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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Nucleus entrepreneurs realise their dreams The owners of a large foliage business, Mr. and Mrs. Dharmasena live on a big estate - the Yuri Group in Passara. For them it is a passion as much as a business. They employ six persons to help them in their work but the main workload as well as the responsibility is undertaken by Mrs. Dharmasena. She spends the better part of the day outdoors tending her plants. She does not feel the time pass by since she enjoys every minute of it. The range of products of this enterprise includes all kinds of plants and flowers including many varieties of gerbera, anthurium and roses. Nucleus approach In January 2004 Mrs. Dharmasena joined a Nucleus of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Uva Province. The Nucleus program was set up with the support of the Economic Strategy Support Program (ESSP). The ESSP is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Udarata Development and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The German contribution is implemented by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Exchanging experiences ESSP is also supported by the Central Provincial Council. The Nucleus approach involves the establishments of working groups of entrepreneurs engaged in the same industry. These entrepreneurs come together to develop and exchange ideas, to foster common interests guided and facilitated by the Chamber counsellor, Sri Lal Perera, Mrs. Dharmasena heard about this novel concept from a colleague and joined out of curiosity. Since then she has participated in many activities, exchanging experiences and ideas with other cut foliage producers. She has been able to compare the different levels in technology with the other Nucleus members. She gained more access to new buyers through the network created among Nuclei from Kandy, Matale and Badulla. Her monthly turnover now exceeds Rs. 500,000 and her investments into the enterprise also reaches similar amounts. Mrs. Dharmasena runs a profitable business and participates in trade fairs and foliage events throughout the country. Foliage business ESSP Project Director P. G. Samaratunga said Mrs. Dharmasena's foliage business can be a model to others. She has made maximum use of her land area. Her willingness to share her experiences and know-how with others in the industry is praiseworthy because by doing so she is opening out her enterprise to her competitors. By investing in one business secret she is gaining many others. This sharing of know-how is one reason that makes the Nucleus approach so popular among the entrepreneurs. In November this year the Uva Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry will call upon Mrs. Dharmasena to lend them her enterprise to carry out a Nucleus activity. The special feature of this activity - a high end technical training program - is that it will be conducted by Jodi Castan, an international cut foliage expert from Brazil. He will train the Nucleus members as a group first, before visiting each of them at their enterprise and give them individual advice and guidance on a variety of topics including standards of flowers, packing methods and materials, new varieties with market potential, effective use of pesticides and fertiliser, landscaping expertise for attractive maintenance of gardens and many more topics that will be identified by the participants themselves. The Nucleus members will gain an exposure to the latest trends in the international market, though many of them are still operating on a local level they will be able to open many new possibilities through the training. Useful services Before she joined the Nucleus the Chamber of Commerce was virtually unknown but now she recognises it as an organisation that provides useful services to entrepreneurs like her. So much so that this year she even obtained membership in the chamber. The chambers play an important role in the whole Nucleus approach by mobilising the entrepreneurs to come together to foster common interest and to achieve common aims. According to Dr. Volker Steigerwald, GTZ Program Coordinator of ESSP, "Influencing framework conditions require active bottom-up participation from the entrepreneurs plus their institutions in the private sector. This happens in the Nucleus. This approach meets the demands and the needs of the entrepreneurs, the Nuclei entrepreneurs are now a confident group, because their expectations have been fulfilled, they know that they are not isolated and they have found collective solutions to their problems. There is a strong interest by the chambers including the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL) to take this concept forward", he said. |
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