Siddhalepa to expand India operations
Hettigoda Industries, manufacturers of the world renowned Siddhalepa products, will be focusing on expanding its operations in India by establishing a factory.
Siddhalepa founder Victor Hettigoda and his son, Asoka. Pic by Ishanka Sunimal.
Currently the company has a distributor network operation for sale of its range of products in India and will be increasing its presence by establishing a factory as well, Hettigoda Industries Managing Director Asoka Hettigoda said in an interview with the Business Times on Thursday at his office in Ratmalana.
Focusing on expanding their operations further into the Asian region, he noted that they were looking “favourably” at India and considered it to be an economy they could not ignore.
For an organisation that has been furthering its investments into countries like Germany, Russia and the Czech Republic, going forward they would be focusing on the Asian region.
Moreover, the company has also ventured into China as another market that they have identified favourably for its future operations.
This announcement comes in the wake of the recent accolade it bagged in innovation for their enhancement of the Supirivicky toothpaste with an additional herb “goraka.”
The International Innovation Award was won by Supirivicky toothpaste, the Ayurvedic toothpaste from the Asian Council for Innovation from the Asia Enterprise organisation that monitors various aspects of innovation in the region, Mr. Hettigoda explained.
He said that this was the first time that an Ayurvedic toothpaste had won this award for combining natural ingredients to promote total oral care.
Using the unique ingredient, “goraka” in toothpaste acts as an anti-bacterial property that works on gums and improves production of saliva that helps to strengthen the enamel and reduce tartar, Mr. Hettigoda explained.
Carrying out research and testing to bring out this new solution in oral care had taken a period of over two years that was created by the company’s new Product Development Team that had culled ideas from the market and which the Research and Development team would then use to improve on the product, he said. A total of around 15 members were involved in the entire process.
Launched for the first time back in 1989 Supirivicky is considered the first ayurvedic toothpaste that is a brown substance upon use with patent issued by Italy.
“We broke the barrier of toothpaste by looking at the many aspects of teeth like strong gums, oral cavity, regular supply of saliva that created a new concept in oral care,” the company’s MD said.
Tracing history, Mr. Hettigoda explained Sri Lankans were people who already had access to oral care and noted that prior to toothpaste it was a powder that was in use in the past that ensured “we had strong teeth that could bite an arecanut even at 80 or 90 years”.
Today charcoal tooth powder can be bought at the UK’s leading pharmacy and beauty retailer, Boots in London, Mr. Hettigoda said clearly insisting that the world order is now taking to traditional Ayurveda.
The industry started by his father and founder of the company Victor Hettigoda, who speaking with the Business Times, said that he had received advice from his father that he should work well and recalled his early years that were spent in starting out small but with a vision to developing the Siddhalepa as a renowned product.
Asked about any changes that would have been brought about over the years, he noted that there were no changes made and that the traditional Ayurvedic medicinal herbs used in the manufacture of the various products under the Hettigoda company continue to stay true to age old traditions followed for generations.
Mr. Victor Hettigoda is a fifth generation Ayurvedic physician and his father, a kidney specialist, had been the first to introduce the Siddhalepa balm to the country, the formula for which he attained upon successful completion of his studies and becoming the star pupil of his teacher in India.
The MD noted that Ayurveda is individualistic therapeutic treatment that would mean that essentially a strict diagnosis would entail prescribing medication based on the customized requirements specific to each patient.
In carrying out innovations the company partners with the Sri Jayawardenapura University, the Industrial Technology Institute and the Sri Lanka Standards Institution.
Moreover, the company is also engaged in using 600 schools to participate in cultivating medicinal plants that is meant to rekindle the country’s heritage and create a new generation through knowledge share.