DILMAH Tea Chairman and Founder Merrill J. Fernando is a living inspiration to entrepreneurs, especially those in the developing world. He manages 28 companies under the MJF group of companies, including the world-renowned Dilmah.
Born of humble origins in 1930 in the village of Pallansena in South Western Sri Lanka, Fernando aspired to have a better life and later moved to Colombo to pursue his dream of becoming a tea taster, a field then dominated by British when Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) was still a colony of Great Britain.
Eventually, he was selected to join the pioneering batch of Sri Lankans to be trained at Mincing Lane, Londonāthen known as the āMeccaā of tea.
Fernando, who recently visited the Philippines for a promotional tour, narrated that while in London, he received a rude awakening when he learned that tea farmers have been exploited by multinational corporations.
He was shocked that tea, a finished product and produced to the most meticulous process in Sri
Lanka, was treated as a raw material and shipped at very cheap price to Europe. Ā āThe farmers were paid 50 cents a kilo,ā said Fernando, whose clients include the Shangri-La Hotel group and the Radisson chain of hotels, in a recent interview with the media in Makati City.
āThey undermined Ceylon Tea. They branded the tea they bought from other countries and sell it as Ceylon Tea. When a tea becomes a commodity, the quality suffers,ā Fernando added.
Expounding, Fernando said this means the farmer or producer got aĀ minusculeĀ amount from the profits of the saleĀ of Ceylon Tea, while the middlemenāmainly a handful of large corporationsāimmensely benefited from the exploitative setup.
The plight of Sri Lankan tea planters has motivated Fernando to seek change and uplift the plight of the sector from the chains of oppression. āThat was a revolutionary thought from a young man which many thought was foolish because he was battling the multinational corporations,ā Fernando said.
After 38 years in the industry, he made the bold move by putting up the Dilmah brand in 1988āthe first producer of genuine tea brand in Sri Lanka. Ā āIt has brought back integrity, quality, freshness, authenticity and ethics in tea,ā Fernando said.
Dilmah is now recognized as one of the top 10 tea brands in the world. However, he said Dilmah will remain as a small family brand because it represents integrity; and integrity in tea requires quality, commitment and passion.
āIt also implements vertical integration in the production of tea. This means we plant, harvest and produce the tea as a final product. This system enables Sri Lanka to get the value added for tea,ā he points out.
Fernando is joined in his passion for tea by his sons, Malik and Dilhan, whose names form the Dilmah brand. Together they pursue their fatherās vision of bringing quality back to tea, with tradition, ethics and all the health benefits in fresh tea.
Through his success story, Fernando wants to inspire the people in the developing world to dream, think and act big in business.
He said the plan to offer the concept of a single-origin tea faced gargantuan challenges from big foreign firms.
In waging a battle against big businesses, even Fernandoās character and reputation were not spared, as they branded his product as a fake.Ā However, he refused to roll and die. He persevered in the struggle that brought him into conflict with his peers and own government, which did not share his belief that tea could be picked, packed and shipped directly from the origin by the growers, themselves. āI even lost some of my fortune in waging a valid crusade. But I refused to give up,ā Fernando said.
āThe defeatist attitude of companies in the developing world prevents them to grow. Even if I tell them what they are capable of doing, they will tell me that I am one of a kind,ā Fernando lamented.
Being a good and responsible citizen, Fernando knows how to pay back through his MJF Charitable Foundation. It implements several projects such as the taking care of special children, womenās emancipation and upgrading of capabilities of handicapped people, especially those affected by decades-old civil war.
āI made a promise that if my business becomes successful, I will give back to society,ā Fernando said.
The MJF group contributes 10 percent of its profits before taxes to charitable causes. TheĀ 28 companies under the group contribute $3 million to $3.5 million for the foundationās several corporate socialĀ responsibility-related activities.
Looking back, Fernando said three basic things enabled him to succeed. āFaith in God, perseverance and sticking to quality are my formula for success.ā