Kalhari Group to expand operations throughout Sri Lanka
View(s):Indhra Kaushal Rajapaksa, a home-grown entrepreneur into recycling, has won an international award that was also won by Sri Lanka’s biggest players in the corporate world.
The Kalhari Group CEO was awarded the APEA 2014 – Most Promising Entrepreneurship Award organised by Enterprise Asia, a non-governmental organisation which promotes the development of entrepreneurship across the Asia-Pacific region.
Kalhari Group Managing Director, Kaushal Rajapaksa with the award
“Our priority now is to expand operations to other parts of the country. Doing so will both increase the volumes handled by Kalhari and provide more employment to people from around the country. We will also be creating greater awareness on environmental conservation and the profitability of collecting solid waste for recycling,” he said after receiving the APEA Award for the second year in succession.
The Kalhari Group is a successful recycling business in rural Heiyantuduwa. The company has been a major contributor to environmental conservation and sustainable development in Sri Lanka. It re-cycles and exports significant quantities of solid waste every month to several countries including China, India, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Mr. Rajapaksa, schooled at Ananda College, Colombo, studied Polymer Science Technology at the Katubedda Campus of the Moratuwa University, and has an MBA in Business Management. A Fellow of the Plastic and Rubber Institute [PRI] of Sri Lanka, he has a wealth experience in the export quality vulcanised/cold cement foot wear manufacturing industry as well as in the tyre industry in the manufacture of pneumatic and solid tyres for industry, construction and agriculture.
He is a director of Building A Future Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the training of youth in ocean based activities, and also a director of Marina Lanka – a company set up with foreign collaboration to service the yachting industry in Sri Lanka for the development of marinas along the island’s picturesque coastline.
The Kalhari Group has around 90 employees with nearly 80 per cent from the village of Heiyantuduwa where the company’s major operations are centred.
Having started as a company re-cycling PET bottles, it has expanded to five companies engaged in footwear upper stitching, tyre waste recycling, and trading; and has factories in Heiyantuduwa, Mahara and Minuwangoda. In addition, it provides the livelihood for around 40 collectors who supply the factory with waste for recycling.
Among the recycled products exported by Kalhari Enterprises are waste products from the tyre, rubber latex, beverage, hotel and steel industries. Other export products include a variety of plastics including used PET bottles and electronic waste.