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| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Franchise agents in Europe, ME to promote Laksala products by L. S. A. Wedaarachchi Laksala - the house of Sri Lankan arts and crafts is appointing franchise agents in European and Middle East countries to earn foreign exchange and to popularize local handicrafts and handwoven materials abroad. A franchise agent has been appointed in Italy and in Florence and Mezina cities it will be set up before the end of next month. A website for Sri Lanka arts and crafts will be launched to mark the setting up of Laksala franchise shops in Italy. The Laksala franchised agents in Australia, UK, Canada, Oman, Turkey and Greece are also scheduled to operate in the near future. Laksala the first in Sri Lanka of its kind promoting Sri Lankan traditional arts and crafts and selling them locally and internationally was established in 1964 by the then government led by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Laksala was the marketing arm of the Sri Lanka handicraft board and its first chairperson was Siva Obesekera.At present Laksala comes under the Ministry of Rural Industries and Self employment Promotions. An exhibition and trade fair with an exclusive collection of handwoven sarees, silk and cotton dress fabric, curtains, bedsheets and other handwoven products, Batik, Lace, gift-items with reed redclay and brass items, was held at the BMICH last week. According to the chairperson of the Sri Lanka Handicrafts Board Somakumari Tennekoon, the magnificent creative talents and craftmenship of our rural folk were displayed by the creations exhibited in the BMICH tradefair and it was a highly successful event in all aspects. "It is vital to improve the rural family income and create self-employment opportunities for the rural population which is hit by unemployment at present. "Raw materials, infrastructure facilities and finance are some of the main difficulties faced by the rural folk to engage in their handicraft and cottage industries inherited from the ancestors", she said. She said that a village based program to produce raw materials for cottage and handicraft industries would be launched by the Handicraft Board under the guidance of the Ministry of Rural Industries and Self-employment Promotion. Outlining future plans of Laksala, the General Manager of the Sri Lanka Handicraft Board, H. Manamperi said that the export market is vital to develop the handicraft and cottage industry sector in Sri Lanka. "There is a big demand for our handicrafts such as leather items, lace, wooden furniture, brassware and potteryware in the export market specially in European market. Similar items from India, China, Thailand and Vietnam managed to grab our market to some extent during the last few years. This was attributed to the high price of our items. The cost of production in these countries is lower than Sri Lanka", he said. Laksala sales have increased in spite of the tsunami devastation and the importation of similar low priced handicrafts from neighbouring countries, he said. He was confident that he could achieve the highest target of Rs. 135 million this year. The GM said that over four-thousand craftsmen depend on Laksala for their livelihood. Laksala has seventeen branches in the main towns in the island including Bentota, Galle, Matara, Kandy, Katunayake Airport and Colombo Tunmulla Junction. The craft and arts loving youth have undertaken studies of traditional
handicrafts and cottage industries in one-hundred-and-fourty-one training
centres managed by the Sri Lanka handicrafts Board. |
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