successful plan will never disappoint you, noth with standing the consistency and the hardwork will give the ultimate results you dreamed to achieve.

Going forward, how do you plan to execute the company’s vision and how does your company stand unique in the Maldives pest control industry?
One of our business purposes is to educate our clients. We believe that

providing accurate anddetailed information will always attract the receiver, because in today's digital age, customers are well aware of what they need and their expecta tions. Hence, we decided to educate customers with the correct information and improve the industry. If you do something positive for the industry and the country as a whole, you will eventually achieve your goal.

Also, there was a misconception about the pest control sector and the service methods in the Maldives when we started Pesterminators. While all the neighboring countries such as India and Sri Lanka, have stringent policy related to pest management programs, Maldives did not have any restrictions. We studied the requirement and began working with all stakeholders and eventually, established internationally followed standards for ourselves, starting with establishing treatment protocols, and having a dedicated R&D site to evaluate the products we introduce into the market and so on. We reasoned that if we set high standards, our competitors will have to keep high criteria for their services to compete, resulting in the entire industry growing and at the end the customer benefiting.

In your professional journey so far, which are the milestones that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction both as an individual and as an entrepreneur?
My personal growth along with the growth of the company is the milestone I feel achieved over the period. I began my professional career as a trainee, grew to be a CEO within a short span of time and clinched the award that always reminds me of the long way which I yet to explore. Launching Pesterminators is one of the turning points and a remarkable milestone, since it was a bit of a difficult and risky decision I made, because it was very new for me to be a Sri Lankan and to create a firm with partners in an unknown country. The success of the company over the period both in terms of increasing the market share and financial growth, pushed me to explore more opportunities. This resulted in the launch of our second company, in 2018, where we founded Fintegic Investments Pvt Ltd. I always remind myself to think on the longer vision to bring positive impact to the community and resulting us to be the leader in setting the industry's quality bar of Pest Management services in Maldives.

Sathes Ramachandran, CEO, Pesterminators
Sathes Ramachandran is the Group CEO of the Pesterminators, Agro Services and Fintegic Investment. He’s recognized with the outstanding leader award in association with Rula awards, which is Asia's No.1 brand and excellence award.