Going way back when

Roshan Wijeyaratne (RW) and Harpo Gooneratne (HG) reminisce about their early years of friendship Nobody can make a million in a day – it comes with hard work and passion Harpo Gooneratne

Q: It would seem like the two of you had heaps of fun together when you were out at night! Did you ever play wingman for each other at any time during your outings?

RW: I certainly didn’t help him (Harpo) to score with the ladies! But I did cover up for him because a lot of the time, he was using my name when he went to various places and met different people. But thank God, all that has stopped… because I’m scared of his wife!

Q: Gen Z is entering the workforce around the world – what’s your advice to this generation?

RW: You need to enjoy what you do. Ethics is absolutely important. Cultivate respect and give it all you’ve got. For us, work was not a five day week back in the day. When I worked at a hotel as a management trainee, I’d have done 50 hours nonstop at one point or another. I have even slept under tables! And there have even been occasions when I have spent the night in vehicles.

We had to learn everything from the bottom up. I think what’s amazing where both of us are concerned right now is that coming from hotel school to being a DJ and everything in-between, I feel that we want to give back to the industry we came from… because we’re who we are as a result of the effort that we put into it.

HG: To add to that, usually parents want kids to be doctors or lawyers, or whatever else they desire. But we were fortunate to be able to choose something we liked; and we never looked back after that.

So my advice to them would be to find something that is close to their heart and have a good time.

I always hear the younger generation use words like ‘startups.’ Well, we were also startups at one time!

Nobody can make a million in a day – it comes with hard work and passion. So one has to choose something that he or she enjoys; and if you don’t like what you’re doing, then step back.

When you’re working for someone for the sake of working and not enjoying it, you have to move out and let someone else enjoy it.