Failed Japanese unit helps husband-and-wife team launch thriving artificial flowers’ business
The bankruptcy of a Japanese artificial flower manufacturing company has turned out to be a fortune for a Sri Lanka entrepreneur, not because the latter took over the manufacturing, but he made use of the knowledge and experience he obtained while working in the factory.
Nandana and Lalani Maliyadewa,
It is the success story for that matter. Now the only local manufacturer of artificial flowers – K. K. Nandana Maliyadewa, and in his endeavour he is not alone, as their prosperity is a joint effort with his wife, Chithra Lalani.
Mr. and Mrs. Maliyadewa started their enterprise somewhere in 1989 with a meagre capital of just Rs. 30,000 manufacturing the flowers manually. Both husband and wife sold their products on the roadside and at times they were chased away when selling their wares blocking the entrance of business premises.
Now the enterprise – ‘Greens Manufacturers (Pvt) Ltd’ stands tall with several millions of rupees as its capital, a fleet of vehicles to distribute the products all over the country, a huge factory on a 10 acre block of land in Ma-Eliya, Ja-Ela, managers, supervisors, sales reps, more than 1000 private contractors (suppliers) and around 50 employed.
Their first task was to attract a market and they were in addition to selling on the roadside, taking their products to all the fairs, religious festivals, etc. Once the production developed, the husband and wife team took the products to various places in a motorbike. In the formative years they were also selling flowers in
Work in progress
the pavements of Colombo, Fort.
Hailing from Wattala, Mr. Maliyadewa had his secondary education at St Sebastian’s MV, Kandana and then joined the Kelaniya University, but his undergraduate studies were disrupted due to insurgent activities that prevailed at that time.
The Japanese Flower Factory was closed down due its bankruptcy and the owners were leaving to Japan. Before it was closed down Mr. Maliyadewa bought some of the simple flower making equipment. During his 3 to 4 years employment at the factory, he learnt everything about manufacturing artificial flowers.
Machine cut
Making flowers manually is very strenuous, but they toiled on and on. In the manufacture of artificial flowers they use special kind of fabrics, now machine cut the cloths in various designs, tool them and put the finishing touches by hand to make these flowers to look natural.
The sprigs and the leaves are made of plastic, are machine manufactured and the flowers and branches are coupled by hand.
Mr. Maliyadewa, seated alongside his wife at the MaEliya factory office, explained the harrowing experiences they went through in an interview with the Business Times (BT) in
Making flower petals
growing the business, step by step and gradually. He and his wife were proud to lead the BT to upstairs to show the huge stock of vivid flowers ready to be dispatched.
You name it they have them any flower found in Sri Lanka. What Mr. Maliyadewa does is the moment he finds a natural flower that was not imitated by them, he photographs it and in weeks they are sold.
Finished products
As the finances were not enough to develop his industry he worked in a Chinese restaurant and was able to save around Rs. 300,000 and with that money with a Chinese national, he went to China. While showing the BT the beautiful flowers turned in their factory, he said that he bought a stock of half manufactured flowers from China, finished them here and were able to sell at prices cheaper than imported stuff.
He continued to travel to China and buy such products in large quantities and sold them in the local market and they found the market picking up for two reasons – good quality and competitive low price. Then the expansion of their business, he said was brisk, they have bought the land, put up the factory and started manufacturing their own flowers without going to China.
They have installed their own machinery and Greens Manufacturers now produces huge quantities of artificial flowers and have somewhat captured the entire Sri Lankan market. Greens specialty is the supply of flowers for weddings according to buyers’ choice, on colours, variety, etc.
Showing the newest collection of flowers they have recently manufactures, Mr. Maliyadewa told the BT that while offering the products at the cheapest possible price, they would turn out the best quality products which often deters newcomers.
When the BT asked about their future plans, husband and wife smilingly said, “We want to create a Kingdom of Flowers in Sri Lanka” and said possible hoped to export. Mr. Maliyadewa said that they are happy and satisfied not only that they have a growing business that has enveloped the entire country, but by their venture they can support the livelihood of a large number of Sri Lankans.