Pros
-creativity -vision -natural beauty -want to be sustainable -friendly hosts -perception from outside is not reality inside - good at getting outside investors
Cons
-cash flow -management -false promises - favouritism -lack of skills at top level -blind leading blind -not what you expect - no business sense at all This company is not what they proclaim to be at all. You join full of hopes and dreams for the future - a visionary leader with plans for international expansion and promises about a future career plan. The reality is that nobody is left to do their own job as Sonu micro manages everybody and does not allow anybody to utilise their areas of expertise. Cash flow is terrible and there is a lot of debt with many companies in the Maldives - lots of which refuse to work with Soneva. Sadly this affects the hosts as they often wait months to get their pay. The added stress where you have to find new companies to purchase products and services from because other companies refuse to work with you is not fair to put on staff. The company turns out to be the closest I've ever seen to a cult where everybody is terrified of disagreeing with the cult leader and you slowly watch talented individuals turn into yes men and shadows of who they were when they joined. Behind the scenes everything is chaotic and last minute, the slow life philosophy is there for guests but staff are stressed, anxious and nervous all the time that they might do something wrong and be sent off island for no apparent reason. Lies appear everywhere: - promises before you join the company that are never fulfilled - articles in local magazines saying women are prioritised and have their own laundry and shops (which they don't) - Happy to promote sustainability, but quietly build on coral and hope nobody will notice. - want to be recognised as a top employer in the Maldives but staff are treated very poorly. Staff accommodation is flooded, leaking, cockroach infested and unbearable at times to live in, it would be ok if the management and directors wanted to fix it, but they are too stressed at trying to get other things done and don't seem to care. You only need to scratch below the surface a little to see that this company feels like it's always one unpaid bill away from closing down.