LOVE’S LABOUR WON: Tenisan and Maureen have both worked tirelessly to carve a niche for themselves.

By Umer Nangiana
A few currency notes in his pocket, 300-riyal-a-month job, but a heart full of hope and optimism is what Tenisan De Silva, a 27-year-old young man from a small southern town of Sri Lanka, possessed when he landed in Qatar about 20 years ago.
Two years down the road, he had lost the job. But he did not give up, neither did he turn back home. He found another one quickly, only to lose that as well three years later. Frustrated, Tenisan decided to set his long-kept plans — to start his own business — in motion.
But before he could venture with that, he got hold of his ‘lady luck’, Maureen De Silva. The two met at a Lanka Lions Cricket Club gathering and young Tenisan charmed the lady with his singing, witty demeanor and a pleasing personality. The two tied the knot the next year in a ceremony back home.
Upon returning to Doha, Tenisan took the plunge after borrowing money from family and friends, setting up a small cuisine restaurant in Doha with a slim capital of QR15,000 in the millennium year.
From walking along sandy pavements to riding a bike under the scorching sun in his early days, Tenisan worked tirelessly alongside his staff of just two, a chef and a waiter. Fourteen years down the line, Tenisan and Maureen own a chain of five successfully running restaurants, manned by an all Sri Lankan staff of 73.
Today, he has an entire fleet of cars in his, and his family members’ personal use, other than four delivery vehicles at the restaurants. Despite the rather swift rise, success did not go to his head. His feet remain firmly planted on the ground. That, his wife says, is the quality that has won him success.
“He has a good heart. I found him to be a straight forward and humble person when we first met and he has never changed,” Maureen, says patting his shoulder in their posh drawing room while talking to Community. 
“I think the secret to his success is his caring attitude for both his staff and customers. Even today, he does not mind making a delivery himself even if the order is for just 10 riyals,” she adds.
“We still have the two staff members that we employed at our first ever restaurant. They are like family. Tenisan would never let them go. They have been with us through thick and thin,” says Maureen.
Within the community, Tenisan is highly regarded. He was recently elected president of Sri Lankan Coordinating Committee (SLCC), the main community organisation for his compatriots in Doha. He is known for his generosity and down-to-earth demeanour.
“I still remember we had earned QR150 on our first day. My wife has been an equal partner in this journey. We both used to work alongside our two staff members, doing dishes, cleaning the place, keeping the counter and sometimes waiting,” recalls Tenisan, speaking about the Blue Oceanic Restaurant.
The name was later changed to its current moniker, White Oceanic, after Tenisan broke away with the previous sponsor, who refused to give him the rights over the original name.
The owner of the White Oceanic restaurants still remembers the day he had landed in Qatar, September 30, 1994. He had joined a hotel as kitchen helper on a meagre sum of QR360 a month. He had paid 45000 Sri Lankan rupees for the visa to Qatar. His family back was also into catering and restaurant business.
It was at his first job that he developed an interest in running a restaurant. Having lost his first job after the company closed down, Tenisan took a completely different job altogether in joining a maintenance company. Here, the salary was reasonably better at QR1,800 a month, and he was serving as in-charge. 
Still, he had no savings. In 2000, a year after he met Maureen, Tenisan lost that job, too. By now, the idea of starting his own business had taken hold. “At that time, there were only two Sri Lankan restaurants in Doha, catering to more than 50,000 Sri Lankans living here. I wanted to open a decent dining place for Sri Lankan families,” says Tenisan.
Good at remembering dates and events, Maureen chips in with the exact amount of money they had spent to buy their first establishment for the restaurant. They paid QR9,500 key money to get it on QR2,000 monthly rent in Al-Rayyan area in 2001.
“We improved little by little and, in a few months, we were able to hire more staff. The next year we opened another restaurant in the main city area of Mushreib,”recalls Maureen.
In the same year, Tenisan opened a bakery in the same downtown area. In 2004, they opened a fourth one before one more the next year. However, in the years to come they lost a restaurant and the bakery in the demolition work carried out in the downtown area.
However, Tenisan found a new place in the Industrial area for the bakery and the restaurant. Riding a crest of wave, the Sri Lankan entrepreneur bought a restaurant from his old Pakistani friend in Najma, who was vacating his.
“We started with a staff of 2; today, we have 73. We take good care of them and, in return, they take good care of our businesses. They take care of the properties like their own. We provide for their boarding and lodging and all other needs,” says Tenisan.
Human resource, he says, is the most valuable asset here. One of the problems he has faced during the time he built his business was losing the trained human resources time and again. This was because Sri Lankan people, he opines, do not stick at one place for long.
Most of them change jobs every two years or so. “Every time one of the staff leaves, I have to reapply for a visa and make new recruitments, which is time consuming,” concedes Tenisan.
He offers a mixed cuisine from the sub-continent at his restaurants located close to the labour areas. Here, people can have lunch buffet for as low as QR8. His delivery vehicles reach hundreds of people every day.
Interestingly, he does not employ motorbike delivery boys. “It is dangerous. I told Tenisan we would not give the delivery guys motorbikes, it is risky,” Maureen chips in.
Tenisan is a sought-after singer, musician and compere at Sri Lankan social gatherings. He is also plays decent cricket. Some time ago, he hosted Sri Lankan former captains Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakara at his home. They are, he says, personal friends. He has a wide social circle back home, extending to politicians and bureaucrats.
Tenisan is not done yet. He plans to establish a Sri Lankan Souq (market) on the style of hypermarkets with everything available under one roof. Given his trademark perseverance and business acumen, it is not beyond him to add another feather in his cap.