Dilmah founder inspires UCL students
View(s):The iconic founder of Dilmah Tea, Merrill J. Fernando visited UCL (Universal College Lanka), Sri Lanka’s premier higher education institute and shared his story with the students at the UCL Talks series recently. Mr. Fernando revolutionized the tea industry with the first ever producer owned brand of tea in the world and pioneering the concept of single origin tea. He believes in the philosophy of seeing business as a matter of human service and thus ten percent of all Dilmah profits are channelled to the MJF Charitable Foundation, which works towards empowering the underprivileged people around Sri Lanka.
The famed teamaker explained the story of Dilmah, the trials faced and the successes celebrated within a period of three decades. Mr Fernando considers “Dilmah”, a name coined from the names of his two sons, Dilhan and Malik, as his third son. “This is my third son. It is as important to me as my two sons,” he said fondly.
Speaking about his childhood Mr. Fernando reminisced about how he learnt the values of “caring and sharing” at his mother’s knee, the core values upon which the very foundations of Dilmah Tea stand. His anecdotes of how despite his vehement protests, all sweets and goodies the young Merrill received were shared and distributed by his mother among the less fortunate children in the neighborhood, had the students smiling and listening attentively.
UCL’s undergraduates following the International Business Degree programme of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) presented a SWOT analysis of Dilmah as they saw it from a young consumers’ point of view. The students even went on to suggest a new product idea, “Dilmah Tea Flakes”, a cereal incorporating some of Dilmah’s existing exquisite flavours of caramel, toffee and banana with green tea. Their suggestions were well received by Mr. Fernando and while he was appreciative of the idea for the Dilmah Tea Flakes, he had to ruefully disagree as he said he would remain devoted to tea.
A question and answer session followed and Mr. Fernando obliged students and staff alike. Upon being asked as to what it was that motivated him to keep on pushing forwards during times of trial, his humble answer was that it was his belief in God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that led him on.
Present at the occasion were Bob Kundanmal Chairman UCL, Gihan Silva, CEO, Dr. Dhananjaya Kulkarni, Dean Academic Affairs, Nishani De Silva, COO, lecturers and staff.
Gihan Silva, CEO said that the UCL Talks series is designed to provide students with an opportunity to meet and speak to giants of the corporate sector, learn from their experiences and success stories, in a bid to inspire the entrepreneurial spirit among the next generation. The programme is open not only to UCL undergraduates of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and Monash University Pathway programmes but to all students who seek inspiration for success.