Tea Industry

Merrill J. Fernando at the Dilmah Tea Trails

THIS STORY has been two years in the making. I first interviewed Merrill J. Fernando, the founder of Dilmah Teas, on his 2004 visit to raw(a) Zealand. (He returned at the end of September 2006.) He had come to mod Zealand to help with the promotion of his company, along with his son Dilhan, and I had the joy of lunching with them. The meeting so impressed me, as did posterior research into Dilmah, that I nominated it for a Medinge Brands with a conscience Award for 2005.

Fellow committee members at Medinge, a branding think-tank in Sweden, agreed with the nomination, and the company won, among others that had garnered acclaim for their work in corporate social responsibility. With Dilmah this goes further, with two facts from that first meeting resting in my mind: first, Fernando does non plan to leave an inheritance to his sons; secondly, his MJF hindquarters has been behind the building of schools, churches and hospitals in its native Sri Lanka.

The west has oftentimes to learn from Fernando and his company, beyond the personality that appears on television spur us to sample Dilmah teas with the tagline, Do try it.

We planned to start his story in early 2005, but for one major event: the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.



There was no steering we could, in good conscience, email Fernando for additional answers, and as sentence wore on, various events saw the story put back.

Initially, I had concerns around Fernandos ideas about inheritance: In Asia, one often leaves [a legacy] to children and it is squandered, he told me. My two sons get nothing, so they do not squander.

After seeing high-profile squab bles over fortunes in the unify States, I became convinced that Fernando is on to something. But his method is grounded not on spirituality, but on practicality: There were rich population at school, who fell by the wayside. [Today,] they are [in] the gutter.

Malik and Dilhan started as trainees and worked their way...If you penury to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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