From a commodity to a brand May he rest from teas and rest in peace!
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Since Ceylon Tea was acknowledged by the entire globe as the best tea in the world thanks to the natural resources Sri Lanka is gifted with, it didn’t take long for Sri Lankans to possess the symbol of quality in tea after James Taylor planted the country’s first tea tree.
We Sri Lankans used to export our tea to the entire world so that it might be adulterated with teas from other origins and sold as Ceylon Tea. In order to establish a market for Sri Lankan teas on the global market, Merrill J. Fernando was the innovator in developing a new approach to sell Pure Ceylon Tea under the brand Dilmah. He took the chance.
He had the chance to learn about tea through his profession as a taster. He had the guts to purchase estates in 1974 by fusing the art of tea with his innate economic aspirations and the desire to create a market for pure Ceylon teas. Later, in 1988, he established Dilmah to provide the finest Ceylon teas, uniting the names of his two sons, Dilhan and Malik. Australia was his first foreign market, and he was successful in securing supermarket space there, first at the Coles chain of supermarkets and afterwards at the Woolworth chain.
Proposition of Dilmah
The slogan of Dilmah was “Pure Ceylon tea packed at source” to suggest that these teas are not only Ceylon tea, but are actually pure Ceylon teas that have not been tampered with any other teas. In his public talks, he said that when Dilmah first started, he used to write responses to each and every question he received. He continued doing this even after expanding Dilmah to 100 nations. He took a chance by purchasing tea packing equipment to build his business. One of Dilmah’s major accomplishments was sponsoring the Sri Lanka Cricket team in the early 2000s after they won the Cricket World Cup in 1996.
He was one of the first batch of six students recruited for training as tea tasters.
Ceylon Tea and branding
Even to-date Dilmah is not the biggest exporter from Sri Lanka as there are many other companies which are exporting bulk teas. Some companies have come one step up to sell private label teas. Some have been able to create their own brands to cater the world with pure Ceylon teas. Therefore, it’s evident that even though we had the best teas we were lost in the game as there were many countries making teas and from the look of it all looked the same. China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey are the main manufacturers of teas in the world collectively these five countries control close to 80% of the world tea supply. Therefore, in order to make a brand, one must first create a quality product and Merrill J Fernando took the risk of launching a product first and then created a brand which now can sell on its own. He not only introduced Ceylon tea to the world, he also introduced a formula for local entrepreneurs to take Ceylon tea to the world. The formula he introduced is:
Product Quality + Innovation + Communication + Dedication and Commitment = Any pure Ceylon tea brand.
Few can claim to have introduced “Sri Lanka to the world”—but you achieved more than that…
You acknowledged the excellence of our nation. You promoted Sri Lanka to the globe via your brand. You gave us a cause to be pleased with our nation. A generation of Sri Lankans was motivated by you to pursue the dream and realise the full potential of their country. I am confident that MJ will always be known as the real pioneer in genuine Ceylon tea because we can see many local business owners following in his footsteps in creating more and more new brands for Ceylon tea. May this piece serve as a tribute to our tea tycoon!
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